Bound to Darkness (Doubeck Crime Family)

13

KAI

The snow stopped in the early hours of the morning, and I watched it taper off and die. Some part of me wanted it to continue, to give Rose a bit more time in this place where she seems at peace. Of course, fate has other plans, the bitch.

I’ve been dressed for hours and dreading the moment I have to wake her and tell her we’re leaving. Her room is dark as I creep inside, and something in my chest squeezes at the fact that she didn’t lock the door this time. I also love that she’s sleeping soundly, no nightmares, even with the unexpected visitor.

I gently shake her shoulder, but she only rolls over, tugging the covers to give me a glimpse of her white lace panties and a T-shirt riding up her back.

Fucking hell.

After I get control of myself, fighting the urge to lean down and leave one solid bite mark right on the glorious curve of her hip, I shake her one more time. “Rose. Wake up, you need to wake up.”

She fans her hand at me, missing my arms completely. “Go away.” Her muffled reply comes from the blanket hoard she’s amassed under her chin.

“Rose, if you don’t get up now, I’m going to toss you out in the snow to make sure you’re good and awake.”

She pops one eye open, closes it, and then shifts again, threading the covers between her thighs, and damn if I don’t wish that was my own leg or my cock.

“Rose.” I sit on the side of the bed and shake it. “Wake up, Rose. We have to leave. The snow stopped a while ago, and I don’t trust my sister not to have a strike team on the way already.”

This time, she rolls to face me with a glare. “Why would she do that?”

“My sister is a political animal. She will stop at nothing to be the best.”

“How do you know? Maybe she’s grown up.”

I grit my teeth and drag the covers off her body. She fumbles for them as I throw them to the floor. “Because nothing less than perfection is enough for my sister. I learned that lesson years ago.”

Her eyes are bright now, fixed on me. “Oh, how so?”

I reach down and grab her by the bicep to sit her up. Her blonde hair flies around her face, and I resist the sweet curve of her breasts against the side of my hand. “Not something I’ll go into right now. What if we make a deal? You get up, and once we are safe again, I’ll tell you about the time my sister broke my leg for me.”

Her eyes go wide. “She what?”

“Nope, not doing anything until you get moving.”

Finally, she shuffles onto the bed. I toss a pair of jeans and a sweater at her face, but she doesn’t catch them, just lets them fall to her lap and then slip to the floor. “Clothes,” I prompt.

I turn my back, hoping she’ll change quickly, so I don’t get the urge to push her back into the bed and stay a bit longer.

While she’s changing, I open the dresser drawers and start pulling out her clothing.

“Hey.” Her voice is still scratchy and deep from slumber. “Stop it. Don’t pack my stuff. I can do it when I’m ready.”

I glance at the clothing still piled at her feet. “When you’re ready might not be soon enough. Now, let’s go, or I’ll drag you out into the cold naked.”

She crosses her arms under her breasts and glares. “You wouldn’t. Me getting frostbite is not in your job description.”

I pull out another drawer and upend it over the suitcase, which forces her out of the bed toward me. “I said stop it. I don’t want to leave yet.”

She tugs the drawer, and I let her have it since I’ve already emptied it. Then I move on to the next. “You’re right. Frostbite isn’t in the job description, so how about this. If you don’t get dressed right now, I’ll pin you to the wall and dress you myself, and I promise, I’ll be nice and slow about it.”

The look on her face is pure outrage, so much so that she doesn’t lunge at me when I empty the next drawer into the case.

Once the dresser is empty, I stare at the lotions and creams on top. “You have a toiletry bag, or do you want me to just shove this all in together?”

As if coming out of a spell, she lurches toward the dresser and puts her body in front of it. “You aren’t listening to me.”