Page 263 of Kissing the Villain

“I missed you, too,” she confessed. “There were brief moments when I thought I would never see you again. And my first thought was that I wished I had told you how much I love you.”

I leaned forward and held her gaze. “I said it before they kidnapped you. But I was drunk and out of my mind after seeing you with Marcello. I don’t think I understood my true feelings. I just knew I wanted to possess you. That I could never let you go.”

“Because you love me.” A smile stretched the corners of her mouth. “I always knew you loved me, but I never thought you could say the words.”

“What binds us will destroy us.”

“Our love,” she whispered. “Losing it would destroy us. See, you knew even before you could say the words.”

I rolled my shoulders against the chair. “I love watching you paint. Get back to work, baby girl.”

She shook her head, and her curls fell into her eyes, forcing her to shove them away. “When we’re in this studio, I’m the boss.”

“Okay. I can work with that. But in the bedroom, you know your place.”

“I like it when you dominate me.” She rolled a paintbrush between her fingers. “So boss away when we’re in bed.”

I tipped my head toward the canvas on the floor. “What are you working on?”

She glanced at the sketchpad beside the canvas and handed me the book. “A new series. I’m calling it The Devil’s Knights.”

“Babe, it’s called a secret society for a reason.”

“No one will know the truth behind the paintings. Just look at my sketches before you tell me no.”

I glanced at the page. She drew a group of men wearing hoods and long cloaks, their faces blacked out. The man at thecenter of the group had eyes that shone various shades of red and orange, while the others had X marks over their eyes.

“This is incredible. What gave you this idea?”

“When you woke me up on the DeLucas boat, and I looked over and saw you and the men who helped bring me home, I realized you might be the Devil, but all of you protected me. And this Queen needs her Knights.”

I nodded in agreement, then pointed my finger at the page. “Why did you cross out their eyes?”

“For anonymity.”

“So why are my eyes different?”

She laughed. “Who says that’s you?”

“Please, Drea. We both know the man at the center of this sketch is me. I’m in every one of your paintings. The Devil You Know, The Devil You Hate…”

“The Devil I Love,” she added. “I plan to reveal that painting at my show next month.”

I handed back the sketchbook. “Let me see it.”

“It’s a surprise. Think of it as a delayed wedding gift.”

“I’m buying it. Don’t even try to stop me.”

“Nope.” She pressed her lips together. “I made one just for you, so don’t you think about it.”

“I want the original.”

“The one I painted for you is for your eyes only.”

I wiggled my eyebrows. “Sounds kinky.”

She threw back her head and laughed. “It’s more suggestive than my usual work. We can hang it in our bedroom.”

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