Page 26 of Devious Lies

It’s not gentle.

It is full of pent up desire and emotion.

I’ve wanted this woman for months. I’ve watched her pine after my boss and blood brother. But I have her now, and she isn’t going anywhere.

All the time she’s worked here, I’ve watched her avoid men, refusing their blatant passes.

It’s part of the job, I know. But I don’t like it. I don’t want anyone hitting on her, and after tonight I doubt I have to worry about that particular thing any longer.

I rarely get into fistfights. At least, I don’t anymore.

But the entire bar, the Vipers, Angel, and Nico, too, all saw what I did tonight. They saw it and they will know what it means.

Maria is mine now.

Once I have the shirt in place, I step back and take a deep breath. I tell my dick to be patient.

I slow the kiss, aware that she’s clinging to me with her tiny hands clutching my shoulders.

Fuck. Her honey lilac scent is inside my nostrils, and I want it to stay there for fucking ever.

I want to get drunk on it. But I can’t. Not until she understands.

Maria’s life has just changed, and she doesn’t even know it.

But I have to tell her.

“We need to talk.”

CHAPTER SEVEN-MARIA

Aweek passed since the incident at the Den, and I’m no closer to understanding how everything changed so fast.

The Den’s security guards offer me a wide berth, and it’s bizarre. I’ve worked here for months, and I’m on a first name basis with everyone.

But no one will talk to me now.

And it makes me feel strange.

Luc hasn’t touched me since that incredible lip lock in his office. But he did explain some things.

It seems Vipers have rules.

His beating the shit out of that drunk guy was a big deal. It means I’m his now.

But that’s the thing.

I don’t know exactly what being his means.

My heart stutters inside my chest as I put my purse in the safe behind the bar.

I bite my lip and flip my flat-ironed hair behind my shoulders.

It’s supposed to rain tonight, and I shouldn’t have bothered, but I am so used to donning this costume, it’s simply routine.

“Hey Maria, got a request?” Randy, one of the local DJs we have on our Friday night rotation asks me.

This is his first night back in over a month, so I’m sure he hasn’t heard about the whole incident.

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