Chapter Four
Knox stood up from the table and walked to the edge of the pool. He considered his next words very carefully. Truth was, he didn’t know how to answer her. He had never allowed anyone to get under his skin until Leah. She infuriated him on so many levels, but she had a point. Knox didn’t date or cook for anyone else. Relationships took too much work, so he stayed away from them.
“Knox? Please say something,” she whispered.
Leah joined him by the pool. His jacket looked far too big on her, but it pleased him to see her wearing something of his. Knox imagined her dressed in nothing but one of his t-shirts, how the thin material would make her gorgeous tits and curves stick out. Knox wouldn’t allow her to wear any underwear so he could have complete access to her.
Turning to her, Knox cupped her cheek. Her breathing hitched. Her skin felt like silk under his fingers. So soft and malleable. Breakable. Knox had to be very careful with her. Leah still harbored the illusion that there was still some good left in him. There wasn’t. If she truly knew how much blood was on his hands, would she still want him?
Knox was raised by his father to believe the strong ate the weak. Leah could make him weak, he understood that on a fundamental level. If he allowed her to become something more than a toy, a fling to him, she’d be a liability. His enemies could use her against him. Knox decided it would be a risk he had to take.
“Knox?” she asked again.
Leah asked him earlier why he went through all this trouble for her tonight. Knox gave her his answer in the form of a kiss. He took her mouth, plundered it without care. She gripped his shoulders, didn’t fight him at all. They both needed, no wanted this.
Knox thrust his tongue down her throat only for her to suck down on it. The way her heavy breasts rubbed against his chest drove him mad. Their clothes got in the way of skin touching. He slipped his hands under the jacket and past her sweater to touch her heated skin. She moaned when Knox released her mouth. Knox left a trail of hot kisses down the line of her neck.
Leah tensed when he closed his teeth right over her pulse point. Knox bit down. At the same time, he slipped one hand past the cup of her bra. He rolled the bud of her nipple between two fingers and gave it a pinch. His dick rubbed painfully against the zipper of his jeans.
Fuck, but the moan that escaped her lips sounded like an invitation. He wanted to strip her out of her clothes right there and then. See her completely bared for him. Then Knox remembered where they were. They’d freeze their asses off out here if they lingered. He released her.
“Let’s head back inside,” Knox whispered in her ear.
“Okay. Wait. What about our plates?” she asked.
“Leave them. Someone will take care of them in the morning.”
“Knox, the reason I asked earlier,” she began in a halting voice.
His patience had reached its limits, but he waited because Leah looked like she needed to get something off her chest. She leaned against him, not bothering to put any distance between them. That was something.
“Tell me, kitten,” he urged.
Her body, her virginity was his to claim but Knox didn’t just want to stop at owning her body. Knox was a greedy bastard for wanting it all—her heart and soul included. Leah had intrigued and captivated him from the moment he’d spied her sitting behind her brother in the gambling den. One look and Knox was hooked.
Knox wanted to know what made his woman tick. Her fears. Her delights.
Knox wrapped his arms around her shivering body, and she melted into his embrace like it was the most natural thing in the world to do.
“An ex hurt me before,” she finally admitted.
Jealousy rammed into him. Imagining Leah with someone else made Knox see red but he culled his anger and mulled over her words. Whoever hurt his woman deserved to die. Painfully.
Gone were the days Knox had to wring answers out of his enemies. His men did it for him now but this fucker who hurt Leah warranted Knox’s special attention.
“Who?” he asked, point-blank.
“Brody. We went for almost a year. He eventually got tired of waiting for me. He called me stuck up for not wanting to have sex with him,” she admitted. “Later on, I realized I was only going out with him because I didn’t want to be alone. He was never good for me.”
“Did he hurt you?” Knox asked in a careful tone.
“Not physically. It was more like he was emotionally abusive. He kept making remarks about my weight. Always told me I was lucky that a guy like him settled for a broke waitress like me.”
What the fuck?
This Brody was a walking dead man. Knox had already formulated a plan in his head. Once Knox obtained a last name from Leah, he’d have his men track this fucker down.
Once Brody was tucked away in one of Knox’s shipping containers, Knox would work on him. Knox would make Brody regret ever laying his eyes on what rightfully belonged to him.