He turns his chair, then pulls mine closer until I’m practically wedged between his open legs. His eyes lock on mine as he slowly leans forward, then lowers his head to lick the sweet juice from my chest. He lavishes three languorous strokes of his tongue against my now flushed skin.
My lungs and heart forget how to work in tandem, making me breathe in short, irregular puffs of broken air. Every nerve ending in my body comes alive, and my head angles back to allow him room when he trails a series of claiming kisses up my neck to my jawline.
With his lips seductively close to my ear, he whispers, “I suggest you get used to me calling you my wife because itisgoing to happen. Forget the name Reaper ever existed.” He leans back and pulls out his phone. “In fact…”
I watch with curiosity as he dials a number.
“DiAngelo, I’ve got the girl. Make sure it gets to Biba that he can call off the hunt. She and I are getting married.” He lowers the phone and hangs up despite the clipped male voice barking commands on the other end of the line.
My eyes are as round as saucers, and my mouth hangs open.
A satisfied smirk tugs at the corner of his lips. “Now there’s nothing to debate. Eat your breakfast; it’s getting cold.”
Dear God. What have I gotten myself into?
CHAPTER 17
TOMMY
I have a temper,but I’m not impulsive. I act in a strategic, methodical fashion in almost every facet of my life. I live by the mantra “measure twice and cut once.” That’s how I quickly became the man to call upon in Sicily when someone needed a problem resolved … permanently. I research and plan until I’m absolutely certain I’ve accounted for all possible variables, leaving only a small margin for error.
Yet today, I didn’t just poke a hornet’s nest. I knocked it to the ground and lit that motherfucker on fire.
Life is about to get very,veryintense, and I have zero regrets.
I feel as though all of my fixations and neurosis have somehow decided to join forces and focus on a single subject. Danika. She’s all I can think about. I don’t think I could breathe without her. Therefore, despite the chaos I’ve invited into my life by impulsively announcing my intent to marry her, I’m blanketed in a calm certainty that I’m doing the right thing.
It’s the same reassuring sense of peace I get when I have a target in sight and pull that fateful trigger.Success.
I don’t expect Danika to feel the same about me as I do her, though I’d prefer the idea of being with me doesn’t repulse her.So long as she’s mine, I can deal with the rest. That’s what I’ve decided.
To further that goal, I have a few errands to run. I wait for the cleaners to leave before I go so that the apartment is locked tight. By the end of the day, it’ll be too dangerous to leave her home alone. I’ll have to arrange for protective duties.
I add it to my mental list before heading out. When I get back a few hours later, I find Danika on the sofa watching television. It’s so foreign to have someone else living at my place, yet so unexpectedly comforting, but only because it’s her. She has the eerie ability to make me feel centered and whole.
“Hey, there,” she greets me warmly.
I’m constantly amazed at how optimistic and courageous she is despite all the shit life is throwing at her. Anyone in her position would be justified in being withdrawn and bitter, but not Danika. Effervescence is her natural state.
“Watching anything interesting?”
“Depends on how you feel aboutTheGolden Girls.”
I shake my head incredulously, then hand over my shopping bag. “This is for you.”
The contents shouldn’t be a surprise, considering the apple on the side of the bag, but she still seems shocked.
“You got me a phone?”
“You can’t keep using that piece of crap.” I nod to the burner phone on the coffee table.
“Yeah, but…”
“But what?”
“But … it’s just a very expensive gift.”
I close the distance between us and place my hands on the back of the couch on either side of her to lean in close. Her gaze stays locked on mine, her face angling up. Our noses are only a few inches apart.
