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“If you’re not open, then why…” Her voice trails off as realization dawns.
“You forgot who you’re married to, didn’t you?” Conner teases her from across the room.
“Nobody likes a smart-ass, Conner.”
I keep my eyes on my fingers as Nova keeps the conversation going between the three of them. She’s gradually becoming more comfortable around my men, and Conner has a natural way of putting people at ease. It helps make him good at his job.
Part of me knows it’s important for her to fit in if she has any chance of being happy. She might have been exposed to this life, more so than most women, but she’s managed to maintain a sense of morality that is so easily lost in this world. She cares about people, that much is obvious, or she would have run for the fucking hills by now.
Still, the other part of me doesn’t like it one bit. I don’t want to share her smiles or laughs with anyone. She’s mine. I want to be her everything, even if I know there are some things she’ll never get from me.
“So, how did you two meet?” Ryland asks, making Nova flush.
“I met him in prison. Thought he was cute, so I baked a file into a cake and took it in to help him break out,” she answers with a straight face, making Ryland pause and look up.
“Really?”
“No, of course not.”
He shakes his head, smiling.
“It was a store-bought cake. I’m a terrible cook.”
I can’t help it. I laugh at her bullshit, making everyone look at me in shock.
Nova smiles, her eyes dropping, and she gasps, covering her mouth with her hands. She’d been so busy talking that she hadn’t paid much attention to my tattoo until now. Ryland is just finishing up the ink on my pinky when Nova looks up at me, looking completely shocked.
“Why would you do this?” she whispers, choked up.
I swipe a stray tear from her cheek before licking it off my thumb. “Because you’re mine, and I want the world to know it.”
I look down at my hands as Ryland wipes away the excess ink and stares at the ornamental font. On my left hand, each finger holds a single letter spelling out NOVA. On my right hand, the letters spell out MINE.
“There you go. All done. You know the drill.” He wraps each finger individually before removing his gloves. “Anything else?”
I shake my head, but Nova jumps in. “Yeah, can you do me next?”
Chapter 29
Nova
Iturn to look up at Vice, who looks at me with a dark expression on his face that makes my toes curl.
“What do you want?” he asks me, his voice dropping an octave. I wonder if he remembers the conversation we had when he fucked me in his father’s downstairs hallway.
I lift his hand, which now says my name on his fingers, and use it to lightly drag across my collarbone. “I want it to say ‘Vice’ in script, then in smaller, simple black font, ‘mio marito.’”My husband.
His eyes go impossibly dark then. It’s like something primal moves within them, something that I’ve just restored to life. “Leave us.”
Recognizing the tone of his voice as one you don’t mess with, I hear Ryland say, “I’m going outside for a smoke. Get your boy to come find me when you’re ready.”
Vice doesn’t reply and doesn’t take his eyes off mine. I hear thedoor close, surprised that I can hear anything over the thundering of my heart.
“Stand up.”
I do as he asks, wondering if I stepped into a minefield I should have avoided. My eyes flick to Conner briefly, but he’s facing the window, looking out, giving us the illusion of privacy.
“Panties off.”
