Page 41 of The Last Call
“I’m about to win a lot of money.”
Julius is utterly gorgeous. No doubt about it. But when he’s cocky, he’s absolutely breathtaking. Lighting my already wired body on fire with his self-assurance. “Don’t be so smug. Your guy might lose.”
“I hope so.”
That makes absolutely zero sense. He’ll win if his guy loses? That’s only possible if…Fuck! “It’s rigged? You rigged it?”
I try to twist away. Disgusted by him yet again. My efforts yield no real effect with his enormous arm holding me down. Trapping me against his broad body while I struggle.
“You should be happy. No maiming or murdering this time.”
The bastard’s teasing me. Throwing my own words back at me when he’s guilty of crimes almost as bad as those. Strong fingers nudge my chin up to face him. A mischievous twinkle in his eyes while he gloats.
“Players, coaches, officials…it happens all the time. Everyone can be bought. I’m just the guy with the balls and money to do it this time.”
Terrible. “Don’t you get tired of being dirty?”
He leans in. So close his full lips singe my skin when they brush against mine. The same raging inferno inside me blazes in his chocolate eyes. “The dirtier, the better.”
I can’t seem to catch my breath. I know it’s wrong. I know I should tell him off. I know I’ve never had a man look at me the way he’s looking at me. I know I don’t want him to stop. I’m already going to hell so I might as well go with him. I might as well give in. I might as well kiss him.
So, I do.
Tasting the decadent scotch on his tongue. Loving his tightening grip encircling my back. Grinding against his erection bulging through his pants.
“Boss, I–”
All of his weight and warmth are suddenly gone as Julius raises to his knee and lunges for his gun on the coffee table. Roaring at Phillip to get the fuck out of here. Firing off a shot that explodes through the air, shattering the quiet and ripping through the drywall. Shards of plaster blowing through the room like confetti.
Oh shit! Julius’s free hand curls around my neck when I attempt to roll away. Pinning me to the sofa. With force and fright. My words gurgle in my throat from his grip. “Julius please.”
He slides the weapon back on the glass and smiles down at me as I beg him to let me go. Actually smiles like the lunatic he is. Calm and composed, he brushes back a strand of hair tucking the wavy lock behind my ear. “I missed on purpose. He’s fine.”
Adrenaline kicks in, and my body trembles beneath his. My ears ringing from the proximity of the explosion. My head swimming from the insanity. He thinks it’s fine to shoot at a man for walking into a room. He thinks I’ll be fine after threatening him with death for interrupting us. When I’m not fine at all. “This isn’t–”
“Don’t you get it?”
No I don’t. Not him. Not this life. Not any of it. “Get what?”
My exasperation doesn’t seem to daunt him. “I will kill him or any other man if they ever see you naked.” Crazy, evil Julius returns along with the hardness glinting in his expression. A possessive tone and touch that’s so frightening and foreign to me I’m not sure if I can fully comprehend them. “You are never to be treated like anything but my wife. Which means always respected, worshiped, and protected.”
Now I’m the one who’s losing my mind. I close my eyes trying to make sense of what he’s saying to me. Or more accurately the impact his vow has on me. Something in his words, his ferocity, his reverence floods the hollowness in my chest. Filling my heart with the love I’ve never experienced. The emotion I’ve never felt. The sincerity I’ve never known. Everything I didn’t know I wanted that now seems like only Julius can give to me.
“Look at me lion.”
I don’t want to. Afraid of what I’ll see staring back at me. But when I blink my eyes open all I see is…love. Insane, impossible, incredible love.
“There’s my good girl.”
I laugh. Slightly hysterical from the emotional upheaval raging inside me. “I’m nobody’s good girl. I’m nobody’s goodanything.”
The authentic smile evaporates. Replaced with rage. Directed at me and my assertion by the harsh shake he manages lying on top of me. My head bobs from the intensity as he hisses.
“Don’t you ever fucking disparage yourself Sydney. I will not have it.”
I keep pushing when I shouldn’t. When what I should do is what a normal woman would probably do in this jacked up situation. Just accept his ridiculous declarations of love, let him spoil me like a mad man, and live happily ever after. Or least as long as it lasts until he tires of me.
But I can’t.
