“No, Em, I’m a killer. But I want you, more than I’ve wanted anything in a very long time.”
“I want you too.”
Like magnets our lips joined, and I swore the lightning outside wasn’t the only thing striking. Kissing Em was relief. It was exhilarating and terrifying when his tongue danced along mine. Like being on a roller coaster with no restraints, jumping into cool water with sunburned skin, like taking in a lungful of air for the first time ever.
After he pulled back, his eyes were more pupil than anything, and he was breathing hard.
“That was amazing.”
I smiled. “Best kiss I’ve ever had.”
Em’s expression fell. “That was the only kiss I’ve ever had.”
The realization of just how isolated Em was from the world and life experiences dawned on me. Ramsey had let him out if he needed something, but Em had never had a normal existence. First kisses, milestones, losing his virginity, getting a license—none of these things had ever happened for him.
“Oh, Em…I’m going to give you all the experiences you could ever want.”
He wrapped his arms around me, and I pressed him as close to me as I could. “I’m glad I wished for you.”
“I’m glad you did too.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Forever is composed of nows.”
~ Emily Dickinson
Em
For the restof the day, Saros let me ignore the shit storm that was my life. Martha brought us lunch in the conservatory, and then I took a shower while he did murder business things. I was surprised at the knock on my door shortly after I’d finished dressing.
“Want to watch a movie?” Saros had a big bowl of popcorn in his hand and honestly, I wanted to do anything I could to just forget.
As we sat in his home theater, watching some action flick I couldn’t remember the name of because all I kept doing was watching him, I realized how oddly normal this was. Saros Tancredi wasn’t the powerful and dangerous mobster right now. In this moment, he was a regular guy and this felt like an everyday normal date.Was it a date?
When he walked me to my bedroom at the end of the night, he tenderly pressed me against the door and kissed me into a dreamy state. Once I opened my eyes, all I saw was blue, a lustful storm I wanted to be caught in so badly.
“Good night, Em.”
Sleeping was hard…so, so hard.
I had jacked off a handful of times in my life. But never had I been this turned-on, this desperate for release. I slipped my hand inside my pajama pants and gripped my cock.
“Shit,” I hissed. It was hot and like stone.
I closed my eyes and thought of Saros…that smile, those eyes, how his arms felt as he surrounded me in them, how his smell had the power to wake something within me…and his kiss. It breathed life into me, lit a fire I never wanted extinguished.
A minute later I was arching off the mattress, coming all over my hand and any fabric that had been too close.
After I cleaned up, exhaustion hit and my dreams weren’t filled with angry shouts and painful touches. For the first time in my life, they were peaceful.
I wokewith a start but couldn’t place why. I sat up and listened again. Sure enough, a few seconds later, angry voices filled the corridor.
“Of course he’d respond to finding his fucktoy in pieces on his doorstep.” That was Saros.
“The Vine is engulfed, Boss. Benny was able to get a few people out, but it’s catastrophic.” I recognized Cosmo, but my ears rang listening to the carnage only Ramsey would rain upon Saros for embarrassing and enraging him.
“That motherfucker!” Saros yelled, followed by what I could only guess was him punching the wall. “Where is he?”