Swiveling away from Jace like he doesn’t exist, he guides Lev and me toward their usual booth, squeezing my hand.
When I glance over, his eyes are watching me intensely, and everything in me wakes up like it’s been dead before this man came into my life. My skin hums, every nerve alive. Every part of me burns for more. Of this. Of him. His touch. His body.
God, I’ve never felt anything like this before.
As we keep moving, I feel it: Lev’s small hand slides into my free one. When I gaze down, he’s staring right at me like he’s been watching me this whole time, his attention briefly snapping to his father’s fingers in mine.
I go still. Lev has never held my hand before, and the fact that he’s choosing me right now cracks something open in me.
Kirill notices, and his features tense. His grip on my hand doesn’t loosen. If anything, it tightens, his thumb moving slowly over my knuckles.
For a second, I’m not in a diner. I’m standing in the middle of something I’ve never let myself want because wanting it hurt too much.
This is as close to a family as I ever imagined getting. If only Milo was here too.
CHAPTER TEN
KIRILL
The booth creaksas I sit, Lev sliding in beside me, while Sloane stands there, ready to take our order.
But all I can think about is the way my son reached for her hand. What it meant. And the way hers felt in mine.
I want it back.
Glancing over at Lev, I don’t miss the way his eyes are still on her. His shoulders are loose, his posture relaxed. He’s at ease in a way I rarely see. That’s how he always is around her. He’s never bonded like this with anyone, not even his teachers. It’s something I used to wish for and something I stopped expecting.
But Sloane somehow became a bright light in his world. Someone safe.
I could offer her the nanny job and see if she would take it. The idea is so perfect, it’s almost cruel.
Which is exactly why it’s so dangerous. Because I know what will happen if I do.
If I see her every day, if she’s in my home—close enough to touch, to taste—I won’t be able to stop myself. I know it.
She’s not just a temptation. She’s the kind of temptation that ruins a man.
The need that rises in me isn’t polite or patient. It’s like a pull that wants to drag her across the table and onto my lap. To see her gasp when I take her mouth, that sweet cunt I’ve been imagining since the first time her cheeks flushed when I looked at her.
And that’s the problem. I can’t do any of that. I can’t get close.
If I do and Lev loses her like he lost his mother, he won’t survive it. Neither will I.
Lev glances at her, then drops his gaze to his hands, turning them over like he’s still replaying the moment her palm touched his. The choice he made when he reached for her.
My chest cinches all over again. But no matter how hard I try to concentrate on Lev and everything that moment meant, my mind pulls me somewhere else.
To her. To the way she smiled at Whitlock when I walked in and saw them talking, that small curve of her mouth like he’d done something to earn it. Like she was his instead of mine.
Something in me snapped. If Jace had so much as touched her, I would’ve killed him.
In fact, I pictured a hundred different ways I could dismember him, all while he stood there staring at me like he was some kind of threat I should fear. It’s almost laughable.
But I try to be a better man in front of my son. He deserves that.
Still, I can’t stop thinking about why Jace is even here. If he’s in Jersey, something’s in motion. He’s second-in-command in that family, so if he made the trip, it’s for a good reason.
Konstantin was onto something. They’re planning to take over our business, and doing it right under our nose. I can only assume they’re preparing to meet potential buyers. Their ranch here is where they usually do that.
