Page 109 of Inked in Devotion

I sipped on an iced brew afterward, probably not the best idea since the caffeine made me more jittery.

Kolya nursed another beer. Sebastian, full from his fries and burger meal, dozed peacefully amidst the noise of the restaurant. But the unspoken tension rattled between us. It sensitized my skin all over in a way that coalesced into a tingling between my legs that made me want to squeeze them. Because right on the other side of my sleeping boy was the man who put a baby inside me.

With danger plaguing my son and me, it was like a primordial instinct was tuned to finding the strongest male who could protect us. At this moment, forget evolution, forget my feminism, my whole body saw the male specimen before me as a suitable match.

We were animals reduced to our basest instincts.

“She’s looking after Sebastian for a few hours.” Kolya parked the Escalade beside Sorcha. Sebastian was in the car seat behind him. Our two security vehicles had since parked in the parking lot behind the mansion.

Panic rose, and I detached the seat belt to scramble out. “Wait, why?”

Kolya unbuckled Sebastian and passed him to Sorcha. “He’s fed and will sleep for a few hours. Though look for signs of a tummy ache. He ate too much.”

“Aw…he looks out of it,” Sorcha said.

Kolya body-checked me from reaching Sebastian. I glared at him. “What are you doing?”

He encircled my wrist. “You and I need to talk without interruption.”

I glanced at my son, who appeared to be peacefully sleeping in Sorcha’s arms before returning my death glare at Kolya. “Do I have a choice?”

“Choices are over.” With that statement, he dragged me toward the cottage.

“Text me when he wakes up,” I called over my shoulder.

Sorcha waved at us with a motherly smile that made me blush.

“This is embarrassing,” I gritted.

Kolya opened the door, pulled me through it, and then backed me against it.

He caged me in, my outrage dying when I recognized the smoldering carnal heat in his eyes.

They burned. They craved. They devoured me.

Me.

I put that intensity into Kolya’s eyes.

“Nikolai…”

It was all I got out before he slammed his mouth on mine. His tongue invaded and demanded my surrender. I responded helplessly, breathlessly, trying to keep up with how he vanquished every thought, any doubt, and crumbled the last of my resistance to ashes. I clung to his shoulders as he set every nerve ending ablaze.

His hard body, the hard body that I’d been drooling over at the restaurant, was right now shoving its weight at me against the door.

I needed air.

And he gave it to me.

He broke the kiss and dropped to his knees.

I needed more.

He glared up at me. “No one owns you but me.”

“Is this about Daniel?” What the hell was I doing? Why was I taunting him? This enforcer and torturer for the mob.

Did I want to be tortured?