Page 73 of The Toy Collector

I fill them in on the meetings she’s been privy to, and all the things she’s overheard. I’m pretty sure she knows more than she’s led on. If it scares her, she’s hiding it well. Especially since she keeps coming back—both to the building and to me.

“What if she runs?” Matteo asks, tone more curious than cruel.

I look up, locking eyes with him. “Then I’ll chase her to the end of the fucking Earth.”

Remus raises his glass to that. “There he is.”

“You think I’m joking?” I don’t smile or blink. I hold his gaze so he knows I’m deadly serious.

“No,” Remus says. “That’s what makes it inevitable.”

Matteo snorts. “Chasing’s fun. I prefer the part after, when they realize they never had a chance.”

“I don’t want her broken,” I say, voice darker now. “I want her to know I bend the very fabrics of the world just for her.”

Even Rafe whistles at that.

Remus studies me over the rim of his glass, his eyes sharp, unblinking. “You’re in deep.”

“So I’ve been told,” I smirk.

As Remus steers the conversation back to Matteo’s new idea, I allow myself a moment to breathe. After checking my phone to make sure there’s nothing pressing, I check the clone of Piper’s phone, surprised there’s been activity I’ve missed.

It looks like she updated her Notes app hours ago. Smirking, I open it. My eyes widen and my pants feel too fucking tight as I read over her list of… fuck me.

My toy has created a kink list. I bark out a laugh at her question about whether she has any or not. If she’d asked me outright, I could tell her she does.

I scroll back to the top of her list, reading it again slowly, deliberately—like it’s gospel, which it very well might be since it’s bringing me to my fucking knees.

Do I have any?

Do the below count as kinks?

My gaze drifts back to the last item on her list, and my cock jerks as I readit. If my toy’s curious about somnophilia, I’ll be the one to answer that question for her. I rise without another word, already texting my pilot and driver that we’re leaving.

“You’re leaving?” Matteo blinks, halfway through raising his glass. “Youjustsat down.”

“Enzo doesn’t sit,” Rafe mutters, watching me with something between respect and wariness. “He waits. And apparently, his wait’s over.”

Remus just looks at me, eyes sharp. “What’d she do?”

I smirk as I shrug on my coat. “She made a list.”

“A grocery list?” Matteo deadpans.

I glance over my shoulder, eyes cold, hungry. “A kink list.”

All three of them burst out laughing, enough to interrupt the woman still bobbing away between Matteo’s legs.

“Don’t wait up,” I grin, already pushing the door open.

There’s a girl in D.C. with a fantasy I plan on answering.

Chapter 26

Lorenzo

Iland in D.C. just before 2 a.m.,the streets slick with rain that glistens like oil under the city lights. Her apartment is quiet when I let myself in, the kind of silence that feels sacred.

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