31
Thesoft vibrations of my cell phone against the nightstand pulled me from a light sleep. Derek’s name lit up on the screen, and I immediately went on high alert. It was just past three in the morning, and he wouldn’t be calling unless there was an emergency. I crept out of bed, careful not to wake Amalia, and answered the phone from the hallway.
“What happened?”
“Nothing. Got up to check on Vali—she was crying. And something told me to give you a call. Everything good?”
I let out a breath of relief. “Yeah, all good. Had a little run-in with some men who have very bad aim and even worse driving skills.”
Derek listened without a word as I relayed the day’s events. Even when I’d finished speaking, he remained quiet for countless seconds.
“You were shot?” he finally asked.
“Grazed. Nothing serious.”
“Kai, maybe you should consider returning home—bring her with you.”
Always on the same page. I didn’t have to tell him that Amalia had become important to me, just like I understood when Eva became his whole world. Leaning on the doorframe, I watched her sleeping figure. Derek’s suggestion was tempting, because I’d do anything to take her away from the threat. But if there was one thing I knew about Amalia, she wouldn’t leave her family behind, nor would she walk away and forgive a betrayal.
“Once we figure things out here, I’ll bring it up.”
“Watch your six, Kai— No, don’t look at me like that.”
“What?”
“Not you, Valentina. When I say your name, she wants to pretend she’s not sleepy anymore.”
“Tell my nugget I’ll see her soon.”
“I need you and Silas to find another nickname for my daughter.”
We laughed and said our goodbyes, and I slipped back into bed and pulled Amalia toward my chest. I wasn’t trying to wake her, but I needed to hold her. She stirred when I kissed the back of her head.
“Can’t sleep?” she asked, her voice groggy.
“Derek called.” Amalia stiffened in my arms. “Everyone is okay. He was up with the baby and decided to check in.” Her body relaxed into mine, and she interlaced our fingers and kissed my hand.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Are you okay? Sure you don’t want Dr. Ward to look you over in the morning?”
I dipped my face and nipped at the shell of her ear. “Mi reina, I quite literally fucked you to the point where I had to carry you out of the shower. What else do I need to do for you to believe that I’m fine.”
She turned in my arms and buried her face in the crook of my neck. “I believe you…it’s just…you make me feel some type of way, Kai.”
“How?” I asked, stroking her back.
“At peace,” she whispered, kissing my jaw. “Soft.” Another kiss. “Vulnerable in the best way.” Her lips grazed along my skin, making my cock hard and raising goosebumps on my arms and the back of my neck. “Safe. Like I don’t have to be on all the time because I have you.”
Her admission stirred something inside me, warming every inch of my body. Id never experienced feeling wanted and needed so wholly, not even with Derek.
She sat up and straddled my pelvis. “No one has ever made me feel safe the way you do. Not my girls. My father. No one. Until you. Is that crazy?”
“I love crazy.”
She smiled and kissed me. “Good, because I heard once you called me certifiable.”
My eyes opened wide, and I couldn’t help the laugh that roared out of my mouth. “Did Derek tell you that?”
“So it’s true?” she asked, pretending to feel offended.
My hand trailed up her naked waist to her breasts. “I didn’t know you. But the moment I saw you—I know you caught me looking,” I accused, flicking her nipple.
“A man checking out my tits isn’t anything new and surely not someone who would be on my radar. But I noticed you, Kai. The ‘tall guy with the pretty eyes.’”
“Could have been Derek.”
“Of course it was. It was both. But if you need an ego stroke, Cain, I was definitely looking at you.”
“Come here,” I said, reaching for her and kissing her lips, soft and slow. “And you were so down bad you forced me into marriage, huh?”
It was her turn to snort a laugh. “You’re delusional.”
“Maybe, but I’m not a liar.”
“Go to sleep,” she said, a faint blush on her cheeks as she slipped beside me again and turned around.
“You pushing that ass against my cock, baby, is going to get you nothing but fucked again.”
“It’s almost like that’s the point.”
We were both sore as hell. But fuck me, how could I pass up a chance to drown in her.
I stepped out of Amalia’s ensuite, towel-drying my hair from a shower and fully expecting her to be already dressed since she’d gone in before me. But there were no signs of my girl. Tossing the towel on the bed and foregoing a shirt, I crossed into the living area and searched around the condo for her. Nothing. A surge of panic rose in my chest, but before I let my imagination get the best of me, I checked one last room at the end of a long corridor. The black wooden door was slightly ajar, and I pushed it open.
My heart thundered for entirely different reasons. I had probably seen and tasted every gorgeous inch of this woman. Still, something about her sitting behind her easel, paintbrush in hand, a sheer shirt covering nothing but her elbows as it had fallen to the crook of her forearms, made the moment nearly magical.
“Your breakfast is on the table.”
“I’m looking at my breakfast.”
“Kai, I love you, but…” Her eyes widened in panic, but my chest warmed. “It’s just a saying…I didn’t—”
“Didn’t mean it?” I asked with a smile, moving toward her as those three words echoed in my mind.
“Of course. You know that you and I—”
I reached down a hand on either side of her torso and lifted her before slipping into the seat and setting her down over my lap. “Are just temporary?”
“No,” she said, so matter-of-fact that I snapped my eyes to hers, waiting, my heart pounding harder. “That you and I are so good together. And maybe someday we could get there.”
Nothing else needed to be said, and I watched as she continued painting. It was a portrait of a young child with a toothless grin and dimples on each side.
“Valentina,” I said. It was a statement, not a question. Her eyes were unmistakable, even in this older version of my niece. Amalia nodded. “It’s beautiful. Your talent is amazing.”
“I’m a woman of many trades.”
“Indeed.”
She snickered.
“Eva would love to see it.”
“There’s something about that little girl. A beautiful soul despite her…” She hesitated.
“Since when do you bite your tongue for anyone?” I said with a laugh. “Say it. Despite a father like Derek?”
“Nail on the head, Cain.”
“Well, she has Eva. And Derek’s not so bad,” I joked.
She was quiet and focused on her art. “My mom is convinced she’ll never have grandbabies. Not any time soon anyway.”
The thought of Amalia carrying my child made my stomach fucking fluttery.
Fuck. I was the one down bad.
“Someday?” I asked, and her hand froze mid-stroke.
“Someday.”
I kissed her shoulder and inhaled the fresh scent of something sweet on her skin.
“What happens today?
“We have to get back home. Face my father. And fix this mess I caused by killing Rojas.”
“He deserved it.”
“Of course he did. But dead men don’t speak, Kai. And we’re not any closer to figuring out who the rat is or what this person or persons want from me besides having me killed.” I knew of her suspicions where Rocco was concerned, and I could only assume her hesitation in taking his head was because he was a family friend and didn’t have the evidence to prove his involvement. But he was no one to me, and if Rocco Solis ended up hanging from a bridge, innocent or guilty, the world would be better for it.
I wound my arms tighter around her waist. “No one touches you.”
Amalia placed a hand over mine. “We can’t always control or prevent what happens.” She leaned her head against my shoulder. “If anything, I’m terrified of what can happen to you in the name of revenge against me.”
“I’m impossible to kill. You’ve seen that firsthand,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.
“The last man who said that to me ended up with my pistol in his mouth and his brain as new wall decor.”
My dick pulsed at her back. “Is that supposed to scare me, vicious? Because I’m strangely turned on.”
Amalia shook her head. “You’re gross.”
I slipped my hand between her thighs, two fingers over her clit. “Maybe. Filthy? Always.”
“My pussy is so fucking sore, Kai. I don’t think I can…” Her voice was ragged, a moan slipping past her lips as I stroked her.
“Look at you, baby. You’re already a mess, and it’s all for me.” I brought my fingers to my mouth and licked them clean as she watched. “Goddamn, mi reina, so sweet.” Instead of mine, this time, I brought two fingers to her mouth, and she eagerly opened for me. “Just like that. See how good you taste.” I pushed my fingers deeper until I heard her gag, and it was fucking music to my ears. “You know what my new goal in life is?” I asked while pinching her clit with my other hand.
She moaned, shaking her head and rocking her hips as the paintbrush and palette dropped to the floor by my feet.
“My one goal in life is to make sure you break for me every day.” She gagged again, and I could feel the tears sliding down her cheeks. “Every fucking day, I need to feel you this goddamn wet. And hear you sing for me, just like that.”
She arched her back and lay her head on my shoulder, hips moving at a steady rhythm. Another gag as I pushed deeper down her throat. “Use me, vicious. Show me how you want me to fuck you.”
Her hands were in my hair, tangled tightly the faster she climbed to orgasm.
“You always paint in the nude?” I asked, eyes on the tempting sight of her tits bouncing up and down, making my mouth water.
It wasn’t long before she was shuddering in my arms, her cries muffled by the fingers in her mouth. Amalia slid off my lap, and just when I thought she needed a break…and a breather, I was wrong.
She looked up at me through wet lashes, knelt between my thighs, and grinned as she undid my belt and zipper. “I haven’t had breakfast today either and, wouldn’t you know, your pretty cock was exactly what I was craving.”