I yank her even closer and she digs her elbow into my side. My cock instantly jerks. Fuck. Hasn’t she realized by now that any hint of violence from her only turns me on? Maybe it’s why she’s tried to kill me twice, and both times, the connection between us has only grown stronger. What the hell? Why hadn’t I realized this before? That the more she tries to hurt me, the more I want her. The more she wants to push me away, the more I need her. The more she tries to prove to me that she can do without me…the more I want to imprint myself on every pore of her body.
"And you are—?" Beauty holds up her hand.
"Leaving," I snap at the same time that Nikolai walks around the table to take her hand in his.
"Very pleased to meet you…" He tilts his head.
Beauty laughs. "Karma," she murmurs, "call me Karma."
"A fitting name for the woman who has brought the Capo to heel." He kisses her fingers and every muscle in my body goes on alert.
"Relax, Capo," Nikolai drawls, "I pose no threat to you or your family."
"Didn’t take you to be a liar," I say through gritted teeth.
He releases her hand and I shove her behind my back.
"Hey," she protests, "what are you doing?" She tries to step around me and I wrap an arm behind and around her, keeping her in place. She digs her fingers into my arm, and a shudder shivers up my spine.
I glare at Nikolai, who meets my gaze. He doesn’t back away, doesn’t lower his gaze either. For a few seconds our staring match goes on, then he jerks his chin. "You protect what’s yours." His lips twist, "I respect that."
"Then you’ll also respect when I say that you need to leave now."
"A straight shooter, too." He chuckles, "We are cut from the same cloth, Capo. I do believe we have more in common than we realize."
"We’ll see about that."
"Until next time then," he nods at me, then pivots and stalks out, followed by his brothers. The door shuts behind them.
I release Karma who stomps out and around to stand in front of me. "Jesus, all that posturing. It was highly entertaining—not." She fumes, "If you dare try to control me again in front of your acquaintances I will—"
"How are you Karma?" Xander cuts in. "Haven’t seen you since your unexpected arrival at the chapel."
Karma scowls in his direction as he walks toward her. Her forehead smoothens out. Typical. No woman can resist the lure of the beauty of my youngest brother.
Karma smiles at him, "You must be..."
"Alessandro, but people call me Xander."
"At his insistence." Christian steps forward, "Personally, I think he does it because it annoys the Capo."
"Does it?" She shoots me a side glance. "And why is that?"
"He claims it’s a bastardized version of Sandro, which is, of course, the Italian version of my nickname."
"For the record, I prefer Xander." Her smile widens, "Reminds me of Xander Cage in the xXx series."
"Love action-packed Hollywood movies, eh?" Xander laughs.
"Also, video games."
"SIMS 4?"
"Wha-a-t?" She tosses her head, "Give me some credit, yeah? Call of Duty, all the way here."
"Holy shit, you don’t say, you—”
"Okay, that’s it," I step between them. "Out, you guys."