“Nothing useful. Yet. Stop worrying about me. Back to why you were discussing my love life with my daughter.” As always, he was extremely possessive, slipping his hand behind my neck and pulling me closer.
Even though I pressed my palms against his chest, he wasn’t budging. In fact, his hold was even stronger with every push I gave him. Now his fingers were digging into my skin. He lowered his head, his chest rising and falling.
“It seems like you missed me.”
“I did.”
“Then what’s in the bags?” I pushed him hard, able to breathe the connection. Twirling away, I thought I would be able to get away from him, but he sidestepped me and, in a heartbeat, had me in his arms again. This time, he crushed me against the heat of his body.
“You’re not getting away from me that easily, Lainey. You should know that by now. You might as well surrender to me. Body and soul.” He lowered his head again, brushing his lips across mine, his heated breath sending a wildfire through me.
“What about my heart?” I managed.
“Mmm… Since we’re getting married, I guess you should give that to me as well. I’ll carry it around in a box with me. I’ll make certain it’s safe.” He darted his tongue across the seam of my mouth.
“How romantic.”
“You think? I’m not finished yet. As my wife, you’ll be expected to obey me. If you disobey, you’ll be punished.” His ability to tease me was wonderful, but I feared he’d snap back into the darkness with a flip of a switch.
A slight purr slipping from my lips, I wrapped both arms around his neck, rising onto my tiptoes. “Yes, very romantic.” His words and the thought of his actions were thrilling. That should surprise me since the last thing I’d ever wanted was a dominating man, but he made the sound of surrendering so sexy that I was breathless.
Maybe even allowing the fantasy to intrude in the moment.
He captured my mouth and for all the times he’d kissed me before, this time was even more incredible. Tiny bursts of fireworks went off and it felt as if I was floating on air. He swept me off my feet and I couldn’t help myself, wrapping my legs around his hips.
The taste of peppermint and the wine he’d consumed was an even more powerful aphrodisiac than the man holding me. I rubbed my hands along his shoulders, tangling the fingers of one in his thick strands of hair. As always, he dominated my mouth and tongue, but there was even more of a sense of urgency.
As if deep anxiety was involved.
He pulled his lips away, then lifted my chin with his thumb, dragging the top of his tongue in a methodical dance under my earlobe. Across my chin. Into the shell of my other ear.
Goosebumps tickled my skin and being breathless was becoming too common around him. I loved it. Every heated breath. Every prickle dancing across my skin. With a puff of hot air, he whispered:
“We’re going on a trip.”
It took me a few seconds to realize what he’d said. The beautiful spell was broken and I eased my legs to the floor, gently pushing him away. “What?”
He nodded and took a step back, nodding over his shoulder toward the packages. “One of my men is packing some clothes for you from the house where you were staying, but I thought you might want something… different. More tropical.”
“Whoa. Hold on. I don’t understand. Where are we going and why?”
The darkness in his eyes momentarily terrified me. “We own a house in St. Lucia. No one knows the location as it’s listed in the name of a dummy corporation we used years ago. We’ll be safe there.”
Now I was the one backing away, the fear lingering. Suddenly, my heart was in my throat because I noticed the tension in his muscles. Not only was his jaw clenched, but the thick cords in his neck were pulsing erratically. “What is really going on?”
“Nothing different than what I’ve told you.”
“You’re a terrible liar. Maybe you don’t know it, but you have a telling twitch. The corner of your mouth.”
His eyes immediately opened wide. “No one has ever told me that before.” His laugh was meant to try to push aside his blatant concern in my mind.
It wasn’t working.
“Talk to me, Sasha. What happened?”
He shifted to check that Nina hadn’t wandered into the room. “There’s a price on my head and given the social media blitz linking us together romantically, I won’t take the chance of putting your life further in danger. We need to take a few days and regroup while my family discovers who’s behind the various attacks including your house.”
“But I thought Damien was responsible.”
