She makes that intoxicating noise, that fuck-me-now noise, causing me to step away again.
My rod is flooded with heat. Precome burns from my engorged helm. My balls feel swollen, bursting with my seed. Every primal drive I have is roaring at me to hammer her hard, to fuck our future into her.
“See you soon,” she says softly as I turn away.
“And you, Lena.”
The words feel so understated, so unequal to the relationship we’re building.
But it’s not like I could tell her the truth.
She’d run, and I’d never see her again.
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
Lena
“They’re outside my place now,” Izzy has a smile in her voice, her tone joking. “Hell, this is like a spy movie or something. Maybe I’ll get into a super cool car chase.”
I’m about to tell her to take it more seriously. There are lives at stake.
But then I stop myself.
Surely it’s better she’s approaching it like this, with a positive attitude, even if it could seem out of place. It’s better than driving herself nuts worrying about what’s going to happen.
At least she has guards. At least she’s being watched over.
“I can’t believe it,” she goes on, referencing the story I just told.
Everything that happened tonight…no, technically, it’s last night now. I sit in the telephone room in a big armchair, with Jackson in my lap, snoozing softly. The windows are night-dark, and yet I don’t feel tired, too pumped with adrenalin to sleep.
“I know,” I say. “I can’t either. It all happened so fast. When he charged into the room, it was like… It’s hard to explain. One second he’d broken the glass. The next, we were running across the fields. The fight and the gunshots and everything, it went like that.”
I snap my fingers.
“It must’ve been so scary,” she mutters, her voice low.
Izzy and I have been friends long enough for me to sense the change in her mood.
“What is it?” I ask.
She sighs. “It seems so silly to bring it up, considering everything that’s happening.”
“What?”
“I guess I just want to know why you didn’t tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
She laughs humorlessly. “Come on, Lena. Do you really expect me to believe you and Luca have been together for a few days… not even that? And then, all of a sudden, he decides to risk a war to save you?”
I sit back in my chair, a sense of surrealness touching me like I’m going to fall through the cushions and drop away from this house, land in the hotel bed, and wait for my wedding day.
“I know,” I say softly. “It sounds impossible.”
“So….”
“It’s the truth,” I tell her. “I swear, Izzy. You know I’d never lie to you. The first time we met was at the party. I’d never seen him before. Obviously, I know who Luca freaking Lucciano is, but I’d never met him, been around him, anything.”
She pauses. “That’s…that’s amazing. You must’ve made one hell of an impression.”
I dwell on her words for a moment, trying to puzzle them out. The only thing I haven’t told Izzy is about all the crazy thoughts rushing through my mind, all the temptation, and the dreams of the future.
I haven’t told her how I couldn’t stop thinking about having a home together, a family, happy footsteps running through a happy house.
“I like him,” I murmur, which is the world’s biggest understatement. “I really like him. I hope he feels the same.”
“Lena, he started a war for you. I think it’s safe to say he feels the same.”
I almost tell her exactly what I mean. I know it’s reasonable to assume he cares about me on some level. I remember the way he looked at me as he was applying the tattoo, the light in his eyes, the fierce possessiveness.
But what if I started talking about kids? A family?
What if he doesn’t want any of that?
“Oh, there’s something else,” I dryly laugh because it’s better than crying and letting out the howling pain. “Conor admitted to killing my parents. Himself, I mean. He pulled the trigger.”
“Jeez.” Izzy lets out a long breath. “I’m so sorry, Lena. That’s awful.”
“I knew it was him anyway.” I grip the arm of the chair, digging my fingernails in. “But to hear him brag about it, about being the one who actually pulled the trigger… yeah, it makes me want to do some pretty nasty stuff. I won’t lie.”
“As it should,” Izzy snaps. “That man deserves all of that and worse. I can’t believe anybody works with him.”
“I guess it’s better than the alternative – than this war.”
Izzy says nothing for a few moments, letting my mind drift to when Luca gets home. The way he kissed me was so passionate, so urgent.
It was like before when he went down between my legs…
But what if he wants more this time?
What if he wants to go all the way?