Page 100 of Silent Heart

“The mob,” I gasped.

“Yes.”

“That stuff still exists?” I stammered.

“Yes.”

Holy cow, the mob.I blinked at him. This was the stuff of fiction playing out right in front of me! The compound they lived in, that explained a lot. While it looked more secure than Fort Knox, it was also luxurious on the inside. Illegal enterprises would explain the amount of money it took to create that.

And to buy the lake house.

“Is this the part where you make me an offer I can’t refuse?” I scoffed, sitting back in my seat. “I need to keep my mouth shut, or else?”

“No!” Kolya leaned forward. “I would never threaten you.”

But you did hurt me.

“You have to understand, my world isn’t safe, Harley.”

“That’s why you left?” That was it. The sob came out and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Kolya fisted his hand on his lap. “I left to protect you. You’re too good, too decent for this life.”

“I should have had a say.”

Whatever his response, I cut it off with a slash of my hand. “And what about the others? Cami? Vivian? Dani—hell, her children! Clearly there are families in your world. But you just disappeared, not giving us a chance.”

Kolya closed his eyes. “If it was only the world of criminal organizations, I would have let you in. Saints help me, Harley, but there would have been no stopping me from claiming you and bringing you into the shadows of the underworld.”

There was so much pain behind those words. Despite how mad I was, I reached for him, laying my hand on his arm.

Kolya looked down at where we were connected.

Silence pulsed thick. The minutes ticked by on the dash. We would have to leave now if we wanted to make it back to campus in the morning rush hour. But instead, we let our misery consume the space around us, ebbing and flowing from one agonized soul into the other until it was impossible to say where one’s pain started and the other’s picked up.

“You need to quit trying to protect me, and let me make decisions for myself,” I decided.

Kolya pursed his lips. “Harley, I’ll never be able to live if something happens to you because of me.”

“It’s too late.” And then, I closed the distance.

Chapter 40 – Harley

The first press of our lips was violent.

We tore into one another. We crawled into the backseat, scrambling to rid ourselves of our clothes. Kolya was parked in such a way that only someone looking directly through the front dash could catch a glimpse.

But I didn’t freaking care. I needed this man more than I needed my next breath.

My leggings snapped off my ankles and then his rough hand guided my thighs over his lap. The gun in his waistband was carefully set to the side, and then he snapped the jeans open. I reached greedily for him, suddenly starved.

In two quick moves, he was inside me.

Pure bliss shot through my veins. We paused, looking into one another’s eyes. Our heavy breathing filled the air. I was stretched and filled. Euphoria washed through me like a healing rain. The inner muscles squeezed in happiness at the feel of his invasion.

Kolya moaned. “Fuck, Harley—I missed you.”

“Just because I’m the kind of girl who climbs on your lap in the backseat of your big old truck?” I teased. Humor was an easier deflection than admitting what I truly felt.

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