“You idiot,” I sobbed. “Don’t you know that all I want is you?”
“Look at me, precious,” he commanded in a thick voice. My eyes collided with his, and he grabbed my hips, jerking me against him. “There is nothing I’m scared of except losing you. My greatest fear is that you will wake up one morning and realize you could do so much better than the monster lying beside you.”
“My biggest fear is that one day I’ll fall off that pedestal you have me on, and you’ll walk away without a backward glance,” I whispered around the lump in my throat.
He lifted me, and I automatically wrapped my legs around his waist. “I don’t have you on a pedestal,” he denied, his eyes blazing. “You’re exactly where you should be. On a throne for me to bow at your feet.”
“Gian—”
His lips cut off my chiding tone. I thrust my fingers into his short hair, kissing him back, desperate for him. It wasn’t until my back hit the mattress that I even realized he’d been walking.
I shoved at his shoulders, and he rolled onto his back, taking me with him to lie on top of him. Pushing myself up, I straddled his waist and looked down at him, all the love I had for him shining from my eyes. “I will never leave you. You are the one person in this world I can’t live without. You are my everything, G. My happiness starts and ends with you.”
His eyes darkened, and he flipped me onto my back once again. He opened his mouth, and I prayed he was going to say “I love you” or at least repeat the vows I’d just made him.
Instead, he kissed me so deeply, I forgot about everything but his taste on my tongue.
Until I woke up the next morning, alone in our bed.
Chapter 9
Gian
Monroe had been asleep for hours, but I couldn’t stop looking at her to do the same. She was pressed up against my side, her arms wrapped around my waist, her thick, dark hair spread over
my pillow. I was lying with my head propped up on my hand, looking down at her beautiful face while tracing my thumb over her jaw.
Her skin was so soft, I was always worried I would damage it with how callused my hands were. Yet she loved my hands on her, the differences in our textures bringing her pleasure and joy that I was never going to be able to deny her. My precious girl could have asked for a star plucked from the sky to wear around her neck, and I would have found a way to make it happen.
I didn’t like us arguing earlier. She deserved so much better than me, but I was too selfish to give her up. Not that any other man could take her from me. I would kill any sonofabitch who tried.
Even if that man was her father.
Lowering my head, I skimmed my lips down her cheek. She sighed happily and moved closer to me in her sleep, her arms tightening around my waist. But before I could reach her lips, to kiss her awake and make love to her all over again, my phone rang.
She whined prettily, and I quickly grabbed my phone to turn it off. But when I saw who it was, my blood ran cold. Silencing the ringer, I kissed Monroe’s brow and carefully untangled myself from her.
I walked into the bathroom and shut the door before returning the call.
Five minutes later, I hung up, pissed and dreading what I had to do.
I ached to take Monroe with me, but there was no way I could. Not when I had to deal with that bastard.
When Santino died, I’d taken over everything. Except the sex trafficking. My adoptive father’s business partner in that particular trade was more than happy to accept the full profits. All I cared about was getting as far away from that business as possible, but as the years passed, I’d regretted not taking the motherfucker out and putting a stop to Santino’s legacy of trafficking girls, boys, and women.
Just because I wasn’t a part of it didn’t mean Monroe would be okay with my letting it continue when I could do something about it.
Now, it looked like I was going to have to do just that.
But it meant leaving her behind to handle it. She would be safer with her family. Given the man I would be dealing with, I needed to be at full attention, show no weakness. And the only weakness I had was sleeping like the angel she was on the bed we’d made ours over the past six weeks.
Reluctantly, I walked over to the bed and, leaning down, brushed a soft kiss over her forehead. “I’ll be back for you as soon as I can, precious. You’re going to be angry with me when you wake up, but I’ll make it up to you when I get back.” Reaching into the slacks I’d already pulled on, I retrieved her necklace that I’d kept with me from the time she’d left it behind in New York. “Wear this, and I’ll be with you.”
I kissed her one more time, placed the necklace where she would find it, and forced myself to walk away.
Soon, I would be back for her.
Soon, she would be right beside me once more, and I wasn’t ever going to let her go again.