The man really does know how to play the politics. And I understand why. He was one man when he started his plot. It’s easier if you can get someone to do what you want than force it. Which you’d have to do without manpower for sure.
“It was.” He puts his hand on my thigh. “It was easier to watch the others. They were deeper in bed with my father. How my father didn’t know once his plans rolled out they’d kill him next, I don’t know. The drugs and alcohol must have rotted his brain more than he realized. I was going to turn everyone on everyone.”
It is very interesting to see how he mapped so much of this out on his own. It’s scary and impressive.
“They could all destroy themselves. Frame each other for different things.” Things he knows about them and their dealings.
“Yes, that’s still partly the plan.” His hand starts to stroke my thigh gently, and I fight the urge to crawl into his lap. My cunning, manipulative mastermind.
“You can’t simply take them all out and be done with it,” I tell him.
“I learned that as I watched.” He nods in understanding. “If not them, someone else would slide into their place, which I’d be fine with. My goal was only to destroy the people I despised, but there would be fallout to the community around it.” His expression grows more serious. “There would be fallout around you.” His hand grips my thigh in a possessive hold.
“Now I want the Marinos to be the last ones standing. You to be right at the center. Thesomeonewho would lead the new charge. The one person that none of them wanted there. I knewyouwere capable of filling those places as each family was pulled out.”
“Because there are no snakes in our midst.” We wouldn’t be stabbing each other in the back for territory. We all are ofthe same beliefs of how things should be run, and Paxton isn’t wrong. This family is growing, and we can handle more.
Me, my siblings, and my cousins are the next generation of Marinos, but there will be generations after us that hold the same values and loyalty to one another. It courses through our veins. We’ve always thought of it on a smaller scale. Paxton has now blown it up, revealing what was right in front of us this whole time.
I stop fighting it and crawl into his lap, straddling him. “And you think I could be the one to lead it all one day.”
“I do.” There is no hesitation in his response. His hands slide to my ass, gripping hold of me.
“You do know this all started with you wanting my hand in marriage so that you’d have a seat at the table,” I say coyly.
“You’ll marry me.” It’s such a turn-on how confident he is.
“And now you’re giving me orders.” One of his hands slides up my back to my neck, and he grips me there.
“When I need to.” I trace his lips with my finger.
“Because I’ll have complete trust in you?”
“That’s the goal.”
“One of your many plans.”
“There is one plan that matters more than the others.”
“Having me.” He lifts me easily, turning to lay me on the bed, coming down over me.
“I will have you.” His mouth goes to the column of my neck. I love when he kisses me there. I grip his hair in my fingers, tugging so he’ll lift his head.
“Then have me,” I tell him. His nose flares, his eyes heating. “We both know there is no going back.”
“Never.” He claims my mouth in a deep kiss. I deepen it further, claiming him right back.
“Pax.” I whimper his name as he starts to remove my clothing. I lie there and simply watch him. I rather enjoy whenhe does these things to take care of me. It’s not something I’d ever let anyone else do except maybe my mom because I know it pleases her.
This pleases me. He takes his time, in no rush. A sensation blooms in my chest, radiating out into my hands, and I clench them into fists.
“Sunshine?” Paxton takes my wrist, turning my hand over, and I release it. “There is nothing to be nervous or to worry about.”
“That’s what that is.” He kisses one palm and then the other.
“Yes, and here with me. When it’s only us. I take care of you, and you let me. You want that.”
“I do.”
