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I couldn’t hold back the happiness I felt when I remembered. “She was beautiful. So smart and brave. She had long blonde hair and always wore a smile.”

“She sounds a lot like you. I just need to work on doing things to keep this smile on my woman’s face too.”

My cheeks heated.His woman.I had always thought it was nauseating when a man staked his claim on a woman like some sort of caveman but hearing it from his mouth sent the butterflies in my stomach flapping at warp speed.

The backs of his fingers stroked my blushing cheek. “Tell me more.”

“Lilies were her favorite flower. One time, we passed one of those farm stands on the side of the road while on our way to dance practice. We were running late, but the lady sitting in front of the buckets of flowers had a small baby in her arms. Kind of looked like they were going through a hard time and doing anything to make some extra money. Maman turned the car around and bought every bouquet. The woman was so happy, and our car looked like a graveyard with all these flowers lying in the back seat. She mentioned to the lady that she loved lilies before paying. The next week when we passed by the stall, Maman stopped to buy more flowers, and the lady gave her a bunch of lilies free of charge. Every time after that, the woman always kept a special bouquet of lilies on reserve for Maman when they were in season.”

My heart felt warm remembering Maman’s face when she had received the lilies for the first time, like it was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. She got to know the woman over time, even inviting her over for homecooked meals occasionally. That was Maman, always caring and ready to take anyone in as her own.

Jai pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. “I wish I could have met her.”

“Me too.” I was sure Maman hadn’t wanted me to fall for a playboy like Jai, but something told me she would have welcomed him with open arms when she saw beyond his dominating exterior.

I pulled his hand to my lips, kissing the back of it. “Do you always wear this ring?” I asked, fingering the thick piece of silver with a snake design on its face.

“Yes.”

Sensing its meaning was more than just a piece of jewelry, I continued. “Is it important to you?”

“A family heirloom,” his answer too brief for my liking.

“Why the snake?” I pressed, convinced I could get him to be honest with me.

He shrugged dismissively. “Guess my father just loved snakes.”Another lie.

Just when I had poured a bit of truth into a glass and offered it to him, he drank it all down and refilled the glass to the brim with lies to force it down my throat.

I let go of his hand and moved in closer to his side, so I was almost tucked under his back, desperate to feel the warmth that I had experienced moments before. His breathing was the only sound I heard in the room, too slow, as if he were holding it in on the chance that I voiced more questions.

Instead, I focused on memories of Maman. Happy memories of her arms around me, and blonde hair trailing over my face. With that, I let myself fall into my dream, because being awake was more painful than I could bear right now.

Chapter XVI

Jai

What I needed to be doing was planning my attack on Leonid. The Bratva had been quiet after he tried to kill Amelia and me, and I couldn’t even reach Mikhail to find out his boss’s next move. Leonid was now more dangerous than ever, and I couldn’t afford to be distracted for the sake of my family.

My brother could barely stand being in the same room as me. Anytime I visited the house, he would stand guard over his family as if I had personally tried to hurt his wife. I tried to hide the reason for his hostility from Amelia, but the truth ended up spilling out when she pressured me into talking.

She was more than pissed that I had kept it from her. Her biggest peeve was people keeping secrets from her. Years ago, my brother had kept the Bratva’s hit on her a secret and sent her back to her home in Seattle without an explanation. He never told her why, just made it seem like he wanted to break up with her. She was furious and needed a lot of convincing to take him back.

I didn’t blame her for being angry with me for making the same mistakes that my brother had. I had ruined her trust, and it was going to take a lot of work to earn it back. The only thing that could possibly right this wrong would be serving her Leonid’s head on a silver platter, metaphorically speaking—although literally would be the more enticing option.

On the upside, my body was on the mend and I could move around on my own. Years of bodyweight training and intense cardio had left my body in strong enough shape to heal quicker than most would have in my position. Leonid wouldn’t be able to take advantage of my injuries and strike me again. An animal that had healed its wounds was even more deadly. Basically, he had fucked with the wrong guy.

But instead of mending everything, I found myself driving over to Claire’s dance studio to sway her into going on a date with me—with flowers. She had infiltrated my thoughts, distracting me from things I was supposed to be focused on—things that I had worked hard to build. One time inside of her and I was completely lost under her spell.

I still wasn’t sure how this had happened. One minute, she was a girl who was spying on me getting head from some overly eager party regulars, and the next, I had given up all pussy—and mouths—but hers. It didn’t feel right being with anyone else, and it actually turned me off. I was sure my time with Claire would run its course like my time with all women did, but for now, I knew I wasn’t done exploring her just yet.

Maybe it was the fact that she was a dancer and that her body was insane, or maybe it was that she hid behind walls and I enjoyed the challenge of breaking them down. Whatever it was, I couldn’t get enough.

I hadn’t seen her since we spent the afternoon in bed at my place. Whenever I texted her, she kept her responses to a minimum and tried to end the conversation quickly. I had even her sent her my medical report which proved I was clean and ready to take her bare, but she never mentioned it. It drove me crazy wondering what I could have done to push her away. In fact, I had never felt closer to her. She had shared memories of her mother with me, and I thought we had finally moved forward. However, anytime I tried to invite her over to my place again or ask her out, she shut me down with excuses.

I decided to take control of the matter and contacted her boss at the studio. I charmed her into giving me Claire’s weekly schedule and sweetened her pocket with a donation to clear the building for the rest of the night. I needed alone time with Claire to talk, and if that meant I had to sneak up on her at work, then so be it. If she had just answered my texts, then all of this could have been avoided.

She was just finishing up her last class of the evening when I arrived outside of the studio to wait for her students to file out. When the coast was finally clear, I gave her a couple of minutes to recover from instruction before entering.

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