Page 108 of Silent Heart

“No, and you won’t hurt my family to get even,” she muttered, almost to herself.

I frowned. “Never. They might annoy me,” I added. “I think most of your cousins are spoiled little douches, but I won’t hurt them.”

“No, you won’t.” And with that, Harley rose, walked around the table, and fisted my dress shirt. Her lips crushed against mine.

Gripping her waist, I pulled her close. The material of her dress was impossibly soft. My fingers itched to explore the folds of material. But I contented myself with fucking her mouth with my tongue. More, we would have more later. Harley moaned against my kiss.

I could feel the wait staff wanting to intervene, their disgust permeating the air like a black cloud, but they didn’t approach. I kissed my girl until we were both breathless. Mine—Harley was going to be mine.

She pulled back, smiling down at me. “Tell me about your childhood,” she said, placing one more peck on my lips before returning to her seat.

Suddenly losing my appetite, I struggled to find the words, but since she’d asked, I did.

Chapter 44 – Harley

“Does he want something to drink?” I asked Cami Joe in hushed tones.

Cami flicked a glance at the brutish fellow standing by the door, hair gelled back only to fall in ringlets near his shoulders. To anyone watching, he looked like he was up to no good, not fitting in well with the other university students filling the coffee shop.

“He’s fine,” Cami muttered.

Chewing contemplatively on the end of my pen, I watched. The guard must have felt my gaze, because his snapped to catch mine.

Warmth infused my cheeks. I flashed him a sheepish smile, which he returned with one of feline proportion.

“I know Kolya seems all quiet and harmless, but trust me, with these men, it’s the quiet ones to watch for,” Cami said without looking up. “If your man catches you grinning with another, even a brother-in-arms, he’ll likely gut poor Pavel.”

I wanted to protest, but judging from the way she spoke, that wasn’t an idle threat. “Has he gutted anyone before?” I asked,thinking of the deer we butchered after hunting season. While thinning the herds was important for conservationism, it still was sad to watch a knife slide through their soft bellies and their insides pulled out so the meat could be brought home to process.

“They call your manthe Wraith. Don’t ever underestimate him as something cute and cuddly,” Cami deadpanned. “If he had a reason, even the good doctor over there wouldn’t be able to fight him off. Of course, then Kaz would have to go after Kolya for hurting his friend, and then Dimitri would have to go after Kaz. Basically, a whole big clusterfuck.”

“Don’t let your grandma hear,” I teased, wanting to lighten the mood.

Cami rolled her eyes. “Even nonna would use that term to describe the boys launching into one another.”

Yawning, I glanced at my watch. “I’m going to head back. You coming?”

Reluctantly, Cami pushed to her feet. Once we gathered our things, she walked out the door without sparing her shadow so much as a glance. Maybe she was used to having guards follow her. She brushed it off as if it were the most natural thing in the world to have a biker-looking dude follow us at a distance.

The drive back was mostly silent. Navigating the careful balance of caffeine and sleep took a toll on the nervous system.

By the time we arrived at the dorm parking lot, Pavel was already there, avoiding the cameras and checking dark corners for a threat.

“Damn, he’s good,” I said under my breath. “But why’s he here again?”

When we’d agreed to go study, I’d been surprised by the bodyguard’s appearance. To my knowledge, she hadn’t had one all semester.

“The guys stirred a hornet’s nest last night. Kazimir gave me the choice of a bodyguard or going back to the villa.” Camiwatched me carefully as we hurried into our dorm building and took the stairs.

“What did they do? Kolya never said.” I chewed on that bit of information. Either he didn’t think it was a big deal, or he was keeping it from me?

“The thing about their business is that we’re the last ones to know what’s going on. I wouldn’t take it personally, Har.” Cami gave me a small squeeze as she passed me to go to the door of her suite. “Pavel is my babysitter, not yours.”

Well that just wasn’t going to work for me. I didn’t need to know everything, but if something was happening, Kolya was going to have to learn pretty darn fast to communicate. A noiseless laugh bubbled up my chest. Him, the quiet one, communicate. I swung my door open.

And squeaked.

On the floor was a plain sheet of paper with the wordtick-tockscribbled over the center. A knife stabbed it to the floor.

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