And her not being part of my world isn’t an option.
My voice is filled with amusement, “I’m not worried about the difference in our ages, Dove. Why would I? Considering I’m 38, it seems I’m coming out on top of this issue,” I admit while eyeing her.
Her legs are peeking out of the bottom of the shirt I waswearing last night. She was sexy as hell in the lingerie she had on when I found her, but this is next fucking level. I’ve had women slip on a shirt of mine thinking they looked enticing before, but it never really worked for me. I found it presumptuous and annoying.
Not with Dove.
I’m tempted to throw her over my shoulder and take her back to bed, but I don’t. Not yet.
First, she needs to be taught a lesson. I won’t have her lying. Not to me and not when it’s important. While she might be trying to protect Romeo because he’s my brother, she needs to realize she is my priority now.
Everything else could burn and I wouldn’t care. Her though? I need her safe and whole. Always.
Or I’ll bathe the world in blood. The violence I would reap would be an endless vignette of pain and suffering. It would mirror my own heartbreak, and nothing less would be acceptable.
But right now, she’s safe. And standing in front of me while looking like the definition of temptation and sin.
“I like you in my shirt,” I murmur the words and step closer to her, wanting to feel her body against mine. “Do you know what I don’t like?”
Dove blinks a few times and then whispers, “No.”
I make a humming sound before wrapping my arm around her waist to hold her in place. The last thing I want is for her to try and escape. She struggles against my hold for a moment while she eyes me warily.
Smart girl.
“I don’t like you telling me lies.”
My words land like grenades between us and she starts to shake her head as if that would be enough to alleviate the accusation that I just lobbed at her. It won’t. And I know she was lying.
“I didn’t,” she insists.
“You did,” my voice is a rumble, a warning of imposing danger. “You said Romeo didn’t hurt you, but he did.”
“No,” she whispers, “he didn’t touch me. He didn’t hurt me.”
“I heard what he said to you,” I admit. “He didn’t have to put his hands on you to hurt you. If he had touched you then cutting his hand off his body would have been bloody, but not as difficult as you might think given the right sharpened blade.”
She gasps, “What?” When she tries to wrench herself out of my hold, I make sure to keep her pressed against me. I start walking us backward until her ass hits the kitchen island. “They were just words,” she tries to tell me. “I don’t care about what he has to say.”
I lean down and run my nose up and down her neck while taking a deep breath of her sweet and spicy scent. My cock goes from half hard to a steel rod in the sweatpants I pulled on after noticing Dove was not in bed, which is where I left her before taking a shower.
“That’s not the point,” my words are sharp. She stiffens in my arms and I hate it, but I need her to hear me. “I don’t need you to manage me or my reactions to the truth. I need you to trust me with all of you. I told you last night that you’re mine. All of you is mine,” my voice is firm because there is no other way for this togo. “That includes your truth. You do not need to protect anyone, including me, by maintaining your silence. I will not accept it, Dove.”
“I’m not going to be what gets in the way of you and your brother.”
I almost chuckle because she’s so sure of her words. But she doesn’t understand. Not yet at least.
“My brother is not who has my loyalty.” She jerks in my arms, but I hold onto her, only allowing her to pull back enough to look into my eyes. She studies me to make sure I’m telling the truth, and it reminds me about her past and how she’s always had to be on the lookout for a threat. “We have never been close,” I admit. “My father saw him for who he is, which is why he was never allowed to hold any real power in the organization. Romeo doesn’t think, and he has a cruel streak.”
Dove scoffs, “I’m aware of that.”
My heart sinks and my gut clenches. “We took on our positions around the same time. At first, I kept a very close eye on him to make sure that side of him wasn’t an issue. Then some shit went down, and some changes were happening in the power dynamics of the city. I couldn’t keep as close an eye on him as I wanted to.”
“That was almost an apology,” she sasses me and I can’t help but smirk.
She might be scared of Romeo, but she knows I won’t hurt her. It’s the only explanation for her speaking so freely.
I love it.
