Page 41 of Nash

Or what I did to him.Gladly.

“What happened that night by the pool?” she asks, moving past it. “I mean, for you?”

“I came home after a bad day. A bloody one, actually, and I saw you and Alena laughing and laying out. She was the same, but you’d changed. You looked mature in your black bikini, and it took my breath away. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. God,” I drag my hand down my face, “I felt like a horrible, horny man.”

She laughs. “Then what’s my excuse?”

I cock a brow.

“Because I felt horrible for being horny for you, too. From the time I was sixteen, you gave me pussy quivers.”

I softly chuckle. “Pussywhat?”

“Pussy quivers.”Damn, she’s cute. “You know that feeling you get between your legs that reminds you you’re an animal, not someone who needs to renew their driver’s license.”

Laughter hits me. Jealousy, too. This is a stupid question. Of course, I ask, “Who else gives you pussy quivers?”

She smirks, making it last way too long, circling her fingertip over the lion on my chest. “That sounds like a detail to me,” she teases.

“It sounds like the next thing that better come out of your sassy mouth.”

She sticks her tongue out, and I grab it, making her shriek, then laugh. “Gaaah. Otaayy.” I let go, and she says. “Only you! You’re the pussy party of one in my pants.”

I let that make my fucking day. Week. Year.

Life.

“What about you?” she volleys back. “Who else puts a tingle in your dingle?”

“Dingle? Poison, I’m way too big to dingle.”

“Okay,” she quips. “Who puts a big gong in your giant dong?”

I laugh, wrapping my arms around her. “Woman, you have a PhD in killing me.”

“Then answer the doctor.”

This is the part. The one that makes me regret everything and nothing. “I’ve never allowed myself to feel…” I press my forehead to hers, “this.”

Softly, she asks, “Why not?”

“It’s too dangerous. Too risky. It’s a beast of a life, Vale. And if you ever see that side of me, you won’t like him.”

“You may be a beast, but you’re a good father.” Her fingertip traces over my heart. “I love how you love Alena.”

The words sit on the tip of my tongue, but they’re too dangerous. If I say them, I mean it forever. Vale would be mine forever.

“I love…” I swallow the rocks in my throat, “how you love her, too.”

Suddenly, tears threaten her eyes. They’re not happy; they’re worried. “What are we going to do now?”

“Keep the biggest secret of our lives.”

“Me?” Her brows shoot up. “You expect me and my AK-47 of a mouth not to fire? That feels impossible because I’m holding back a lot of ammo. All the sex secrets from Delta’s. All your mafia stuff. All the Cummings, Jace, Grant, and your private meeting drama. And now this?” She grabs my chest, admitting, “Nash, I can’t lie to Alena.”

“You have to. It’s for her safety.”

“Okay.” She props up on her elbows. “The secret about her dad-in-the-mafia part I get, but not us.”

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