my breath away opens for a fraction of a moment, and he warns, “Do it.”
I run a hand over my throat, still throbbing from the pressure he applied. My eyes burn as another bout of hot, fiery tears start to fall. Leith groans about how he hasn’t slept in ages.
Don’t sleep, I tell myself. Don’t dream. Like Leith, last night’s rest eluded me. But still, I won’t sleep. Though I only heard the gunshots all those years ago, vivid nightmares have filled in the gaps, showing me what was unseen. By avoiding sleep, I will keep that night from unfolding in my dreams.
Sometime later, I hear a knock. My first sight is Leith’s effervescent eyes. He’s smiling. Both of us are lost in a familiar, pleasant past. Star-crossed, teen lovers who snuck to bed together. I moan, snuggling against him. The present reappears when the door slams to the ground. Leith untangles from me, a gun in his hand.
“Och, feck. I just woke up.” He rubs his eyes.
Brody eyes me, then his brother, and says, “The snake is here.”
“Code words still?” I ask.
Exasperated, Brody snarls, “Chevelle, ye’re still riding my baws!?”
Leith bellows, “Get out! Dinna talk to my wife—”
Brody gestures to where the door handle should exist, huffs, then strolls away. Leith starts to pull me into him, and I turn my head. Recent events crumble down around us.
“Wit? Ye was just hugging me. Stop being dramatic.”
I push at Leith’s chest. “I was asleep. Besides, you’ve spent God knows how long with your antics. I can’t have a moment?”
“Not unless I say so, hen.” With a predatory smile, Leith’s lips descend on mine. I turn my face to the side, denying his tender touch. His breath caresses my neck, heated. His strong body radiates against mine. Detesting the desire, I implore myself not to focus on my arousal, already spiraling out of control.
“Everything ye know, I taught ya, and ye never complained before. Shall we?” His brutal fingertips slide the length of my throat, locking into place. “If it’s yer fetish, I’m willing to switch up a few things, my bonny feck toy.”
His mouth is too damn close, and my sex stirs for him, relishing in the dirty talk. In a monotonous tone, I say, “I still want a divorce. If you’re intent on being a murderer li-like my . . .” The man who created me. “Then I want nothing to do with you, Leith.”
“He didna. But yer da was on to something. Ye shared how he loved yer mam so madly. How ya never saw him hurt her. Well, I won’t hurt ye, Chevelle. I’ll bloody feckin’ die for ye. I’m also willing to murder anyone ye have eyes for, including yer auld boss before I ever let ya go.”
Through gritted teeth, I declare, “You can’t keep me.”
Leith’s tongue teases the curve of my mouth. When I don’t concede, his teeth grind into my bottom lip with enough force to grind bone. A whimper escapes my lips, but his tongue tosses the sound right back into a sweet, cruel oblivion as he assaults my mouth.
The kiss is ravenous. Possessive. Defiant. Pure torture. Leith’s kiss cuts through my tenacious shield, piercing my soul and spirit. When he speaks, I have to hunker down and concentrate to recall our argument. “Of course, I can keep ye, Chevelle. I’m a make money kind of man, so it’d be no problem at all to keep ye locked up. That’s not a joke, sweetheart; that’s a bloody feckin’ promise.”
His thumb caresses the hollow of my throat. When I attempt to deny him again, his light, affectionate touch tightens. I snarl, “What about Mia?”
“Ye’re Mia’s mam. Caring for her is yer job.”
“So, she’ll see me locked up?”
“Give me a little time to think about that.” He jumps off the bed. “The snake is Douglas Yates, by the way.”
I toss a defiant, “Who cares?”
Leith’s shoulders lift. “Well, I’m still telling ye. Nae more secrets between my lovely wife and me.”
Curling into a ball in the bed, I toss over my shoulder, “Stop being ornery. Give me a friggin minute, Leith!”
“Nae. I’m being transparent, hen. I need ya to get outta yer feckin’ heid! Ye’re so wrapped up in the past. I’m Mia’s father, not yers! That’s the issue, aye? Ye’re scared I’ll leave one day, disappear?”
The audacity of it all! I offer a few blinks in response. Leith’s thick chest softly collapses in relief of hitting the nail on the head. My abandonment. More tender