“I understand.”
He caught her hand and led her away from the kitchen back toward the great room. He liked the furniture there. They sank onto the comfortable couch. She leaned into him and put her head on his shoulder.
“What else did we have to talk about?” She reached out to thread her fingers through his.
He liked that. Liked that after everything he’d told her, she was matter-of-fact. It wasn’t like he didn’t know how compassionate a woman she was. He did. Everything he’d told her was the truth, but he’d chosen his words as carefully as possible. He’d told her the least amount that he could, even while looking for the best way to lay it out for her to elicit that deep empathy he was counting on to keep her with him.
“We need to establish Absinthe as your lawyer immediately. These people are playing for keeps. They found you, and they’re going to make every move possible in order to keep you off-balance. The best way to get at you is to have a doctor or someone imply that mentally you’ve had a breakdown and you need care. They’ll do that by saying you’re under my influence and you would never marry a man like me.”
“I didn’t think about that,” she conceded.
“The lawyer will file papers to have you go before a judge, and that judge will be his judge, the one in his pocket. You’ll be remanded into the loving arms of your fiancé while they unravel the paperwork and annul our marriage or declare it invalid.”
Her face had whitened with every word he said. “Ice. Oh my God. I don’t want to be anywhere near him.”
“That’s not going to happen. Absinthe will see to that. He’s amazing at what he does. Let’s just start with the necessary paperwork. You have to make certain the world knows that Absinthe is your attorney and anyone else acting in your name is doing so without your consent. He’ll find the lawyer in Vegas you used to help you get rid of Monroe, in fact I believe Code has already done so, and he’ll back you up that you fired Donald Monroe.”
“When are we doing this?”
“Absinthe is on his way.”
“Do you think they’ll try to kill me before I can file these papers?”
He ruffled her hair. “Baby, they did try. They tried this morning. That was their attempt. They sent four killers after you. I think you’re safe for at least today. Winston doesn’t strike me as the type to think that fast on his feet. He has too bad of a temper.”
“He isn’t the boss,” she reminded. “They threatened him, Ice. They said if he screwed up, he would be dead, not me.”
“Well, that’s something. Maybe we can get the boss man so angry with good old Winston, they do him in.”
“I can only hope.” Soleil rubbed her face against his arm like a little cat.
He cupped the side of her face and turned it to him. He’d needed to kiss her since early morning. “You’re always going to be my princess, Soleil.”
“I want that, Ice,” she admitted.
There were stars in her eyes. That look he craved—as if she worshipped him and the ground he walked on. She looked at him as if there were no other men in the world, certainly not worthy of her. He was it. The only one. Her only one.
He brought his lips to hers. Gently. Reverently. Just a brush. A whisper. His tongue touched that curve along the bottom. He knew it intimately. Knew the taste and texture of her. He felt that touch all the way to his soul. She parted her lips for him, and his tongue swept into the velvet heat. That place that took him away from his past and the dark demons that were always poised so close, waiting to devour him.
Kissing Soleil was like stepping into a different world. Fireworks played behind his eyes, as sensations poured through his body. He was gentle because his woman deserved gentle, but as always, that rapidly developed into a firestorm of flames and need, until he was devouring her. He loved the taste of her. He loved the way her body melted into his and her mouth gave back that scorching-hot fire until he was burning from the inside out.
When he lifted his head, Ice knew he was so far gone, there was no going back. His relationship with Soleil wasn’t about sex anymore. He hadn’t kept it there. There was no keeping their bond to that, not when just looking at her made him happy. His thumbs rubbed gently over her beautiful cheekbones.
“You’re going to have to surface, baby.”
“I know. But this has been a beautiful dream, Ice. You gave me this last month, and it’s been the loveliest time I can ever remember having.”