“Uh…just—work.”
Fuck.
I scrambled to minimize tabs, close files, and play it off…but I forget sometimes that she’d been paying enough attention these last few months to try to write her own code and throw me off. She’s not stupid. She batted my hand away from the mouse, snatching it and bringing back everything I tried to hide.
“Shit…Paris? London? FuckingRome?” Her eyes got wider with every click, and she absentmindedly shook her head.My eyes slowly closed. I feel fucking defeated. “They’re taking them from everywhere. We gotta stop this, Declan.”
“They’ll never come after you. Not after how we handled Romanov and his lads. That sends one hell of a message, love.”
She snapped her head back at me. “I’m not fucking worried about them coming after me. I spent a week in that place and didn’t go through half of what the others did. We might not be able to save the world, but I can at least make adent.”
Physical trauma leaves bruises. Emotional trauma leaves deep scars we can’t see. If she tells me to do the impossible, and slit the throat of every man involved, I’ll do it…all for the sake of knowing she feels an ounce of this. But how do I make her understand that this kind of demon never sleeps? That it’ll go past the people we can access, until the world stops turning?
“How do you propose to do that?” I carefully asked, easing my palm down the side of her thigh. She didn’t stop me.
“The same way I convinced Romanov.I buy them.” I lowered my brows, letting her know I was listening…truly listening…and waited for all the information I haven’t had the pleasure of hearing about the night she was taken. “Jonas had made a deal to use me as a prize whore. Mikhail sacked Leviticus to get his hands on the money I’d donated to the Greys. So, I offered him both, in exchange for the girls. I bought them. Trained them up…or so he thought. And I also paid for his loyalty.”
“You don’t have to tell—”
“Declan, what did I tell you before? The subjects and the knights…aren’t loyal because of pie crust promises and good will. They follow thegold. Remember? I paid Romanov to turn on the McKinleys. They shot them down right in front of me. We control it through money and fear.”
A fucking queen indeed…
“Go on,” I urged, letting my hands wander.
“I buy every girl…buy some loyal dogs…and then dare the rest to test me. We can seal it in blood for good measure.”
“We’d need to set up a merge. House Byrne is—”
“Still right here.”
I know she feels how fucking hard she just made me. Hearing her talk like this makes me feel like I’m sitting in the presence of Elizabeth herself. My inner nerd is screaming, and the man inside is useless. I’m fucking ruined for her.
“Can I kiss you…”
I thought she’d say no.
Thought she’d back off if I got too heavy.
Bridget’s nails scraped over my long stubble on the sides of my face, tracing her way down to my chin…and she leaned forward until her tongue slid past my lips. My cock hurts. She tastes like something expensive you’d only have the luxury of having once a year. I feel like it’s been that long without her…and she’s been right there on that couch. I tucked her hair behind her ear, pressing my other hand to the small of her back when she started to grind herself on me. I wanna worship her. Fuck, I just need to make her feel everything I do, right now…but I’m almost terrified to go too far.
Fevered breaths drowned out the shitty desk fan nearby, and I held the side of her face, taking my time to savor everything she’d give me…until she started pulling back.
I knew I’d fucking blow it.
I almost apologized…until she eased off my lap and shoved my keyboard back, hoisting herself on top of my desk.
“You can kiss me…” she breathed, propping a bare foot on each arm of my chair. I swallowed, my prick downright fucking painful as she slipped the hem of her shirt up…and spread her knees open. “Right here.”
Bleedin’ fuckin’ Christ.
I went to take my glasses off, and her tiny foot slapped against my forearm. “Uh-uh…leave ‘em. Gimme an anatomy lesson, Mr. Wizard.”There she is. Slowly coming back to me, bit by bit. I let one side of my mouth curl up while my hair blew in and out of my face. “You left me a present not too long ago. I thought my pussy was broken. Maybe it was operator error?”
“Definitelythat.”
She poked her bottom lip out. I wanna bite it. “Aww…what did I do wrong, professor?”
I aggressively scooched my chair forward, tightening the bend in her legs, and her breath caught. “Hmm…let’s investigate.”
