Page 85 of Pretty Pink Poison
“Oh, please.” I rolled my eyes and threw my hands up. “A little make-out session and petting my kitty isn’t even the whole show that I want, Bane.”
Him grinding his teeth at my words actually brought me some joy. I stomped over to my TV remote and put on a movie in the background so I didn’t have to talk to him any further.
“We’re going to be late. And if the fam—”
“Then please sit down, watch the movie, and shut the fuck up so I can listen to it while I finish my makeup.” I opened my clutch to dig out some lip gloss and a compact.
He tilted his head to crack his neck. “You do understand I have skulls lining my office of men who’ve been said less to me only to lose their lives? You better realize you’re the only one that gets to talk that way to me and not in public.”
“Oh, Bane. I’ll talk to youanyway I want in public…want to know why?” I didn’t let him respond. “Because I’m going to be yoursister-in-law.” I snapped the compact shut.
“Fuck me,” He grumbled and then he sat down to stare at the movie. “I’ll watch the movie rather than talk to your venomous ass tonight.”
“Good.” I walked over to grab my heels and sat down next to him on the couch to put them on.
Bane growled and reached over to snatch them from me.
Then ever so slowly and deliberately, he dropped to his knees in front of me. The movement wasn’t gentle; it was an act of surrender and dominance at once. The air changed. His shoulders squared beneath the soft glow of the TV, his presence coiling all around me.
He reached for my ankle, fingers brushing my skin hot and unyielding. His gaze never left mine as he slid the heel onto my foot, his touch more reverent than it had any right to be. When he lifted his head, his jaw flexed, his breath grazing the inside of my knee.
“You know why you can talk to me any way you want?” he asked, voice low enough to melt the space between us.
“Why?” I whispered, because my lungs were barely working at this point.
“Because you’re my baby girl.” He took a deep breath and adjusted the straps of the shoes and then he combed a hand through his hair. “But you’re also a part of the Diamond Syndicate and mob. So, complaining about not getting a whole damn show in the Vault is ridiculous. I’m not going to risk youspreading your legs for men who might have ulterior motives. Need I remind you of that?”
“No. You remind me practically every day. I just don’t care that I’m a part of it.” I grumbled, trying not to be annoyed that his reasoning for not letting me fuck other men was because of ulterior motives rather than jealousy. “One day I’m hoping you won’t care either.”
“I’ll always care, Pink, because I have to.” He stood then and offered his hand so he could pull me up. “You need to start caring too.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ll be with him soon. You’ll be creating a legacy with the Black family.”
“A legacy?”
I saw how his gaze flicked away from mine. “You said you want kids, Bianca.”
“And you think I’m going to have them with Rafe?” Gross.
“You tried once already.”
The way he reminded us both of that night was jarring, cruel, and just what he needed to pull away from me time and time again. “You know that’s not what we were trying to do.”
“And yet, it will be one day soon enough.”
“And what’s your plan? Your father surely has one for you. Is it Sabine? She seems to love talking with you at the Vault.”
“Maybe.” He shrugged and didn’t even try to lessen the blow I felt when he said that one word.
“You’d have a child with her?”
“Bianca, let’s just go down, huh?”
“I won’t be able to stomach that, Bane.”
“You’ll endure what you must, Bianca. You’re stronger than you think.”
