“Thirty. Long. Years.” I support her leg and fuck her mercilessly, setting a rhythm that stokes an inferno in my belly. “Three decades without you, Minnnka. I need you always, but fuck, I need you more when I’m surrounded by these people.”
She writhes on the countertop, her stomach flexing and her tits swaying. Her chest lifts and falls at a frantic pace. But most stunning of all, her cheeks glow red from a blush that sets my heart on fire.
“Never gonna let them hurt you.” I cup her tit in my palm, stroking the peaked nipple with my thumb. “Never gonna let their world and yours mix.”
Though I already did. By marrying her, I tossed her into the deep end of everything I am.
“Never gonna risk you.”
MINKA
He’s hurting.
Of that, I’m certain.
He’s anxious. I feel it.
But he’s not ready to speak of it, so he pulls out once we’re done and drags my dress down, patting the excess fabric around my ankles. Taking my hands, he draws me up and carefully tugs the bust of my dress higher.
His heart pounds visibly against his neck, a thunderous pulse that beats against stubbled skin.
“You wanna discuss what that was all about?”
He drops his hands and turns away. So I latch onto his wrist and bring him back around, then I bend my neck and lean lower, closer, to secure his avoidant gaze. “Archer?”
“I’m not allowed to fuck my wifejust because?”
“Sure you are.” I drag him in until his hips touch the edge of the countertop and his hands go to my thighs. Then I cup his face and search his troubled eyes. “But that was something else entirely. I’ve been with you through a few seasons now. Happy. Sad. Stressed.” I slide my thumb over his bottom lip. “Angry. Worried. This was one of the latter.”
“It’s this place.” He sighs. “These people.”
“Your family?”
His nostrils flare, hardly noticeable if not for the fact I’m staring straight at him.
“Archer?”
“The people who have followed my family. Cordoza. Barbaro. Agosti. I saw another one out there—Bianchini—he’s a bastard.” He turns his face and nuzzles into my palm. “It’s PTSD, I think. I’m seeing faces I haven’t seen in a long time, and remembering names I haven’t had to remember in almost two decades.”
“Are they doing something wrong by being here? Are they screwing around, and I didn’t see it?”
He exhales heavily, warm breath traveling all the way along my wrist and down to where I so often insert a needle for infusion. “All on their best behavior, as far as I see. I doubt Cordoza is allowing them long leashes.”
“Okay, so…” I scratch the hair at the nape of his neck. “You’re concerned about what they represent, and not necessarily what they’re doing today.”
“Like I said.” He snags my wrist, trapping me with a fast tug that makes my heart skip a beat, then he kisses the delicate skin covering my pulse. “PTSD. You were all the way on the other side of the room, but for a bit there, I couldn’t see you at all. Having you and them in the same space, and not being able to see you, fucked with me.”
“Well… How about I promise to stay where you can touch me, or see me, or at the very worst, I’ll be with someone you trust?”
“A guard?” His expression lightens. It glows. Right in front of me, his eyes brighten and grow wider. “You’d accept a security team?”
“I’d accept a security check-in. For tonight only. But I’d demand your trust, too.”
He scoffs. “It’s notyouractions I’m worried about.”
“Trust that I’m no one’s victim. That I’ll destroy anyone who dares to touch without my permission. Trust that I can take care of myself.”
He drops his gaze again.
