She was tempting a ferocious animal. I didn’t control him. I couldn’t. The jealousy in me did.
15
Katie
“Stay, Rome,” I repeated, this time calling out his name, not looking back at him. “This is between me and Bastian.”
“There should never be anything between you and another man.”
I shook my head, Bastian’s dark eyes holding mine, swallowing me up in a dark maze of power.
He pressed his fingers into my stomach one by one, like he was playing a slow song on the piano. “There will always be something between a king and a queen, Rome,” Bastian murmured.
This close, where I could smell his aftershave, where I could feel his skin on mine, where I could grab his throat if I wanted to, I trusted him. I trusted everything about the man because I witnessed him grow into it.
“Mario would be proud of us, no?” I asked.
“He’d be proud of you. I don’t know about me.” He shook his head and his breath blew out onto my lips.
I leaned even farther forward and slid my hand to the Glock in the back of his waistband. “This one’s loaded, I presume?”
“Always is.” Bastian nodded as I turned it over in my hand.
“You trust me?” I whispered, letting the question fall from my lips.
He didn’t even glance at the gun. He kept playing that song, whatever it was, on my stomach. The silence of it, the fact that I was the only one who knew he played it for my daughter or for me, it did something to me.
“I’ll always trust you, Katalina. We all trust you. Even if we shouldn’t.”
“You’ve thought of killing me, though?” I asked because he must have. I didn’t become the enemy without him thinking about how easy it would be to end my life.
“I was built to consider ending everyone’s life.”
“You ended your father’s,” I pointed out. “With the nod of a head, you let it happen.”
“He’d wronged us. Wrongedyou.”
“What if I do the same?”
He shook his head and his hands stopped the song. He slid both to my hips, and instead of pulling me forward, he shoved me back and glanced at Rome. “You won’t because you’re in love with him, tied to him, carrying his baby. You won’t because you’re family. Our blood does run through you now. My blood is your blood.”
“Is blood all that matters?” I curled my legs away from him, tucked them under myself, and stood up again. I walked that table like a catwalk; I measured each step, took my time. “Alliances cannot be just blood anymore. That’s not what binds us all. If it’s just blood, if it’s just lineage you care about, you better shoot me now. One of you better take my life. I’m up here, offering myself for that very reason.”
“Are you fucking kidding me, woman?” Rome finally raged. He’d held it in too long and the voice that burst from him was vicious. “I’m going to kill you myself.”
My hand went to my hip and then I sat down on the table, crossing my legs and looking at my nails just to add more fuel to his fire. “Are you now? “
“Get your ass over here.” The fire in his eyes burned wicked, dark, like all the light had been extinguished and it was ready to burn out everyone else’s light too.
I smiled at the devil that had taken over him. Rome protected what was his. He didn’t like it if I threatened his property, even if the property was me. “Monster, you know I don’t listen—”
He stood abruptly and lunged across the table. His massive height and strong arms didn’t give me much of a chance. His arm was around my waist and he yanked me across the mahogany. I slid right into his lap, where he rearranged me and spread his hand over my belly.
“I don’t give a fuck if you don’t listen.” He stared at me like I was deranged. “Everyone, get out. I need to teach my insane girlfriend a lesson.”
Jett chuckled and Dante outright laughed, but everyone moved to leave the room.
As they exited, I narrowed my eyes at the man I knew I loved. “Girlfriend?”