“Dinner was great.”
“Thank you. I’m glad you liked it.”
“Liked it? I had four servings of that lasagna. I almost licked the plate.”
She whispers, “But you licked me, instead.”
Thinking of how hard she came for me makes my dick stiffen. I growl, “You’re goddamn straight I did. And you were loud.”
Her laugh is so sweet, it makes my dick even harder. I roll her onto her back, press my chest against hers, and kiss her again, this time hungrily.
When we come up for air, she’s still laughing.
“Honey! Give me a minute to catch my breath, will you? I’ve already had three orgasms in the past hour!”
“Only three?” I say, outraged.
It makes her laugh harder.
She stops when the phone on the nightstand beside her side of the bed starts ringing.
“Woman,” I say sternly. “What did I tell you about keeping your cell next to the bed?”
“Something bossy that I ignored.”
“Turn it off.”
“Let me just check and see who it is real quick. It could be Sloane.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
She pushes at my chest. I don’t move. The phone keeps ringing.
“What if I make you a deal that this is the last time I’ll keep the phone in the bedroom?”
“We already made that deal. You conveniently forgot.”
“Oh. Right.” She gazes up at me, biting her lip, silently pleading with her big doe eyes.
“No, baby. Don’t give me that look.”
“Please?”
Ah, fuck.
She knows I can’t resist that sweet, soft tone, and those sweet, soft eyes. I don’t know why I ever bother trying.
I roll off her with a heavy sigh and lie on my back, staring at the ceiling.
“Thank you, honey.” She leans over and gives me a peck on the cheek before grabbing the phone and answering it.
“Hello?”
There’s a long silence as she listens. Then she blurts, “Oh, my god! No! Sloane, I'm so sorry!”
It’s Sloane. Of fucking course it is. And I can already tell that whatever it is she’s telling Nat is some giant clusterfuck I’ll have to get involved in.
I should’ve thrown that goddamn phone out the window when I had the chance.
Nat listens for a few moments longer, then says urgently, “Absolutely! Put him on right now! I’ll put Kage on, too.”
She rolls over, thrusts the phone at me, and demands, “You need to talk to Declan.”
I turn my head on the pillow and look at her. My voice flat, I say, “Natalie.”
“Don’t take that tone with me, Kage! This is important! Sloane’s little sister was kidnapped by some Russian assassin named Malek, and she got shot in the process. We have to help find her!”
That son of a bitch.
I sit up and grab the phone from her hand. Into it, I bark, “Start talking, asshole.”
“Fuck you, too, you worthless piece of shite. Did you have anything to do with this?”
“I don’t even know what this is.”
“No? You have lots of rogue players on your team? Because I was under the impression you were the big Bratva boss. And if you are, you should know exactly what the fuck is happening on your turf. Or have I overestimated your power?”
That last part is said with so much contempt, my vision goes red.
It’s his blood I’m seeing. And his dead body right in the middle of a big pool of it.
“Just get to the fucking point, Irish.”
“Malek Antonov. You familiar with the name?”
“Yes. He’s not under my jurisdiction.”
Declan shouts, “This whole bloody country is your bloody jurisdiction, you bloody twat!”
I close my eyes and breathe slowly through my nose. I count to ten. When I open my eyes, Natalie is pacing naked back and forth at the end of the bed, chewing on her thumbnail.
That she’s so worried is the only reason I don’t hang up.
Keeping my tone tightly controlled, I say, “He’s out of Moscow. You know as well as I do that the old country has their own chain of command.”
“Not with us, it doesn’t.”
“We were around long before the Mob was even conceived. Russia is more than two hundred times bigger than Ireland. Things are more complicated.”
“Bollocks.”
“Okay. Good talk. Fuck off into the sea, Irish.” Glowering, I hold the phone out to Nat. “Take this away from me before I break it.”