Precious Gems - Sierra Hill Page 0,54

my stomach.

I take his hand, bringing it to my lips and kissing his knuckles one by one.

“No, it was all lies. I’m sorry. She made me say all that. She harbored some pretty deep-seated resentment toward you, and this was her way of getting back at you.”

He groans, clutching at his side as he shifts on his hip to face me.

“I knew you didn’t mean any of it, Gem. You sent a distress signal and I heard it through every word you spoke. That’s why I hopped the first flight out. I knew you were in trouble. It was also pretty clear when I didn’t hear back from Dempsey.”

Oh God, how could I have forgotten?

“I’m so sorry, Faron. They killed him. I watched as they shot Dempsey and then disposed of his body. She said if I didn’t want the same thing to happen to you, I’d do as she demanded.”

Faron strokes my face gently, tucking my wild hair behind my ear and kissing the side of my cheek.

“There was nothing you could have done. I’m just glad you’re okay and they didn’t hurt you.”

“What do we do about Dorian now? She’s planning on returning tomorrow night.”

He laces his fingers through mine, settling back against the couch and closing his eyes, wincing with every breath he takes.

“We’ll be long gone by then. Plus, there’s nothing here for her to claim. You didn’t find the diamond.”

Tugging my hand free from his, I slip it inside my shorts, the move gaining Faron’s attention as he cracks a lid open to see what I’m doing.

Giggling when he arches a sexy brow, I reach down and nab the pouch out of my panties, wiggling my hips in a slow, sexy maneuver. When I pull it out, I slide the loop through my finger and dangle it in from of him, an enticing offering just for him.

“I think you may have been looking for something like this,” I say in a seductive tone, swinging it in front of him. “So, what’s it worth to you?”

He chuckles and tries snatching it away, his reaction time delayed and slow due to his injury and I hold it just out of his reach.

Faron slowly moves to his knees, his hand still pressed into his abdomen, hovering and moving over me, and crushes his mouth to mine. I part my mouth and moan as he slides his tongue inside, savoring my taste and exploring every inch of my mouth.

When he pulls back, I’m panting and restless.

“There’s no diamond in this world as precious or as priceless to me as the Gem I’m staring at right now.”

My heart floods with happiness, as I wrap my arms around his neck and nuzzle into his intoxicating scent.

“I’ll give you everything and more if you say you love me.”

I smile into his neck. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

The End

Epilogue

6 months later - Roman

I fidget with my ten-thousand-dollar, diamond-encrusted watch, a gift from the groom, as I wait impatiently for my brothers, West and Faron, to arrive.

I’ve been waiting in the anterior room of the old Gothic cathedral in the heart of Paris now for over fifteen minutes, while the groom and groomsmen got ready down the hall.

I chose to wait, already having come dressed for the occasion, in a room so dark and medieval, the stone walls practically screaming of stories untold of dungeons and knights locked deep within its confine; filled with centuries of weddings, baptisms, and funerals that have occurred inside these cathedral walls.

All related to death in my opinion.

My tuxedo and cummerbund feel abnormally stifling, much like the cloistering effects of the small room, even though I frequently wear this suit to black-tie affairs. But today it chokes my breath and my throat constricts every time I try to swallow.

You’d assume the panic clawing up my spine is the stress related to my own wedding day. A day that equates to the loss of freedom and a future filled with only one woman for the rest of your life. The day you’re shackled with the proverbial ball-and-chain.

But no, it’s not my sentencing day. It belongs to my older brother Faron, who is marrying his fiancée, Gemma. The woman he met under the strangest of circumstances and who we ended up holding for ransom in order to get the jewel we’d been promised by her father.

Ironically, in a strange turn of events, her father double-crossed us, and then ended up being murdered. Not by our hands, although