I gaped after her as she closed the door to my room with a silent click.
I was in my childhood bedroom.
But I wasn’t a kid anymore.
I lifted my eyes to meet Valerian’s hard stare.
I was his.
I was a Petrov.
It was like my tattoo burned on my finger.
I was his queen.
And he was a boss.
So many things had happened in this room, our first kiss, followed by a very inappropriate make out session that lasted until five a.m. and resulted in Breaker—Valerian hiding under my bed until my dad left.
I was fifteen.
And he was horny.
“I fell in love with you here,” he whispered. “Remember the Cinderella tent you used to have set up in the middle of your room?”
I scowled. “You swore.”
His smirk was so damn sexy that I had to look away or lose my resolve. Already I could feel my heart warming. I hated that I wanted him.
He had ruined everything.
And sex wasn’t going to fix this.
“We lay in it for two hours. I asked if I could kiss you again and you said yes, but only if you could see my—”
“I was young!” I said defensively.
“So was I.” His voice deepened. “I don’t think I’ve ever gone so embarrassingly fast in my entire life, all because of innocent little Violet Abandonato’s tight squeeze and what was it, two pumps? Three?”
“Two and a half.” I chewed down on my lower lip. “It was over before it started.”
I squeezed my eyes shut at the double entendre.
He got up from my bed. I focused on the wood floor, on my leopard print rug, as he took a step toward me. His brown boots came into full focus along with jeans that molded to powerful thighs. Slowly, I walked my gaze up his body. He was wearing a white V-neck shirt; it was a deep enough V that I could see the swirl of the Campisi tattoo poking out from underneath.
“Why did you get the tattoo when you’re a Petrov?”
He sighed and then peeled his shirt over his head, giving me an eyeful of a muscled six-pack, tan skin, and bulging biceps that I wanted to hold on to, to squeeze.
Why did he have to be so damn pretty?
“Here.” He pointed to the bottom of the tattoo, and there, hidden in plain sight but camouflaged, was the mark of his true Family. “The Petrov Sickle. The only way to get this tattoo is to be born into the Family—or married into it.”
“Did you know they would bind you to me?” I finally asked, my curiosity getting the best of me despite my anger.
His face fell. “Vi, I already told you, I had no idea, but it—damn, it makes sense when I think back on how easily Andrei agreed, how he and Phoenix orchestrated everything. One thing I know for certain, Breaker and Violet would have never been able to be together.”
I wanted to scream. “You don’t know that!”
“Vi…” His eyes burned into me. “The adopted son of Tex Campisi, one who has no supposed bloodline, one who was set to guard you at political events? One who was ordered by your father never to touch you? I know you love him, but Chase isn’t… He’s strategic, and marrying me would have been the opposite of that. Somehow, he would have convinced you; somehow, I would have fought for you, and I know for a fact I would have ended up dead. Serena and Junior made sense and were willing to die for each other. We were more than a secret. You were this untouchable thing—he would have chased me down until I was out of the picture, of that, I’m sure.”
“You don’t know my dad like I do. If I would have gone to him, told him I loved you.”
He flinched at the past tense.
“He would have let me.”
Valerian’s face fell. “Ask him next time you see him.”
“I will.” I gritted my teeth. “I think you should leave.”
“You promised me one more night.” His easy grin was back. “And it looks like we still have ohhhhh, at least five hours until midnight.”
“Then you go.” My chin wobbled.
“Then I go…” he whispered. “Back to Seattle.”
“Alone,” I confirmed, hating how desperately I wanted to fling myself into his arms because he was alive, and he was talking to me, but he was different, and he’d told so many lies, and we were supposed to be something not like this. “Say it.”
He locked eyes with me. “Alone. I go back alone, but not forever, because one day…” He approached then. “One day you’ll realize what a colossal mistake it was watching me walk out of your life when all I ever wanted to do was be by your side. I lied to you. But I sacrificed everything so we could be together, so while you’re sitting there feeling sorry for yourself that Breaker’s dead, remember, I’m still him, and I’m standing right in front of you, alive, breathing, begging to taste my wife’s lips, begging to love her, begging to touch her skin and feel her heartbeat with my mouth.”