Page 29 of The Arrangement

“All of them at one point or another. Why?”

Viviana licked her lips, trying desperately to ignore the hard, twitching cock still buried deep between her thighs. “How many can I use?”

Again, Anton appeared confused. “What?”

“If I wanted a change in scenery, or if I needed to go on a vacation but you still needed to work … could I take any key to those six homes and leave without you? I asked about homes, but what about apartments or penthouses. How many of those do you own?”

“None. I don’t need them. And yes, of course you’ll have access to all of my other properties. What are you trying to get at here?”

“How many children do you already have?”

Anton froze, eyes narrowing. “I—”

“Mistresses, too. Maybe you don’t own their apartments or flats. Did I not ask the right question to get the best answer? Should I have asked if you bought it for them instead?”

“For fuck sake, Vine. Shut up for a second.” Hot, wet tears had snaked lines from the corners of her eyes down over her cheeks and she hadn’t even realized it. He brushed the wetness away. “Jesus, stop crying … never cry in our bed. That’s the last thing you should ever do here.”

Before she could continue with her rant, Anton had spread her knees farther apart, opening her body so damned wide for him. It was a quiet, gentle beat of his hips meeting her slowly rising ones. Watching his hands hold tight to the silky soft skin of her legs, she could see the slight tremors that rocked his arms and he plunged deeper into her clenching walls with every thrust.

Viviana couldn’t stop the wanton moans from tumbling out of her fast rising chest. Both of her hands found purchase on the pillow behind her, fisting in and grasping tight as her back rose off the bed. The hottest flames seemed to lick at her nerve endings, a sweet burning hum of pleasure and love rocking through her veins like the best drug.

“No mistresses. No children. Not a fucking one.”

The words were growled above her and she found his gaze had sought out hers with that piercingly intense look again. A lump formed in her throat, keeping her ability to speak at bay as he released her legs from his grasp. The weight of his form pressed her into the bed, fingers finding hers in the pillow to uncurl and wrap with his.

“I don’t know who you thought I would be, but that is not it. I’ve got drug dealers on speed dial, guns in the basement, and two strip clubs with women who’d blow any man for the right price. I do bad shit on a daily basis. I dabble in anything that’ll buy me another car or house to make you smile.”

“Anton,” she whispered, feeling him hit just the right spot with the slightest reposition of his hips. Her breath shuddered. “It’s—”

“It’s not okay,” he interjected lowly. “There’s no sense in me going to the temple because even I can’t buy my way into heaven, so what’s the point in pretending. You want to know my secrets, baby? All the dark, bad things I did to get me where I am now? I’ve got a list in my safe a mile long of women and children I’m paying for because their husbands no longer can. My hand, a gun, and their grave. Do you understand that?

“Answer me …”

Her mouth was dry, words hoarse when she answered, “Yes, I understand.”

“Don’t act like some quiet mouse, Viviana. Don’t stand at my side with your head tucked down in those pretty dresses I buy you. Don’t be the weak little mafia princess your momma said you’d have to be. That’s not what I want—not what I need. Stand straight, meet their stare, and be my fucking queen. You’re the only one at my side because you can be—because you’re worthy and beautiful and mine. Do you understand me?”

His fingers clenched with hers, pushing her arms up under the pillow as his lips met her jaw so tenderly. Already she could feel her body beginning to sing and fly under his fucking. No one had ever taken her quite so high so fast before.

“But—”

“No buts. Question me if I’m late. Be angry if I piss you off. Run our home or hire maids. Go back to school or don’t. Birth me children or enjoy your life the way it is. Those things don’t matter to me; they never have.”

She was staring at him again, searching for some sign of a lie behind the open, truthful gaze with which he regarded her. He wasn’t hiding a thing. For years, Viviana found herself wondering if the quiet, whispered words he’d promised and swore under those blankets nine years ago had been as true as they felt. Now, she knew they were.

Anton loved her. Maybe he always had. It sure wasn’t like she completely understood why, but it was obvious she couldn’t deny the feelings were there, either. Once more, she was reminded of how much their situation just didn’t feel like the contract it had been made out to be. Whatever they were together, it was much more than men who shook hands and decided their fates. Destiny had its own plan.

“I stepped in to take you out of Toronto because I was terrified I wouldn’t get the chance if I waited one more day. I had men watching you for years. Not once did you lay your head down and I didn’t know where you were. I always knew, Vine. Fuck, don’t you know I love you?”

The orgasm that rushed down and swept over her senses hit like a tsunami. From head to toe, it ravaged and wrecked what was left of her worries, taking with it the fears and expectations she thought she had. Viviana twisted in the bed under the weight of her lover, crying out so broken and high because everything felt alive and awakened all at once. Too much, it was far too much. She didn’t have a choice but to let it consume and take her under.

Anton’s throaty, muffled groan against her throat followed the release she felt spurt from his cock, coating her core in thick, hot streams. Tight … Oh, God, he held her so tight to his body, letting her feel and take every bit of him he gave. Her name was on the tip of his tongue and the blissful feelings of sex danced across her sensitive skin.

With emotional waves washing over Viviana in choppy bursts, she felt him finally let go of his rough hold and move. His fingers roamed down her sides as their mingling fluids leaked between her legs to the sheets, his cheek turning to press into her stomach before he laid the softest kiss there.

“I’m sorry,” she breathed. “I didn’t realize or think … You kept pushing and I thought you didn’t understand. I suppose it was me who didn’t.”

Anton’s heavy sigh tickled her sweaty flesh. “I know.”