Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
I’d been bombarded with one thing after another at work. Bullshit on top of bullshit. I didn’t have as much time for her as I had before. But I knew I was invested in this relationship, so I had to make the time. “A lot of stuff has been happening with work. Hasn’t been fun.”
She didn’t ask for details. She never asked. “Yeah, I figured. Well, I’ll let you go. I—I just miss you . . .” Her voice faltered at the end, like she was embarrassed by what she said before she even finished saying it.
I was not gonna lie. I loved seeing this vulnerability from her. Dropping her for a week had been the hard lesson she needed to learn. “I miss you too, sweetheart. Pack a bag and stay with me a couple days.”
“A couple days?” she asked.
“Yeah. I’ll be in and out, taking care of business, but at least we’ll see each other when I’m home.”
There was a pause, and this was where she would distance herself and say she didn’t want to bother me or burden me or some other bullshit. But instead, she said, “Okay. I miss Medusa too, so . . .”
Just like that, it wasn’t complicated anymore. So fucking simple. So fucking easy. She was my woman, and I was her man. “I’ll have my guys pick you up in an hour.”
It was almost midnight when I got home. I’d settled the dispute between Lorenzo and Marco. Marco’s accusation had been correct. Lorenzo had been cutting his product with fentanyl to lower the costs, but he’d put in such a trace amount that it didn’t have a drastic impact on his customers. But that didn’t matter—because he’d still violated the laws of the Roman Republic. So Lorenzo was shot and burned in a furnace, and Marco got to absorb his business.
My job was done.
I walked through the enormous thirty-foot doors, entered the entryway with my statues from Egypt, and strolled past the sculpture of the Eye of Horus before I moved into the second entryway, where the stairs were located.
Elio emerged to greet me, always knowing when I was home because my security team alerted him the instant I approached the property. “Good evening, Your Highness.”
“I’d like dinner in my chambers—for two.”
“Of course.” He gave a slight bow.
I headed up the flights of stairs until I reached my private corridor of the residence. It was blocked by a set of mahogany doors outlined with gold. None of the staff was permitted to enter the corridor without Elio’s supervision. As a result, whenever I was home, I didn’t have to see or speak to anyone as long as I stayed within that part of the villa. The hallway had other guest rooms, a private gym, one of my collection rooms, and my office.
I walked down the long corridor and found the double gold doors that led to my primary suite. The doors were heavy, and that was by design—because no one was getting in there if they weren’t welcome.
When I stepped into the entryway, I heard Medusa run from the other room and beeline for me.
“Hey, baby girl.” I knelt down and let her climb up me slightly as I greeted her with lots of pets and a kiss on the head. I stood up, then pulled my gun from the back of my jeans and left it on the round table next to the vase of flowers.
When I moved to the open doorway leading into the next section of the suite, Aurelia appeared in nothing but one of my T-shirts.
God, that was sexier than the finest French lingerie. I felt the grin lift into my mouth as I walked over her, my arms circling her as I pulled her into me, significantly shorter without her five-inch heels to give her some lift. I pulled her flush against my chest and kissed her, my mouth melting against the warmth of her lips, immediately sucked into this magnetic chemistry we had. I slid my hand into her soft hair, grazed the delicate skin of her neck, and I kissed her with a gentleness I didn’t know I had.
Fuck, this woman did some shit to me.
I was dead tired after all the stuff I’d had to handle today, but all of that left my mind at the sight of her. I lifted her into me, her long legs hooking around my waist, and I carried her to the big bed I normally only shared with Medusa.
I laid her back, rolling on top of her, loving how loosely my shirt fit her lithe body. Her makeup was gone, like she’d already been in bed when I walked in the door, and that natural look was a turn-on for me. Not just because she was so damn beautiful she didn’t need makeup, but because it felt . . . intimate. She wasn’t a woman who was gone before the morning light hit the windows. My bed was her bed, so she helped herself to my clothes and my bathroom and made herself at home.