“Right now, I don’t want to solve shit.” I bring my face inches from Rome’s. “All I want is to hear you say you understand Leandra is off-limits. My wife will not be a part of this game you plan on playing. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever. Understood?”
Seconds tick by as we keep each other’s glare. Part of me hopes he’ll challenge me, give me a reason to slit his throat. But I’m secretly disappointed when he nods and says, “Understood.”
“Good.”
“Great.” Nicoli claps his hands, cigarette hanging from his lips. “Now, let’s have a drink and celebrate the fact that we’ve delayed bloodshed by another day.”
“I think I’ve had enough of cowards for one day,” I sneer, pressure building in my head as I keep a threatening eye on Rome for a few more seconds before stomping out of my office, slamming the door behind me. My cousin unnerves me, and the more I look at him, the clearer I see the smile on Leandra’s face. It’s an innocent act that sharpens the edge of my anger, eliciting the deadliest impulses in me. I’ve never been so close to madness as I am now. Longing for her, craving her like she’s the heroin my veins need, is lethal when combined with the venom of my jealousy. My obsessive instincts are heightened, sharp, and deadlier than ever now that I don’t have her.
I could kill a man with my bare hands for something as simple as breathing in a way I don’t fucking like. Maybe this is what it means to truly be evil, having no control over your mind and your actions, no longer fighting the darkest parts of you, because what’s the point? What’s the point of trying to be a better man when the person who owns your heart no longer wants it? All that’s left is this soul crushing rage while I go about my day being a miserable bastard.
Even my footsteps are angered, and I can hardly breathe, loosening my tie with a violent jerk and popping the button of my collar. I want to destroy something so badly, my every muscle is on the verge of exploding.
Fuck!I slam my fist into the wall, growling. My teeth are clenched, and my blood pumps violently and hard, swooshing in my ears. I’ve never felt like this before. My mind, my thoughts, my body possessed by the thought of her. She’s this delusion that lives inside my head because she sure as fuck ain’t in my bed anymore.
I punch my fist against the wall, followed by another, the plaster cracking under my rage, and I let out a roar of agony. All I see is her face, those sultry heart-shaped lips, long lashes that fan her cheeks as her eyes roll closed every time I slide my cock into her. Those soft, sensual noises she makes as I rock her body, it fucking haunts me. The feel of her nails clawing at the skin of my back, her heels digging into the flesh of my ass while her thighs trap me between her legs, forcing me deeper, not letting go. My wife consumes me. She weakens me. And not being able to touch her, kiss her, have her in every way possible has me dying a slow, painful death, my insides breaking more and more each day.
I lean my head against the wall, my mind sinking into darkness while I drown in my love for her.God. Why can’t she just come to her senses? She knows as well as I do we’re meant to be together. I saw it in her eyes. She knows she’s mine.
“Alexius?”
My heart stutters and stops. I freeze, practically gasping for breath, struggling against the whirlpool of anger, frustration, and the worst torment I’ve ever felt in my life.
“Are you okay?” Leandra’s voice is a sheet of silk around my throat, and I can practically taste her as her scent surrounds me. It’s not her perfume, or soap, or shampoo I smell. It’s a scent that’s uniquely her. An exquisite fusion of love, affection, lust, and a flurry of indecent intentions.
I glance up, and the thread snaps as my gaze meets hers. I surge forward, grab her waist, and yank her against me, spinning around and pulling her into the first room closest to us.
“Alexius, what are you—”
The door slams shut, and I push her back against it. Without thinking twice, I crash my lips against hers, kissing her as if the antidote to my suffering is on her velvet tongue. I press my body against hers, slide my tongue in her mouth, and groan as I finally taste her after being without it for what feels like a goddamn eternity.
My one hand is on her waist while the other grips her jaw tightly, ensuring she can’t move her lips away from mine. She tastes like poison and sunshine, a blend of death and salvation. And the best part? She’s kissing me back, and it’s heated, carnal, like she knows exactly what I need because it’s what she needs, too.
It doesn’t occur to me that this is a moment lost within a whirlpool of chaos. I’m out of control and don’t give a fuck about a single second we’ve spent apart. I don’t care that our reality has us separated.
“Stop,” she breathes against my lips.
“Don’t,” I warn. “Don’t say a fucking word.” I take her mouth hard, sweeping my tongue deep, kissing her like I’m fucking dying inside, like she’s the cure to every pain I’ve ever suffered in my entire goddamn life.
“Alexius, stop.” But her lips are a complete contradiction to her words as she opens wide, giving my tongue access to every corner of her mouth. Her hands press against my chest, but I grab her wrists and pin them above her head with a violent jerk, the sound of her gasp rippling down my spine. Her breasts push up as her back curves, and the second I have both her hands secured in my palm, I reach down and cup her tit, my lips sucking and teeth nipping at her nipple through the fabric of her top.
“Oh, God.” The sound of her sweet moans tears a low growl from my chest, my cock hard and aching to fuck. “We can’t do this.”
“We can.” My lips are on hers again, and I snake my hand around her hip, clutching her ass, pushing her hard against my raging cock. “We can do this every second of every goddamn day.”
“Alexius,” her voice is a strained whisper, “please…stop.”
“Don’t say it.”
“Please.”
“Fuck!” I roar, grip her hips, and swivel her around, forcing her front against the wall, pushing my body hard against her, the curve of her ass giving my dick the friction I need. “You’ve made me wait too long, stray.”
“Not long enough.”
I nip at her ear and roll my hips. “You feel that? You have no idea how I ache to be inside you. I’m fucking suffering, and I can’t take it anymore.”
“You deserve it,” she sneers over her shoulder, rubbing her ass against my hard cock. “You deserve to suffer.”