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I reached out and twisted a stray lock of hair that had escaped from the scarf secured to her head. “A stake in this empire.”
Talia stilled.
I zeroed in on the bloodred color of her lips. A taste couldn’t hurt. I leaned down and brushed a kiss across her mouth. There was no responding warmth, but she didn’t pull away either. I did, but only to stare into her eyes as I waited on her response.
“Agree to my father’s shipping demands,” she said.
I closed my eyes. “I’ll consider it. But only if he tells you exactly what he plans to smuggle into port.”
Talia shivered, and I hoped that was her sixth sense telling her that something in my request wouldn’t sit well. “I need something, Drakos.”
“You will get it. I’m offering you a seat at my table. As my wife, it’s your right.”
Chapter 30 – Talia
Astake in his empire? Offered freely? A job where I was the one making the demands? It was too good to be true. Why would Drakos reach out to me like this? Was it a trap? Except, Drakos had never once been cruel to me, and still I pushed against his every offer of kindness with suspicion and doubt. That realization alone unsettled me.
If I was mad enough to consider Drakos’s offer, I could never tell him I was here to kill him. He wouldn’t trust me. If I wanted this chance, I would have to manage himandmy father. I wasn’t sure if I was capable of that. I shuddered as I remembered how vehement Drakos had been when I’d bargained in my father’s name.
And it was clear I didn’t know everything about my father’s business dealings. But how could I? I’d been trained as the seemingly perfect wife, a deadly blade that would be wielded to bring my husband’s property into my father’s fold...the husband who just so happened to be his rival in the underworld.
I knew I needed to earn the right to be involved in my father’s business, but what if it was something I didn’t want to be involved in? My stomach turned at the thought. It was like my whole knowledge set was being overturned, and I didn’t know what to make of it. Just like I didn’t know what to make of Drakos’s proposition.
My heart thundered wildly as I replied, “I’ll think on it.”
His heavy hand fell on my thigh, and a jolt of anticipation flashed through me. We’d been here before, but nothing had come of the heat and arousal that flared between us. It was so maddeningly distracting, forcing away all the heaviness of the moment.
“Look at me,” Drakos ordered.
I slid my gaze to him. At the same time, his hand ran up the top of my thigh and pulled my leg to the side. I barely had time to protest before he was skating the backs of his knuckles over my panties.
“I want to taste what belongs to me.” His words sent a shiver over my skin. He saw it, and a wolfish grin broke across his features.
He brushed his hand down my other thigh, also pushing it wide. Then he tipped my seat back. My pulse quickened.
“I dreamed about your body wrapped in that gold dress I bought you. There’s just one question I awoke with: did you wear underwear?” Drakos purred.
