Page 61 of Ruthless Commander
My lips curled into a smile as I nuzzled her neck. “I feel you…very fucking much. But you realize what that means, right? If we’re together.”
“Better than you can understand.”
I met her gaze. What…just like that? She lowered the gun, holstered it, and jutted her chin in the air…and then it hit me. She knew…she'd always known. She understood that it meant we’d have to go against her father and the entire Commission.
And she was ready for it all.
25
Xael
I let Mateo walk me to his private residence and give me his spare card before he pulled me close and kissed me. “Stay inside until I come for you,” he murmured, and stared into my eyes. “Send me your bodyguard’s number. I want to make sure I know where you are."
“I thought you had cameras for that?”
There was a twitch at the corner of his mouth before he leaned close. “Not in here there aren’t.”
He took my mouth with savagery, leaving my lips pulsing when he pulled away. Was that an invitation? Or did he mean…wait.“Your office?”
His smile only grew wider as he turned and walked away without saying another word. “Sonofa…”
Beep.
I looked down at my phone as the front door to Mateo’s apartment opened, then closed, leaving me alone to find Rhys’ reply.Got your things, I’m on my way.
My pulse wouldn’t slow as I lifted my gaze to the hallway and it had nothing to do with the attacks on the island and everything to do with him.What the hell just happened?My body still hummed with the sudden assault. I touched my lips, remembering every kiss and every savage thrust of his body.
None of this was real…
I pressed against the throb of my mouth and looked around his apartment. But it was…it was very real. A pang tore across my chest as I moved around his space, inhaling his scent, and tried to stop those memories of him ripping my heart out. Maybe it was a littletooreal.
A hardthudcame at the door. I hurried forward, peering through the peephole to see Rhys, then opened the door and stepped back.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he snapped as he walked in carrying two suitcases.
I swallowed hard, flinching at the bite in his tone. I knew it was coming, I just didn’t think he’d—
“How many times I gotta tell you, X?” He dropped our stuff on the floor and turned to me. “Don’t just open the door, not like that. Not even for me, okay?” He exhaled long and slow, combing his fingers through his hair. “Anyone could’ve been waiting on the other side. Someone with a gun to my head, someone wanting you.”
I swallowed, fear coursing through me as the image of that filled my head. A gun pressed to Rhys’ head as he stood on the other side of that door, knocking, waiting for me to answer. “Then I’d open it.”
“If you did, then you’d be dead. You’re smarter than that, X,” he growled, then glanced my way, finally meeting my gaze.
I came down from the high of Mateo in a rush as it all hit me. Baldeon…Kat…everything.A tremor tore through me, making me wrap my arms around my middle. Rhys flinched at the sight and strode to me, pulling me into his arms and against his chest.
He’d never made contact like that, never been so…personal.
“You need to be smarter, X.” His voice echoed through his chest. “My job is to protect you, but you need to protect yourself too, and that means from me, as well.”
I shook my head and pulled away, tears prickling my eyes. “You’re not going to hurt me, Rhys.”
“No, but someone else could hurt me to get to you.” He stepped away, realizing how close he’d been. “So, no opening doors without making sure no one else is waiting, okay?”
I gave a nod.
“Okay.” He glanced around the apartment. “Let’s get you settled.”
He bent, grabbed my suitcase, and headed for what looked like Mateo’s bedroom. But his words stuck with me. They stayed with me all the way through the night as the building shuddered and shook from the wind. Rhys made a bed on the sofa in the living room, his gun beside him as he switched off the lights. My body slumped with exhaustion, but there was no way I could sleep, not knowing that Kat was somewhere out there, terrified if she was still alive.
