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Except having to tell her makes me feel like a pouty child. I know she loves me. I see it in her eyes, in how she defends our relationship. Hell, the memory of her laughing at, distracting, and manipulating a lethal, yet crazy, woman to keep me alive is still burned in my head. Why does some teasing bother me?

Rather than answer, I grab her ass and jerk her over my semi-hard cock. “I’d rather-”

“Words first,” Valerie interrupts.

I huff and try to remember that damn format she insists I use when I do counseling with Vanya. “When you imply you don’t want to be with me, I feel hurt and ... used.”

“That isn’t my goal. Now that I know how you feel, I won’t do it again. I’m sorry for hurting you, Hunt,” Valerie says without looking away. “I never want to make you feel less than what you are.”

“What am I?”

“Pouty,” Lief snorts.

I reach over and try to pinch him, but he moves out of the way. Valerie doesn’t acknowledge the interruption. Instead, she kisses me. “You are one of three men I could ever see myself agreeing to marry. A pain in the ass in the best way, and more fun than I ever thought I could tolerate in a person. A miracle in human skin.”

Swallowing, I shake my head. “You know you’re not leaving this sauna until Lief and I make you come, right?”

She rolls her eyes. “You won’t be sweet while Lief is here?”

I lean closer to her and smirk. “Not a fucking chance.”

Right before I can adjust Valerie and thrust deep inside her, the door to the sauna jerks open. Chase stands there panting. “We have a problem.”

“An immediate problem?” I demand, frustrated beyond belief.

“If it wasn’t, would I have driven here when you three weren’t answering your phones?” Chase demands.

“What is it, baby boy?” Valerie asks, focused.

I press my face to her shoulder. “Our father, I’m sure.”

“He’s received four death threats since Christmas. All from the same person. It’s not a joke anymore, there’s clear intent and if we don’t act-” Chase starts.

“Then we look weak,” I finish.

“Or as if we don’t value Mr. Volkov’s life,” Lief agrees.

“Your father is such a cockblock,” Valerie grumbles. “I just wanted to enjoy a little more time with you guys before I have to go back to work, but ...” She stands and grabs her towel despite me trying to steal it from her. “Once we fix this, we’ll get back to the fun parts of life.”

Lief and I watch Valerie walk out and I beat my fist against the seat. Chase motions for us to move it. “Let’s go. If our fiancée is ready before you two, I’ll fire you both and hire her.”

“Good luck with that. She has her future chosen already,” I grumble as I stand. I shove my brother. “You have shit timing.”

“As if you’ll never get the chance to seduce our future wife,” he snorts.

I keep arguing with him and Lief as I get dressed. Our father is experienced and knows how to handle himself. Why does he need us to take care of this issue? He has plenty of loyal members in the mafia, plenty of people who could take care of this without getting Chase, me, or Lief involved. It could be another ploy to get us to end things with Valerie!

“You think our father would sendhimselfdeath threats? Our mother is a mess. She’s worried she’s going to lose him all over again,” Chase informs while balling his hands into fists.

“First, he would send himself death threats without hesitation if it got him what he wanted. Second, Vanya didn’t ‘lose’ our father. She intentionally ran away from him and us,” I reply.

Valerie steps between us, putting a hand on each of our chests. “No fighting.”

“Valerie,” I growl.

“You have valid points, Hunter, I’m not arguing with you. Chase, I know you’re concerned for your father, your mother, and for your future as mafia boss. We can’t ignore the threats and we won’t, but you chose to rule the mafiawithHunter and Leif, that means keeping their thoughts in mind,” Valerie insists.

“He’s just mad because he didn’t get to fuck you,” Chase says.

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