Page 162 of Filthy Lies

“You should have trusted me.”

“Like you trusted me about your plan to kill him?” she fires back. “Like you trusted me about your offshore accounts?”

I have no choice but to sigh. We’ve both kept secrets. We’ve both manipulated the truth to get what we want.

We can move past that…

… if I let us.

I place Sofiya in her portable crib, ensuring she’s settled before turning back to Rowan. The fight sluices away from me, replaced by a grudging admiration I can’t suppress.

“You’re terrifying,” I tell her. It’s the highest compliment I can offer.

“Takes one to know one.”

I close the distance between us again, this time with different intent. My hands find her hips and drag her roughly against me. “Don’t ever go behind my back like that again.”

“Then don’t give me a reason to.”

Her defiance ignites something in me. I crush my mouth to hers. It’s punishment; it’s praise; it’s both; it’s everything. She responds instantly, her body melting into mine even as her teeth nip at my bottom lip hard enough to draw blood.

I lift her until her legs wrap around my waist. We collide with the wall, but neither of us notice or care.

“I should be furious with you,” I growl against her throat, leaving marks that will bloom purple by morning.

“You are,” she gasps as my fingers sneak beneath her skirt. “But you’re also impressed.”

I thrust two fingers inside her, feeling her clench around me. “You think you’re so fucking clever.”

“I am.” She throws her head back as I curl my fingers against the spot that makes her shudder. “I— Fuck, Vince.”

My cock strains against my pants, desperate to be inside her. I free myself with my other hand and hike her leg over my hip.

“What you did today,” I say, pausing at her threshold, “was either the bravest thing I’ve ever seen or the stupidest.”

“It was necessary.” Her nails dig into my shoulders through my shirt. “Now, stop talking and fuck me.”

I drive into her with one brutal thrust, swallowing her cry with another kiss. There’s no gentleness between us now. We’re long past that.

I fuck her against the wall, her legs locked around my waist, her body taking every punishing thrust like she was made for me.

And she was, I realize. Made to challenge me. To defy me. To complete me in ways I never knew I needed.

“I want you pregnant again,” I growl into her ear as I feel her tightening around me. “I want to put another baby inside you. Tonight.”

Her eyes fly open, meeting mine as I drive deeper. “Yes,” she gasps, and I can’t tell if she’s agreeing or just responding to the pleasure until she adds, “Yes, Vince. Give me another baby.”

The words send me over the edge. I come with a roar, spilling deep inside her, making her mine in the most savage way possible. She follows before I’m even halfway finished, her body convulsing around mine, milking every drop.

“Next time,” I murmur against her lips, “tell me before you invite my worst enemy to dinner.”

Rowan smiles, the wild, dangerous smile I’ve come to crave. “Where would the fun be in that?”

60

ROWAN

Things change fast in this life. I’d know that better than anyone. You grow and evolve and leave the old ways behind.

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