“It sounds like he'd get along well with my dad.”
Larz huffed. “I hired the man that took care of my father's problem, but the problem didn't stop with him.”
“W-what does that mean?” I asked, almost afraid of his answer.
“I figured my ass was covered when I hired an American company to make things go away. Well, I guess it did cover my ass, but they found another way to take out my father. They ruined his life, took him away from his family, I guess the only worse alternative was if I hadn't hired the Ruthless Corp. The spy was collecting information to kidnap my kid sister and hold her ransom until my father signed over his holdings in a lucrative deal he made in the Pacific. They had to be stopped, but taking out the mole had implications my family still hasn't recovered from. My mother served my father with divorce papers and I went into hiding. Happily ever after has fallen a little short for us.”
“What happens when he's released from jail?”
“He goes home, he'll try to win my mother back. He's never stopped loving her, and she loves him, I know it. She tears up when she talks to me about him, and my brother Rome is forbade from talking to him or he risks his title as the Crown Prince. It's a mess, Granny is about the only one that can still lift my spirits.” His eyes brimmed with vulnerability, the fact that he trusted me with his deepest secrets caused warmth to spread through me. “My life is simple now, I workout as much as I can and do a little family business when I need to to make sure my family is safe. I keep an ear to the ground in as many circles as I can, even if officially I'm out of the family business.
“You've been through so much...” I mused, “I feel like I'll only be in your way.”
“No,” he leaned closer, “because you lift my spirits, Pet. Don't ever doubt that. Just knowing your in the room makes me feel more right than I've felt in too long.”
“Really?”
He growled his reply, and before I knew it, he was hovering over me, his broad shoulders and wide biceps caging me against the warm rock. “It feels like a thousand tiny bolts of lightning zapping through my bloodstream when I hear your voice.”
His heavy breaths washed across my face, his lips hovering over mine as we shared the oxygen between us. I felt suffocated, and wildly aroused, and incredibly excited. He was my perfect storm, a heady concoction of lust and charm wrapped in one intoxicating package.
His head dipped, and his tongue slid in one decadent stroke up my throat. “Everything about you makes me wild.”
His hands cupped my jaw, lips hovering just inches from mine. His nearness sucked all the oxygen out of the room, twisting my stomach and making my knees weak. “Letting you walk out of that door wasn't an option today.” He thrust his hips against mine, the thick bulge of his very hard cock pressing between us. “I don’t want you only to feed some bullshit sense of ego I have, Pet. I want you here because you’re the only woman I’ve ever thought about upon waking up in the morning.” His teeth grazed my ear. “I want to make you come so hard every damn neighbor will know where you belong. And I want to put that sweet smile on your face every day.”
He lifted me in his lap, his rough hands spreading my thighs and sliding my ass across the granite.
Larz’s hands trailed up my skin as his words sank in.
He wanted me.
He wanted me here.
With him.
And now his hands were crawling up my body.
Oh, God.
“What’s goin’ on in that complicated head of yours, sweetheart?” Larz’s hand rested on my knee, one fingertip turning small circles.
I gnawed on my bottom lip, wondering what to say, before finally settling on honesty. “Why haven’t you…tried to sleep with me?”
Larz’s eyebrows nearly shot up into his hairline. His eyes fell down my body. “I’m not looking to rush you, Pet, not when I want to keep you.”
My heart cracked a little at that. “Keep me?”
His grin cocked to the side then before he slid a palm up my thigh and tugged me snuggly to him.
I’d suddenly found myself unable to picture a future without Larz.
“Do you want my lips on you, Pet?” Those very same lips at my ear pulled me from my thoughts.
“Yes…” I pleaded.
“That’s what you’ve been waiting for, sweet girl? My hands crawling up your skin, my lips tasting your pretty pink flesh?” The thumb hooked in my waistband and slid the skirt down my thighs.
“I want to see all of you.” He caught my wrist and pushed it above my head, planting kisses down my inner elbow and sending shivers skittering through my bloodstream.