“Are you okay?”
I shook my head, sliding my hand behind her neck, my fingers moving through her silky hair. She didn’t recoil, but kept gazing at me, and then licked her lips.
My mouth was on hers in an instant, as if no time passed at all to drag her onto my lap. With a sigh, she parted her lips to the sweep of my tongue, holding onto my shoulders as she rose up on her knees to straddle me. I tugged on her hair, tilting her head back so I could taste the warm flesh of her throat.
She murmured something, maybe my name. It sounded like a plea, but not to stop. Not with her fingers roaming through my hair as I licked a trail down the side of her neck. She shivered when I licked my way back up, and turned her face to claim another kiss.
Her hot little body pushed down on my lap. With a squeak of surprise at the hard bulge that met her, she bounced a little, driving me to a frenzy.
“Lilia,” I growled. “You taste like honey. Sweeter.”
She nodded, pushing harder, pulling away from the heated kiss to look at me. Wild eyes, full of lust, stared into mine, and she groaned as she pushed down hard again. Then shekissed me, clumsily, our teeth knocking together. I ran my hands up her sides to feel the heavy globes of her perfect breasts under her soft top.
I needed more to feel her skin. Would it be burning for me? Moving my hands back down to grip her hips, I slid them under her top, smiling against her eager mouth as she arched her back.
“I want to see you,” I said, pushing the fabric up.
Heavy-lidded eyes blinked at me, and she nodded once, chest heaving as I rolled my thumbs over her taut nipples. I had the pajama top pushed up under her arms, finally revealing those sweet tits. Holding onto her around her ribcage, I shifted her body backwards, needing to wrap my lips around those peachy nipples. What sound would she make when I teased her with my tongue?
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
Lilia jolted, as if my phone vibrating in my pocket had electrocuted her. Damn it. Not many people would dare to call me after hours unless it was an emergency. I ignored it, leaning down to finally taste her.
The fucking phone buzzed again, and I grabbed it out of my pocket, about to toss it across the room. It was my second in command. Not Luigi, who held that position in name only, but my main guy who followed me from Russia, Benedikt. He really wouldn’t call me unless something big was about to go down.
Lilia pulled her shirt down as I answered. When I started swearing at the news, she scrambled off my lap.
“Sorry, boss,” Benedikt said. “I figured you’d want to know.”
I didn’t want to, but I had to know that Luigi was planning yet another unauthorized attack on one of the Petrovs’ holdings. They decided it was a good idea to intercept a shipment of guns from a warehouse that my own men had determined was impenetrable.
Should I let them get killed? Fewer men who stood against me. It would certainly serve them right, and I didn’t hate the idea of being rid of them. But it made the Collective look weak, which meant I looked weak.
“I’ll be right there,” I said after Benedikt gave me all the pertinent information.
Talk about a boner killer. Lilia sat in her own chair again, head down, her fingers twisting together in her lap. I had just spent the last three minutes snarling and swearing, and I had been so pissed off and wrapped up in a quick decision that I couldn’t remember if I uttered her family’s name aloud.
If not, she surely had to know something was going on that involved them. I swore again, inwardly this time, and tipped up her chin, trying not to look like an angry bull about to charge.
“I have to go out for a little while,” I said.Tell her it’s to stop an attack on her family.I ignored the intrusive thought. She’d never believe me, and I was only stopping it because the attack would serve no purpose to help my cause.
Which, ultimately, was to bring her family to their knees. Somehow, kissing her made me forget that.
“I kind of figured,” she said, voice as quiet as a mouse, tinged with worry.
I would have preferred she attacked me and tried to scratch my eyes out. Instead, she only thought of her cousins.Once again, I had half a mind to let Luigi’s fools get themselves slaughtered and take the damn hit.
That wasn’t like me at all. I hated insubordination as much as I hated losing. It was time to go crack some heads, once again, those of my own people. Men who were plotting my demise when they weren’t disobeying my direct orders. Who would happily take Lilia and dangle her as bait once I was dead.
Not happening. No one was taking her from me, not my own people or hers. Anyone who tried was in for a fight. Which meant I had more enemies than ever before.
I found myself asking the same question again. Was Lilia worth it?
Chapter 19 - Lilia
My life was now completely turned upside down, but over the course of another week in Gavril’s clutches, I was beginning to find a rhythm. The big brute wasn’t so scary after all. He liked to snarl and scowl and even throw me over his shoulder when I refused his orders. He really liked that. And maybe I didn’t hate it so much, but only because I liked goading him.
I never goaded anyone in my life before him. Not even my sister, who at most got light teasing from me when we disagreed. I always gave in. With Gavril, I didn’t always give in, and because he was such a brute, I never won, but at least I tried.
