Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 104141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
His eyes sharpened instantly and locked onto mine.
“Promise me something, Kenji.”
“Yes, Tora.”
I brushed my lip against his. “Don’t ever loosen that grip.”
“Promise.”
And I kissed him, pressing my mouth to his and drowning in the heat and hunger of us.
His lips parted beneath mine with a low, approving sound of yearning, and then his tongue was inside of my mouth.
Hot.
Wet.
Claiming.
Slipping.
Sliding.
I gasped into him.
God.
Groaning, he gripped my ass with both hands and squeezed.
And I rocked on him, letting out helpless moans.
He groaned into my mouth. “Tora. . .”
I lifted my mouth and watched him.
We stared at each other for a minute. Maybe two or even more. We were so in love, did time even matter? Did words even matter?
The bedroom held still around us.
Sunlight filled the space as the birds’ chirping rose. The world was waking up outside the window and we didn’t care.
In fact, we probably could have stayed just like that for days and not needed anything else.
Not food.
Not water.
Not anything, but us gazing into each other’s eyes and enjoying the warm silence between us.
I shivered.
He raised his eyebrows and I knew he was wondering what made me scared.
So I told him. “I’m fucking in love with you.”
Shock filled those eyes. Then, a silly grin hit his face. “We already knew this. Why did you tremble?”
“Because I’ve got it real bad for you. Real bad. Like. . .I might cut somebody over you. . .”
He shrugged. “I would definitely cut someone over you.”
“That’s different. You’re gangster. Like. . .the real deal. Prime grade bad ass motherfucker.”
The silly grin widened and I swore the Dragon may have blushed. If the Fangs and Claws saw him now, they might have laughed.
“Me.” I shook my head. “I am not gangster. But now that I’m with you. . .and with how much in love I am. . .I would cut someone and that’s new. It makes me uncomfortable.”
“You would never need to cut anyone over me.”
“I wouldn’t say that. You’ve got a whole baby mama with twins.”
Instantly, the grin left his face. “We don’t know if those are my twins.”
“But. . .they could be. . .”
“Tora. . .” He studied me. “Be careful with the rest of this conversation.”
“What do you mean be careful?”
“You say you know who I am and what I am, but do you truly?”
“I do.”
“You sound displeased about Kiko.”
“I’m not happy about it, and the more. . .I fall in love. . .the more I. . .I don’t know. . .”
“What?”
I sighed.
“Tell me, Tora.”
“I don’t know. I feel a little threatened? Or maybe a better way to say that is. . .I feel like our future is threatened or more like the peace of our future is threatened.”
“And this is what I mean about your needing to be careful with this conversation.”
Before I could respond, he rolled us over in one smooth, controlled movement.
My back hit the bed.
The cool silk sheet smoothed against my warm skin, grounding me as he hovered over. . .so close that I could feel the heat pouring off him and his breath caressing my lips and chin.
His arms shifted, planting on either side of my head.
I looked up at him.
Any softness from his waking up and even our kiss had disappeared. There was no trace of the sleepy man who had just been holding me and whispering my name.
This wasn’t Kenji.
This was the Dragon.
Control.
Power.
Deadly possession.
His presence pressed down on me. The line of his jaw tightened. “Do you want me to kill Kiko?”
Chapter twenty
The Man and the Beast
Nyomi
His world was kill or be killed.
If a problem came, they ended it with death.
And now I understood even more what he'd been telling me about my need to be careful.
He would kill anyone for me.
Anyone.
At any time.
Even a woman potentially carrying his children.
And he would do it for me right now, calmly, with his hands still warm from touching my face. Because to him. . .I was the only thing in the world worth protecting.
The realization didn't arrive like a thought. It arrived like a temperature drop. The bedroom's warmth—the same warmth that had cradled me five seconds ago, that had laughed with me about my new hobby, that had blushed when I called him a prime grade bad ass motherfucker—had cooled around the edges.
All because the Dragon had arrived.
And I would need to deeply understand these two sides of him. I was lying beneath the man who had lovingly whispered Tora in his sleep and apologized for tears he hadn't caused. And I was also lying beneath a man who had just asked me, calmly, if I wanted him to murder a pregnant woman.
Both men were the same man.
That was the insanity my mind kept tripping over—the way these two versions of him weren't separate, weren't a switch he flipped, weren't a costume he changed into when the situation required it.