“I’m not going to kill him. Your papà and I decided not to work with each other anymore. Tony will be an intermediary of sorts.”
“Oh.” She swallowed. “Try not to let him kill you either.”
“And if he did?”
She paused, like she hadn’t considered it and didn’t know. I realized she didn’t want to answer the question when she pressed her mouth to my throat and slowly kissed her way up. Her lips skimmed my jawline before settling on mine. Heat erupted in my groin. She deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue into my mouth, and my cock went hard as a rock. Shit. I grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her back.
Her eyes were dark as night, her mouth swollen and pink.
“And if he did?” I repeated.
She went silent for a moment, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. “I’m sure when people find out I’ve lived here there won’t be one man who would want me.”
Irritation ignited in my chest. Not the answer I was looking for, and not even true. Any man would give up his life savings and left nut for Elena. My eyes narrowed.
“There is no other man for you.”
Her lips quirked. “You’d make sure of that even in death?”
“Yes,” I told her, though I didn’t know what the fuck I was saying.
“If anyone would go to those extremes, it would be you.”
My glare intensified, because I didn’t believe she meant that as a compliment. “Are you on the pill?”
Her cheeks flushed a pale pink. She sat on my lap with her tits in my face and my come running down her thighs, and still she blushed from a simple question.
“Yeah,” she answered, fingering the end of my tie.
“When are you going to stop taking it?”
She blinked, and then she laughed in disbelief. “You’re crazy,” she announced, before dropping my tie and getting to her feet.
“I asked a question, Elena.”
“And I chose not to answer, Nico,” she parried as she walked toward the bathroom completely fucking naked.
I internally groaned at the view. “You’re not going to stay on it forever.”
“No, but I think I’d like to be married first before I even consider it.”
I rubbed my jaw.
Fine. We’ll discuss it tomorrow then.
“Stupid move today, Ace.” Tony sat on my office couch with an arm resting on the back.
I flicked a glance toward him. “Did I ask for your opinion?”
He rubbed a hand across his smile. “Just assumed you’d want it, is all.”
“You assumed wrong,” I said dryly. “If we wrote down all the stupid shit you’ve done, that book would be thicker than the fucking Bible.”
He sank a little further into the couch. “Everything I do is premeditated. Just have a quicker thought process than most.”
“I can smell your bullshit from here. Honestly, I don’t know how the fuck you’re still alive.”
He smirked. “You’re just upset you can’t kill me.”
“Never tried to kill you.”
“Debatable. But I know you won’t now. You like my sister and my sister loves me.”
I like his sister? Was that what it was? Sounded mediocre in comparison to what I felt about Elena.
Gianna’s words suddenly filled my mind.
Because you’ll fall in love with her. And she won’t love you back.
Well, Jesus H. Christ. Gianna was right.
Fuck. This was inconvenient.
I tapped my pen on the desk, leaned back, and refused to reply to that ridiculous statement. Tony laughed, and I gritted my teeth.
“Finally, the black-hearted Russo knows what it’s like to be whipped.”
I gave my head a small shake. “There’s a big difference between you and me, Tony. Whipped or not, I’m not a fucking doormat.”
Tony’s gaze hardened, but he only lifted his feet onto the coffee table.
“Jenny pulls you around by your cock and you let her. Might as well buy her a strap-on.”
“You know,” he said, “I could live without you saying her fucking name.”
“And I could live without your shoes on my coffee table.”
He left them there, smoothed his tie, and rested a bandaged hand on his stomach. “I got a hot date tonight.”
“I think ‘hot’ loses its steam after every man in a ten-mile radius has had a piece of it.”
His jaw ticked. “I love my sister, Ace, but it’s not like you’re getting a cherry with your fiancée either.”