Page 86 of City Of Thieves
“Just one thing before I destroy your pussy,” he says huskily, dropping his hand from my mouth. “Did you speak to your brother about the painting?”
“Yes,” I rasp. “He has the original.”
“Thank fuck for that.” He spins me around, his eyes gleaming in the darkness. “Now, we wait for Konstantin to make contact.”
“Renzo—”
“No.” He leans his forehead against mine and briefly shuts his eyes as we breathe in each other’s oxygen. “No more talking. I’m all out of words for the next hour.” He nudges me backward onto the bed. “And I’m not done with your punishment.”
“Answer me something first.” I prop myself up on my elbows to watch him remove the belt from his jeans, needing more from him tonight than ever before. “Do you see me as a fuck, or a future?”
Leaning over me, he wraps a loop of leather around my neck and cinches it tight—not enough to make me panic, but enough to make me shiver at his intent. “I never deal in people’s expectations, Tatiana... I find they’re too easily disappointed.”
That wasn’t a response; it was a brush off.
“Would you ever go back in that cage again?”
He pauses, and the leather around my neck slackens.
“What if I said I didn’t want you to, Renzo?” I add quietly.
“What if I said I didn’t want to sell overpriced graffiti for a living?”
Slipping his belt over my head, I toss it across the mattress. “If you won’t be honest with me, you don’t get to test my boundaries.”
“I’ll do whatever the fuck I like with your boundaries.” He glares at me for pushing back at him. For forcing him into a corner. He’s a man who offers silence, not feelings.
The howl of the wind outside rattles the tension between us, and it shakes something loose. Reaching down, he scoops me up in his arms and heads for the door.
“Stop! What are you doing?” I throw my arms around his neck for purchase.
“Switching shit up”
“Where are we going?”
“To baptize my sins… Maybe then you’ll find your answer.”
Crossing the hallway into the living room, he pauses in front of the folding double doors leading out to the balcony. The rain is still falling, the staccato sound against the glass harsh and unrelenting. Beyond it, the city lights are running into each other like water paints.
“Don’t you dare!” I gasp as he reaches for the latch, guessing his attention a split-second before the corners of his mouth lift, but by then he’s sliding it open and letting the storm back into my life for a second time.
I feel him brace as we’re greeted by a ruthless gust of wind. Muffling out a curse, I tuck my face into his black T-shirt, tightening my grip around his neck as he steps out onto the balcony.
Instantly, the driving flood is drowning us in a bitter chill. The sound is deafening. We’re soaked to the bone in seconds, my white negligee transparent and clinging to every part of me, his black T-shirt molding to his chest like a second skin.
“You must have a lot of sins to atone for,” I yell, and he laughs.
“You have no idea.”
Setting me down, he takes my face between his hands and kisses me, the sudden warmth of his mouth shooting heat into every part of my body as I cling like hell to his forearms. All the while, the storm is dipping and swirling around us, but he doesn’t even sway.
He never sways.
“You’re crazy!” I yell, shivering uncontrollably.
“And you only just figured it out? Truth is, I don’t know what the fuck we are,” he shouts back, as another gust of wind comes racing across the balcony. “But I know I meant what I said earlier. I’m done fighting alone. So, stand in the rain with me,dolcezza…Close your eyes and tip your head back. Hold on tight and see what happens.”
My breath catches. This is insane.He’sinsane.
