Page 28 of Lethal Devotion
“Well, I don’t know if I’m there yet. But here’s to hoping.” Valentina smiles at me, and I feel like something has eased between us, the awkwardness broken. We have something in common, at least, even if we’re from two very different worlds. We can bond over motherhood, at least, and I didn’t realize until right this moment how good it would be to have someone who I can connect with here.
I’ve been on my own for a long time, but I’ve felt more lonely since getting here last night than I think I can remember feeling in years. It’s something to do with the mansion, how large and cavernous it feels, a place that I have no real business being, among people I don’t know. I feel adrift, and whether Valentina is a real friend or not, I find myself grasping at any connection I can.
“How long have you and Konstantin been married?” I shift Adam to my other hip, and he reaches for Valentina, waving a chubby fist at her.
“A little over a year.” Valentina smiles at Adam, tapping his waving hand with one of her fingers. “Do you like it here?”
“I like the big house,” he announces, and she laughs.
“So do I. It’s very nice.” She straightens, looking at me. “I can give you a tour, if you like.”
“Oh, you don’t have to?—”
Valentina waves a hand. “Oh, it’s no trouble. Really. I’m antsy and I need to walk around. Plus, I can see this little guy is getting fidgety,too. The mansion is huge, you might as well know what there is do to here.”
I feel guilty taking up her time, but she’s right. I should know where in the mansion I can go, and where Adam and I can find things to do to occupy our time. So I smile, graciously accepting her offer, and set Adam down to toddle along with us as I follow her into the mansion. Our new home… at least for now.
And then, after the threat is gone and Damian no longer needs to protect us? I have no idea.
9
DAMIAN
No amount of work seems to make me able to stop thinking about Sienna. Not even the job tonight, where I took five men to track down three of Russo’s, could drive her from my mind for long.
It’s been two days since Konstantin sent a message to Giovanni, and he’s heard nothing back. So, despite his distaste for violence, he agreed to let me send a message. I knew where three of Giovanni’s men would be, bringing in a shipment down at the docks, and we took them by surprise.
Their blood is still under my fingernails as I stride back to my waiting car, my knuckles sore from the interrogation. They didn’t know anything about Giovanni’s interest in the porn business or human trafficking, but they were happy to give up anything else they could think of—none of it useful. We killed two of them and cut two fingers off the third, one for each day that Giovanni has kept Konstantin waiting. He didn’t tell me not to, and I thought it seemed like an appropriate message.
Now, I feel irritated, restless. I should go home, get some rest, gear up for tomorrow when there will be more meetings with Konstantin, more plans to be made on how to address Giovanni’s silence, how toprepare for the potential of an attack. But all I can think is that if I go home, all I’ll do is lie in bed and think of how Sienna is just down the hall, a temptation I can’t allow myself to think about for too long.
Fuck.
I drive back the long way to the mansion, intentionally putting off my return. I’ve mostly avoided her these past couple of days. The mansion is large, and I’ve spent a lot of my time away from it, and for the most part, I haven’t seen her. Security has let me know she’s there and safe, and that’s all that should matter to me.
Except for the fact that I shouldn’tneedto stay away from her at all.
I drag a hand down my face, gritting my teeth as I feel a throb of desire just at the thought of her. What kind of man am I, lusting after a girl who’s barely twenty-two? Konstantin ran a dossier on her the first day after she arrived, and seeing her age in black and white made me feel even worse than I already do. She’s over fifteen years my junior… I shouldn’t want her like this. I shouldn’t want her at all.
I should think of her as something to protect and nothing else, an innocent life that nearly got snuffed out in the violence that she accidentally got caught up in.
I need to get laid.It’s been a while, and my hand is normally no substitute for an actual woman in my bed. Right now, with my lust surging out of control around Sienna, jacking off isn’t helping one damn bit. I’ve already come twice today, unable to stop myself from thinking about her both times, and I can already feel my cock twitching just at the thought of her sleeping down the hall from me.
I take a sharp left turn, heading back into the city. What I need is a drink and a soft, warm body to lose myself in, and I know exactly the place to get both of those things.
Neil’s Rusty Nailis a dive bar I’ve been to quite a few times in the past, and dive bar is a generous name for it. It’s a one-room establishment with a bar that can seat fifteen at the back of it, a few shitty booths and tables scattered around, and the rest of the space taken up by pool tables. It always smells like cigarettes and sweat, and it’s a far cry from the shining, glittery, neon downtown of Miami.
It’s a good place to get a beer and find a woman with no expectations. And I see exactly the kind of woman I had in mind the minute I walk in, perched up at the bar with her black hair hanging loose around her shoulders in thick waves and a red, scrunched-up dress barely covering her shapely ass.
“Damian,” Neil greets me before I’m even halfway to the bar. “Want the usual?”
“Sure.” I grab an empty stool to the right of the bar, and before Neil’s even popped the top off of a cold bottle for me, Stella is sliding into the stool next to mine, that red dress showing so much thigh that I can almost see the color of the panties between them.
“Damian.” She purrs my name, grabbing the bottle from Neil’s hand before he can put it on the bar in front of me. She lifts it to her lips, pursing them around the mouth of it before handing the bottle to me. “In case you forgot what my lipstick tasted like.”
“Stella.” I take the bottle, fighting the urge to wipe off the red smear across one side of it. I turn it instead, not wanting to upset her. She’s an easy lay, one I’ve had before, and if that’s what I want tonight…
I wouldn’t even have to go home with her. One beer, and I could have her up against the back wall of the bar. She’d probably suck my cock. I could come down her mouth, or let her suck me until I was tired of it and then flip her around, pound her doggy-style up against the concrete, and then go home with empty balls and a clearer head.
