“Were you fucking him?”
“What? Fitz? God, no. I—”
“Troy.”
“Oh.” I swallow, face flushing. “It was a long time ago.”
“Irish. Really. I thought Maya was the only fucking traitor among us.”
“Come on, Nik. We don’t have any shit with them. I mean, our dads did.Did. Isn’t that all over? Aren’t we friendly acquaintances now? Or at leastnotenemies?”
Nik looks away from me, jaw clenched tight and his dark brows pulled low. It stirs something in me to see him like this, fierce and sexy and protective and—jealous. Oh, my God. He’s jealous.
My heart skips a beat. It shouldn’t. We have way, way bigger fish to fry right now. We have a series of basically impossible tasks ahead, all to just ensure we live. All to protect my father.
No. That’s not it.No—it’s not. Maya wants more. And even though he’s not exactly cheering her on, I can tell it’s what Nik wants too. To tear down our fathers and the empire they’ve built. Or at least to reshape it into a world where we can be free and thrive and live the lives we want to.
But why would Nik want that? In my mind’s eye, I see him standing back as they dragged me before his father. I see him restrained and cool as steel as a knife was held to my throat, as I was beaten and harassed and abused.
He didn’t defend me then. And he only married me because he had no choice.
That’s it. Isn’t it?
Quit lying to yourself.
My breath hitches in the bathroom, my mind catching like wildfire. A truth is rising to the surface, one I think I’ve known since I first saw Nik, jaw clenched and eyes glowing green as my life was threatened before him. He wasn’tnotdefending me then. He was refraining. Restraining himself. He was playing it cool, so his father would believe he had no love or loyalty toward me. So his father could marry us as a gambit and trust his son to prevail as the cold bastard he thought he raised.
But Anton was wrong. Heiswrong. Nik is angry because he couldn’t protect me then—didn’t he say as much back at the hideout? And this jealousy now—it runs deeper than a fickle childhood crush.
The truth is undeniable. Bright and burning and impossible to look away from.
He loves me.
I take Nik by the front of his shirt and push him back, hard, until he hits the wall. His eyes widen, meeting mine for only a moment before I rise on my toes and kiss him. Hard. He grunts, surprised, hands rising to my hips.
“Zane,” he whispers, voice coarse.
“Don’t,” I whisper back, brushing my palms over the hard planes of his chest, the ridges of his abs. My fingers seek and find the button on his pants. “Just kiss me, Nik. Please.”
“We shouldn’t,” he says, but there’s desperation in his voice, and hunger, clear as day, in that familiar face.
“We should.” I kiss him again, harder this time, and this time, he doesn’t hesitate. Nik spins me, shoves me against the wall, his hands sliding into my hair. My heart is thunder, raging and deafening.Don’t stop, it seems to say.Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t—
I pull him free, pleasure carving me hollow. The sight of him is utterly dangerous, his cock stiff and far bigger than I imagined it would be. I want him inside me so badly, I’m almost blinded by desperation.
Then he’s kissing me again, his tongue hot and deft, stroking mine as he yanks my pants free and lifts me into his arms.Don’t stop, even though we should.Don’t stop, even though this will only muddy the waters and make everything less clear.
Don’t stop, because if I fall in love with Nik, I’ll never survive losing him again.
“Are you sure?” His lips against my neck, my legs locked around his hips. “We don’t come back from this, Zane.”
No. We don’t.
And I don’t want to.
I bite his ear softly, taste him, my body wet and ready for him, my soul feeling wild and unmoored and utterly, impossiblyme. “Nik,” I whisper, “fuck me.”
He doesn’t need to be told twice. His fist slides into my hair, arching my spine and curving my vulnerable neck toward him. At the same instant he gently sinks his teeth into my skin, he thrusts his cock inside me.
