Page 28 of Room One Hundred and Five

“I take that as a solid yes.”

“It’s not morning yet so you can’t run out of here like Cinderella just yet. There’s no ticking clock. Unless these men are waiting for you.”

His voice has a roughness to it that sends a flush through me. It starts at my toes and doesn’t stop until it hits my cheeks.

My mouth forms an O of surprise. I forgot about them. Lavender must think I went home.

Emilio holds up the picture of my supposed dates for this evening, blocking my view of his reflection.

“About that…” Playful teasing curls the corner of my lip into a small grin.

Nine

Emilio

Ithought for sure when we woke, she would be gone.

How would we track her down if she had left? We have nothing. No number, no connections. We don’t even have her complete name for God’s sake. What does a name mean when the hearts connect? God, here I am thinking like a fucking poet chin deep in the river of love.

I hold in a laugh at my ridiculousness.

When I finally opened my eyes, the sight of her creamy skin and angelic hair filling my vision calmed the restless beast in me. One night with her isn’t enough. Feeling drunk on her essence is how I want to spend the rest of my life. Tonight is the beginning. Not the end.

I silently watch Stella slip from our bed and lift one of our shirts from the back of a nearby chair. Seeing her inhale our scent activates something primal in me. Possessive. I’d kill for her. Point blank, no questions asked. I would die to protect her. Since we’ve entered this room I’ve thought of nothing else except finding a way to keep her. If that makes me a bastard, fine.

She’s a woman who has every right to walk out of here without a second glance back at us.

But I can’t let her do that. Seeing the back of her head as she left us would take me out at the knees. She’s so damn perfect it breaks my insides to think of moving forward in our lives without her a part of it.

And isn’t that some kind of shit? I don’t believe in love at first sight, but what Adrian said hit home for me. You don’t have to know someone’s past to know your energies fit together.

Can it be that simple? Hope stomps on all the self doubt wanting to take up space in my head.

We all released inside her with no protection. I know it’s not a guarantee, but there’s a good chance she’s carrying our child. Even if she’s not, she’s tied to us as we are to her.

I always loved the idea of building something from the ground up. And isn’t that what you do with a family? You start at the ground level and you go from there. We have three of the four pillars needed to balance the foundation. If we can get her to agree, we could be complete. Not a lot of women like the idea of having multiple lovers and husbands beyond the fun provided in a place like Club Sin.

Come morning, everything is back to mundane and everyone goes home with new memories.

Which is great. But I want more.

As we drifted to sleep last night, I watched her breath. Something I’ve never done with past lovers. Seeing her in our arms gave me so much satisfaction I silently vowed we would heal her wounds even if it took the rest of our lives.

Shit. Here I am deciding her future for her, when reality is messier than simple black and white. I scrub a hand down my face to gain my bearings.

Anyone can see she’s too damn young for us. But age doesn’t matter. Right? She’s gotta be in her early twenties while we are all nearing our late forties. We can all play her silver daddies in bed, but would she want us in her daily life?

I don’t. From the way she kissed us and took everything we had to give, I’m going to venture to think she doesn’t care either.

I know to the core of my being Stella is the one for us. I know it. Adrian and Stefan do too. They didn’t have to put it in so many words last night. I know my blood brothers. She would have already been on her way out the door long before now, if that were not the case. Adrian doesn’t have the patience to cuddle. He’s too focused on getting Astor Enterprises sorted out.

We spent a decade after college building a life that started with moving stolen goods and was quickly heading toward a dead end life.

The tattoos Stella seems to like so much cover a lot of scars that speak of a different life—one of street fights, betrayals and crime. We destroyed lives daily with the misconception that it didn’t matter as long as we came out on top.

We were fools.

It’s been two years since we shook off Seattle’s underworld and foolish ideas of ruling the world with iron fists. We left all that behind and exchanged our weapons for briefcases. The death of Adrian’s sister demanded we change or the family empire would crumble.

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