I rub my nose, trying to get rid of Talon’s lingering spice infused campfire and leather scent. “Seriously, Koz, the blockers are not doing a good job. God, I suck at this.”
“No, you do not.”
“How am I going to sit in the same room as them?”
“With me by your side if you need. But Raney, you don’t need me, you don’t need them… you are fierce and most certainly can command the attention of those boys in that room to get the resolution you want. You pave your way. You always have, micina.”
“You see me differently than the way I see me, Koz,” I mumble, my hands rubbing over my face. All of a sudden I’m questioning everything.
He turns me so I’m straddling his lap and then his hands nab mine, making it impossible for me to hide. “Raney, look at me.”
Of course, he waits until I do.
“We’re partners and have been for a long time. I know every inch of your body; I understand almost all your emotions. You blow me away constantly with the way you think and perceive things. No one has ever made me as much money or protected it so well. Though it all pales in comparison to who you are as a person. You can do anything you set your mind to. When you love, you love heart and soul. When you fight, you do it with a passion that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The next few days are going to be hard, at times you’ll question why you are doing this, you’ll feel like it’s too difficult, it will hurt and it will take you backwards through time, but you will do it. You are the strongest person I know. You have to be, to have come from where you did. But your strength is deeper than that. Look at the way you keep handling me even though I constantly beg for you to be mine. Everything you and your Scorned Girls do, the way you handle King, the way you live each day is not something that spineless, weak women do.”
I know emphatically I could do all this without him by my side, but that’s making a mockery of who we are. And honestly, why would I do it without him? Even after today’s literal trip down memory lane, I know I’m just having a moment.
“King did not raise a dainty daughter; he raised a warrior. And I thank the universe you are mine.” He growls as he slams his lips to mine. It feels like a possession, or maybe it’s an exorcism because he takes my moment of questioning and replaces it with what was there all along, a very real sense that I am enough.
Koz’s lips twist up. “Still taking you to tattoo you as mine before we go have dinner with King.”
“Good. If we hurry up, I might sneak in a…” My eyebrows do the talking.
“Do you need reminding of what a strong woman you are? You need to ride my knot until you see stars?”
I smirk at him. “Well, I was just going to say have a bath, but yeah, maybe I could be persuaded.”
He shakes his head, chuckling as he kisses me hard again. And most intentionally, because it is Koz we’re talking about, he chases out Talon’s lingering scent, dousing me in his mouth-watering chocolate and cherry scent instead.
“Yeah, I think I need you to put these lips of yours all over me.” I moan as he nips along the edge of my jaw.
His phone rings, and it has that ringtone that makes it impossible to ignore.
“Sorry, micina,” he says briskly. And I know he is, but I also know he’s a businessman, and this is our business.
I climb off his lap to sit opposite him. Watching Koz work is pretty cool, he gets overtaken by a different persona to the one that treats me like his queen. As he speaks in Italian to his contact, I go to curl my legs under me, but my knee catches and twinges, making me wince in pain.
His eyes narrow, and he shuffles along his seat, sitting on the edge to put my foot on his knee. Changing his phone to hands-free, he balances it on a ledge to his side while he massages the kink out of my knee. And it’s not the soft, sugary sweet massage of timid hands, no of course not. Koz had to learn from my rehab guy, because for one he didn’t like the guy touching me, making me hurt, and two… well, let’s be serious, it was for that reason alone. But he did learn how to dig in and stretch the tendons, how to work the joint so it doesn’t lock up and he learnt how to ensure the fluid gets properly moved around. I love him for it, but shit, I really wish sometimes he did go to the fluffy school of massage instead. I grimace, and he glares at me. And if he wasn’t on the phone, I’d be kicking him in the shin to show him how good my knee is.
Even though I don’t understand a word he says, I know him well enough to interpret his smaller mannerisms and pick up on the different cadence of his voice. When he talks private life with Diego, as opposed to when he talks actual business, his tone is softer, less abrupt, plus he drills those icy blues of his at me. Koz is and always has been an open book for me to devour.
The smile falls off his face after a few moments, and he flips to work mode. He shakes his head like he’s frustrated and takes the call off hands-free before sliding back on his seat. His focus switching to whatever is going on with Diego.
Opening up my group chat with my Scorned Girls, I give them the update on arriving home and being hit by a giant stick called fate once again. I guess the four of us have always had a healthy appreciation of fate, and generally whenever we talk, one of us always has a story to back up the concept again and again. It never gets old.
And then I get a run down in the space of four minutes—Tris is deep in heat in one of the clinic suites at Unity, Simona is finalising her photography project, and Heidi is avoiding her life as best she can.
Clearly, I lose track of time talking with my girls because the next time I look up, we’re parked in front of a tattoo parlour—Deluge Ink. For a tattoo shop, it’s more in line with the new funky studios as opposed to the one The Fallen would visit. Except there’s a row of bikes parked out front.
Koz is still on the phone, looking pretty fucking pissed off, but he barks out something at Diego, shutting the call off. As soon as he hangs up, Diego is calling again, but Koz switches his phone off.
Needing the time to cool off, he nabs a bottle of sparkling water, pouring us both a glass as he puts himself back to being my Koz instead of an international businessman with dubious connections and a shitty temper. We sit together, shooting the shit and talking about nothing at all until the bottle of mineral water is finished and my man is out of his head and back with me.
“I have a sketch that I’ve been playing with, can I show you, micina?”
“Of course.”
“I took everything…”
