Page 37 of Venomous Vows

I smirk at her because, fuck me, when have I ever heard her apologize for running her mouth? The answer is never. “Don’t apologize too often. You’ll give me a fuckin’ stroke.”

“Adrian…”

“Mhm?”

Elena sighs and gives a slight shake of her head, halting her thoughts from being present. “Nothing. I’m going to go get Marcella settled and we’ll try to stay out of your way.”

“You’re not in my way,” I retort flatly. “However, you are forgetting something.”

“What?”

I lift my arm and prop it against the door by her head as I continue to lean in. “Is my future wife so heartless as to not thank her sister’s hero? I did it for you, you know?”

Elena blinks once, her long eyelashes fanning the high points of her cheekbones. She’s absolutely exquisite and now that my job is done, I can’t say I’m not looking forward to reaping the rewards from this woman. “You did it to get something out of it.”

“I did and I didn’t have to. You mentioned that I could get any woman to agree to this arrangement. Yet, I choose you.”

“And why is that, Adrian? Is our childhood torment toward each other not done?”

“Because no one could go to bat with me like you do,piccola diavola.You’ve always been my equal. Even when I’ve wanted to kill you several times.”

“You’ve never wanted to kill me.”

“Then why do you think I used a dirty sock to shove in your mouth.”

A broken chuckle rumbles in Elena’s chest before she bites down on her lower lip to cease it. I’m nothing but enamored by her right now. All the possibilities of what this woman could be in my life come full-throttle. I know who Elena is and theimportance of her family and career. She’s not a hard woman to please, but that’s not what makes her so damn interesting.

It’s that she’s a queen in her own right. That she has a hustle that is unmatched by anyone I’ve ever met in my life.

Elena is an anomaly that I want to capture in the palm of my hand and break open. I want to see if those remnants could ever hold something for a man like me.

“What is it that would appease you, Adrian?”

“I want a fuckin’ kiss that’s going to rock my world,piccola diavola.I’ve always wondered what kind of power you’ve yielded in that body of yours.”

“A kiss?” she repeats as if not following along. “It might be poisonous.”

“Or you might be full of shit. I put my life on the line to save Marcella. I stood front and center and showed off who I was to the men who kidnapped her. Anything could’ve happened.”

Elena scowls at me. “What kind of dumbass thing was that to do?”

“To send a message.”

“Adrian,” she carps out. “Don’t you have dozens of men at your disposal?”

“I do. But I stood against any firing line so that I could tell you and reap my reward. It was for selfish reasons.”

“I have no doubt.”

I draw the pad of my finger underneath her chin and coax her to move forward to plant her lips onto mine. I don’t want to force her. I’d love it if Elena would do it on her own so I could soften her a tad when it comes to the idea of marriage.

But even that sets me a bit on edge lately.

I’m fully aware of my responsibilities and of the legacy I need to continue after I’m gone. However, Elena’s stubbornness toward me and the way she’s made it abundantly clear that shewants nothing to do with me have only made me question if I should drop this and chalk it up as my good deed for the year.

Elena and I are not friends.

And this idea didn’t come to me until after I saw her for the first time. My brain constructed it out of nothing without heed to the past and what we used to do to each other. No matter how many years have gone by, I’ve never kept tabs and she drifted away from Zane after we moved.

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