Anika gasps, her spine arching and her head falling back as her core tightens around me.
My cock throbs eagerly in response.
It doesn’t matter that I’ve already come. I know I’m not going to make it through her next orgasm.
She’s just so damn enticing.
Sitting up, I wrap my arms around her hips, pulling her close as I find the curve of her neck with my lips.
Anika whimpers, her arms snaking around my shoulders as she clings to me. And together, we rock in perfect rhythm.
I can feel her climax building as her walls swell around me. Her breaths come hard and fast, a feminine moan on every exhale. Our lips meet.
Hers part, her tongue stroking out to meet mine, and as she twines around me, we fall apart together, perfectly tangled in each other’s arms.
It feels like Anika and I have finally found our sweet spot, that perfect place between heat and calm, where I don’t have to worry about breaking her every time I pull her in for a kiss—and now I know, without a doubt, that she wants it.
It feels like she’s genuinely starting to trust me in every area of our lives, and I’ve never felt more honored to earn someone’s trust.
Though my days have never been busier, I know this is the happiest I’ve ever been.
Maybe that makes me sick, considering our family’s current state of chaos.
But I’m starting to realize that revenge isn’t nearly as sweet as falling into bed with the woman I love.
Still, I intend to see it through. I will restore the Chiaroscuro name—for my brothers.
“That’s why we can’t rush this,” I explain, jabbing my hand in the direction of our scout, indicating his most recent report is what I’m talking about. “You told me the Keens were serious about standing against the Tanakas.”
“If the Murrays agree,” Sandro corrects.
“We are not about to trust the Murrays. I don’t give a damn what the Keens say,” I growl. “Those Irish bastards just proved their lack of allegiance when they helped the Tanakas take us down. Now you want to bring them back into the fold? Just to humor you, let me ask, what makes you think the Murrays would even be amenable to the idea of switching sides—again?”
A violent bang cuts off Sandro’s response as an explosion shakes the very foundations of the house. The twins’ attention snaps toward the reverberating sound, and I watch through the far window as smoke starts to billow toward the sky.
“That looks like it’s coming from the kitchen,” I observe.
Raf and Sandro are sprinting after me a moment later as we race down the garden level and toward the kitchen.
I bark orders at one of the Chiaroscuro soldiers who falls into step beside me, telling him to find Anika and take her back to the master suite—and keep her there until I know it’s safe for her to leave.
“What the hell was that?” Gio asks as he intercepts us.
“I guess we’ll find out,” Raf says as the sound of anxious shouts start to rise from behind the kitchen’s swinging door.
It flies open a second later, several frightened servants spilling into the hall.
“What happened?” I demanded.
“Armed intruders inside the house,” one girl says without slowing. “They blew in the back door.”
Several Chiaroscuro guards rush to meet us as I burst through the kitchen door to find it in complete chaos. Smoke clouds the room, and several terrified staff members cower behind the cabinets, hiding from three armed men.
It’s easy to tell they’re Russian as they bellow orders at the staff in their native tongue. But only half the people in the room seem to understand them—and less than that are obliged to do whatever it is they want.
Reaching into my pocket, I pull out my knife and flick it open. Then I dive across the smoke-filled room before the intruders can see me coming.
I can hear another Russian drop beside me as Sandro joins the fray, but I’m focused on wrangling my man before he can hurt one of the unarmed members of the kitchen.
