Page 177

My father’s secrets had lived against my skin without my knowing. Tomorrow, they would belong to everyone.

38

DEMITRI

Istood beneath the bathroom light with a towel wrapped around my waist and water still running down my back.

The house had fallen quiet, but no one was sleeping. Too many windows remained boarded over. Too much blood had been scrubbed from the floors.

In a few hours, we would leave for the Coccico warehouses.

If Greco’s warrants remained sealed, law enforcement would take the buildings before the cartel could move the women. If the warrants leaked, we would walk into an ambush. Either way, men would die before sunrise.

A soft knock sounded at my door. I left the bathroom and crossed the bedroom.

Adriana was at the door. My hand tightened around the handle before I turned it.

She stood in the corridor wearing loose trousers and a dark cardigan over a tank top. Her hair fell around her shoulders, and shadows bruised the skin beneath her eyes.

She had not slept. Neither had I, but exhaustion looked different on her. It stripped away the control she wore through the day and left every fear exposed.

Her gaze moved over my bare chest before dropping to the towel around my waist.

Color rose slowly along her throat.

My body reacted before reason could intervene.

I tightened my grip on the door handle as she looked beyond me into the room, waiting for an invitation.

I stepped aside. Adriana entered, and I looked toward the corridor before closing the door.

When I turned back, she stood in the centre of the room.

Her arms were folded tightly across her chest. The cardigan had slipped from one shoulder, revealing the narrow strap of her tank, but she seemed unaware of it.

“You should be resting,” I told her.

“So should you.”

I reached for the shirt on the bed. Adriana crossed the room before I could pick it up. She caught my face between her hands and kissed me.

For one stunned second, I didn’t move.

Her mouth was warm and desperate, carrying none of the uncertainty that had held us apart before. She rose onto her toes and pulled me down, her fingers tightening along my jaw as though she believed I might disappear if she loosened them.

My restraint broke with frightening ease. One hand closed around her waist as I kissed her back.

I dragged her closer until her body met mine. Her hands slid from my face into my wet hair, and the kiss deepened.

She tasted like sleeplessness and fear and everything I had spent years denying myself.

For several breaths, there was no operation waiting at dawn. There were no warehouses, no Coccicos and no men preparing to kill us. There was no collar folded inside the drawer beside my bed. No dead father. No vows. No family I had abandoned because I believed my grief would destroy anyone close to me. There was only Adriana holding me as though I were her lifeline and she couldn’t bear to lose me.

Then fear caught up with desire.

I tore my mouth from hers.

Her breath came quickly, her lips swollen and her eyes dark with desire.