Kingpin (Bride of the Billionaire)
“I am the king of this town, but that also makes me a target,” I tell her. “A target for men looking to be me. They never could, but they think they could. They’d do anything they can to get to me, and that includes hurting you.”
She takes longer than I expect to respond, which makes things all the more difficult. Christ, she’s so innocent. I can see her formulating her words; she doesn’t want to hurt me. Even though she knows who I am. What I am.
“Your life must be so lonely.”
Her words all but knock me on my ass. This time, I’m the one stammering. “I—I mean…it’s the life I made for myself. No one did this to me.”
“No,” she agrees. “You did it to yourself. That means you can undo it too.”
Suddenly I feel like I’m on a therapist’s couch. “Undo it how?”
“Stop being the king.”
“Kings don’t give up their power,” I tell her. “They die, either of old age or some other violent means.”
“Bad kings maybe,” she replies, her eyes intent. “But good men know when to quit, when to come down from their castle and make a new life for themselves.”
“Good men.” I chuckle softly. “Who says I’m a good man, Ella?”
“I do. I can see it in your eyes, Sasha. The way you are with me. A bad man wouldn’t do what you’re doing now. You may have bad men after you, but you’re not one of them.”
I can feel myself starting to soften like clay submerged in warm water. This girl is sweet—almost too sweet for her own good. She’s in one of Los Angeles’ best restaurants wearing a cheerleading uniform, sitting with the town’s most notorious gangster, and all she cares about is making me feel good about myself.
She’s a saint, and as a sinner, I don’t deserve her.
“You don’t know me…” I mutter. “And I barely know you. But, baby, I don’t know if I can resist you any longer.”
“Then don’t,” she replies. The waiter returns with our appetizers and sets them in front of us, but I’m not hungry anymore—at least not for what they’re serving here. I reach into my pocket and pull out five hundred dollars and hand it to him.
“My compliments to the chef, but we’ve got to be somewhere.”
As I rise, I take Ella’s hand like she’s my new bride and walk her to the door, which my men open for me. I lead her into the back of the truck, and as we head home, I realize that no matter what, there’s no way I can let her go now.
She’s it.
She’s the one.
The one who will make a good man out of me.
4
Ella
As the gates to Sasha’s Hollywood Hills mansion open to admit us, a revelation comes over me.
I’m falling in love with him.
Yes, Sasha Kumarin, kingpin, gangster, criminal, has seized my heart like a conqueror seizing new land for his kingdom. Every second that ticks by belongs to him, like I do now. And I’m not even afraid. I’m about to boil over with excitement.
“All these men,” I say as I glance around his yard, which is littered with guards in black suits, most of them armed. “You really think anyone could get to me?”
“Don’t talk about that now,” he whispers, tracing the lines of my leg as he moves dangerously close to the prize between my thighs. “Let me focus on you, gorgeous. How is it that you have no idea how sexy you are? The rest of the girls on your squad must hate you.”
My body is sizzling with heat that begins at my core and radiates outward. I’ve never been so turned on in my entire life. His sheer presence is overwhelming. His scent, the hint of cologne and a smoked cigar, and the warmth of his touch…I’m melting like a candle beneath a roaring flame.
I shift in my seat, feeling the wetness growing between my thighs. This is what it’s like to be
filled with desperate need. Like every girl, I’ve dreamt of losing my virginity, but I never thought it would happen like this.