Page 83 of Marked By the Devil

That sounded so clinical. Like something HR would ask someone interviewing for a job.

Is that what this is? About how they’ll pay me? How…

I huffed and winced. “Is this about my allegiance to your dick?”

He laughed lightly and kissed me softly.

Okay. A kiss. That’s good. That’s a good sign…

“It’s about wanting to make sure you know you have a place with me—us.”

There it was again. Right when it sounded more like a proposal and him wanting to clarify where we stood as a couple, he went back to making it sound like he was interviewing me on behalf of his family’s empire.

“Of course,” I replied. I nodded, too, in case he was looking for an affirmative or negative answer.

“You’ll stay?” he asked.

I reared back. “I wasn’t… aware that I was leaving.”

Oh, crap. Please, no more riddles.

“No!” He shook his head. “No. That’s my point. I don’t want to think about your leaving me.”

And now we’re back to me thinking you’re proposing? At least he was saying that he saw something longer term with me. That was good.

But with the nausea I tried to fight back, I grew more and more convinced that I had to be pregnant. And I was scared to tell him. To admit it. I didn’t want him to think I was tricking him or trapping him with a baby. A little part of me worried that if he found out, he’d tell me that he loved me and it would only be because I was giving him a child.

He was fond of being an uncle. I knew he was. But I wanted to be selfish and have his love for just me, too.

One thing at a time, Wren. One thing at a time.

“I don’t want to think about leaving either. Especially not now, when so many people might want to kill me…”

If anyone were to find out that I was the mastermind behind that cyber-counter-attack, I’d be even more wanted.

“You will always be safe with us.”

I almost cringed. If he said me instead of us, it’d soothe me more.

“All I know is that when I think about my old life, all those years before I met you, it’s not at all as rewarding as everything I’d found since I’ve had you in my life.”

And that was a truth I could stand behind no matter how confused I was about what he wanted and how conflicted I felt about how I could matter to him.

I closed the distance between us and kissed him.

It started out soft and tender. Brushing my lips over his, I relished the heat of his mouth curving under mine.

I sighed, sagging against him as he urged me to lie back.

This wasn’t his house, not his own home, but I wasn’t nervous about being intimate with him here. And that was where he led this exchange, kissing me urgently and slanting his head to duel with my tongue. To taste me and explore, pushing me back against the bed and hovering over me.

Okay, this, I understand. This, I know.

I clung to him, holding him close and wrapping my leg around his waist. With the position he held over me, he trapped me in place. But there was no other way I’d ever want to be cornered. Held. Caged in and secured.

“Viktor…” I gasped as he trailed his mouth from mine to leave a path of hot, wet kisses along my jaw.

“I’ve got you,” he growled, shoving the blanket and sheet aside. “I’ve got you, Wren.”