Page 44 of Gilded Kisses

Inside, Boudreaux encloses us in darkness as we wind through the darkened halls, taking the back way to our suite. On this side of the mansion, black carpet covers the floor instead of hardwood. Interior decoration isn’t my thing, but this one detail is important. I care because it masks our presence and makes it easier to slip into our room unnoticed.

I hold up my arm and the door scanner reads the code buried in the ink. Like fucking magic, the door opens and I step aside.

Golden light reflects off polished brass and gold trimming. Old-world vibes hang in the artificially-cooled air and for once, I think I might appreciate the black curtains draped over the floor-to-ceiling windows. Before now I felt trapped, but with our Aster locked inside with us, it feels more like our own world instead of a tomb.

Mirsha and Viper come in behind me and Viper heads straight for the connected bedroom directly in front of us. I follow him and lock the sliding door to the gardens.

“IMM GOMMMA KIWWWW YWWWW!”

Viper chuckles and I push the silk tie in just a bit deeper. I run the tip of my nose along her neck and breathe in her very essence. “Like sweet rain on a summer’s eve.”

“DWWWED!”

Her muffled screams are sexy and do wicked things to my dick.

“What’s that, sweetness? I can’t make out what you’re saying.”

Mirsha comes up beside me and warns, “You’re playing with poison, brother.” The tone in his voice says he likes the danger as much as I do.

“Mm, yeah. I guess we all are. It’ll be fun when she bites. We will get to bite back.”

Aster fights her bindings and her gag in the cutest struggles that have my dick hard and ready to pound steel.

I hold her head up and stop her thrashing. “Careful, your godfathers might fuck you before untying you.”

Let her think about that for a while.

Her sharp intake of air and the way her gaze drops to the defined line of my throbbing cock are very telling.

“Does our girl have kinks?” My voice turns sharp and lethal when that leads to another question that has me seeing blood. “Did you role-play with your lovers after we left you?”

She lasers daggers into my chest.

Viper drops her in the middle of the enormous bed and all that pretty raven hair spills over the golden duvet beneath her.

“Hell’s own angel sent to tempt us to sin, brothers.” I lean over a squirming Aster and place a kiss on her forehead. “Don’t go anywhere. We’ll be right back.”

I get another muffled string of curses as I follow Mirsha into the sitting area. We both head for the bourbon.

We stand shoulder to shoulder. “You knew who was on that plane.” It’s not a question and the stiffness in my oldest friend’s back speaks volumes.

He puts the stopper back into the crystal decanter and pushes the glass away. Probably because he feels the same sour churn in the pit of his stomach as I do.

“I knew,” he admits and turns his full body toward me. I feel Viper come up behind me and turn to see he has water and a damp cloth in his hands. He puts them on a nearby table and we both corner Mirsha who isn’t good at sharing with the class.

“I didn’t know if I had the strength to face her until she was being shoved inside the car with us. Keeping my mouth shut was easier than trying to tell you two where we were going and who we were collecting.”

“You mean safer.” Pounding on his face would help with my current anger issues, but I don’t want Aster to see either of us bloodied.

Mirsha shrugs out of his suit jacket and tosses it over a nearby chair. He releases the cuff links and places them in a tray beside the bottle of water and cloth.

“What the fuck is the difference? If I talked, I would convince us all to haul ass in the opposite direction. If I stayed silent…well, here we are. What the fuck do you want me to say? She makes me insane to the point I’ve nearly let the darkness take me. Let’s just leave it at that.”

Guilt eats at his exterior, and he drops his weight into a nearby chair. I exchange a knowing look with Viper. The last time Mirsha got like this, we had to bribe his way out of a Mexican jail. A bad mood turned ugly at a dive bar on the wrong side of town. Given the number of people in Mexico City, it was Mirsha’s luck that he found the one guy who didn’t mind beating the shit out of him so he could stop feeling. But Mirsha is a fighter, and it wasn’t long before he fought back. Blood was drawn and as soon as the cops arrived, the cuffs went on.

My hurting brother rubs at a spot over his chest. The same one I feel day in and day out. “I don’t know how to live without her, brothers. And I sure the fuck can’t see us handing her back to her father. Not after what he’s done.”

“What did the bastard do to her?” Viper’s tone is ice cold.

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