Page 67 of Twisted Fate

“What the fuck, Alina?” My voice comes out in a growl.

“Can you be more specific?” she whispers.

“What the fuck were you thinking diving into the fucking ocean?”

“High school swim team. I was probably safer in that ocean than you were.” She tips her head back and holds my gaze, defiant.

I just glare at her, the water pounding down on us, my entire body vibrating.

Her long hair hangs in wet straggles over her shoulders and down her back. Last night’s mascara leaves dark smears under her eyes. I’ve ever seen a more beautiful woman in my entire fucking life.

She huffs a sharp exhale. “I was thinking that your brother was going to drown. That I couldn’t bear for you to suffer that, to know the pain of losing another person you love.”

Her words make my chest feel tight, make it hard to pull a full breath. “And the gun?”

She frowns, looking confused, then her expression clears. “Luca’s gun?”

“Yes, Luca’s gun. You handled it like an expert.”

“Not an expert,” she says. “I’m out of practice.”

“Practice,” I say, harsher than I intend. “How much practice have you had?”

“Me, Markus, and Dad at the gun range every week from the time I was twelve until I left for college. It was Dad’s version of family game night.”

I wonder how my people missed that fascinating bit of information when they did their work-up on Alina.

“So you’ve shot paper targets at the gun range. Ever shot a man before?”

She shakes her head.

“Yet you shot a man today. To save me. Then you dove into the ocean to save my brother. The brother who tried to kill you.”

“W-W-Well, I think if he really wanted to kill me, I’d be dead. I-I-I think he might have just wanted to scare the shit out of me. And he d-d-did a really good j-j-job.”

I realize then that her teeth have started chattering, not from cold. From shock. With a hiss, I unclasp and peel off her bra, then her panties. Then I peel off my own sopping clothes. Naked, I draw her against me, wanting only to hold her, to keep her safe, to protect her from the whole fucking world.

We stand under the pounding water, my arms around her until she stops shaking, her teeth stop chattering. Then I turn off the shower, wrap her in a towel and carry her to the bed. I climb in beside her and pulling her tight against me.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do with you?” I ask.

“Make love to me,” she says, those gorgeous blue eyes finding mine. “Make love to me so I stop thinking about how you could have been shot. Killed. How I could have lost you. How—”

I rest my fingertip against her lush lips.

“I told you to play dead. To stay safe.”

“You didn’t exactly tell me,” she says. “It was more of a slight head shake that I had to interpret—”

My lips crash down on hers. She tastes like salt, like sea water.

She wraps her arms around me, one hand tangling in my wet hair, the other clasping my shoulder. Her moan vibrates through her, through me as I roll atop her.

I lick the seam of her lips, demanding she open to me, pushing inside. I cup the back of her head, kissing her, tasting her, taking what I want. I want her. All of her. Every part of her is mine.

Cupping her breast, I skim the pad of my thumb over her nipple. She gasps and arches into my touch. I kiss her neck, her collarbone, the swell of her breast. Then I close my lips around her taut nipple, sucking on the sensitive peak. I move back and forth, kissing her breasts, sucking and licking her nipples, her sighs and gasps making me rock hard.

I slide my hand between her thighs and find the slick folds of her pussy. “Such a good girl. So wet,” I murmur, pushing my finger inside her.

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