by Katee Robert
Alethea spoke and acted bluntly, but she was capable of subtlety—if she wasn’t, Romanov wouldn’t consider her such a large threat. So Aiden went the most direct route. “It’s in your best interest.”
“No, it’s in your best interest. My best interests lie elsewhere currently.”
He reminded himself that he’d expected he’d have to persuade her—if only on sheer principle. He walked the knife edge of danger, and it wasn’t only his life on the line. If Alethea turned against him, he wasn’t walking out of this warehouse alive. It was a risk, and it seemed a whole lot larger with Charlie at his side. One mistake and they were both going to pay.
He couldn’t let fear rule him now any more than he’d let it when facing down his father. Fear was how a man got himself killed. He gave her a lazy smile. “Oh? Is that why Romanov is going to marry my little sister?”
Her blue eyes flashed. “That was a low blow, and rude to boot. You know very well that he turned down my darling daughter.”
Yes, Aiden did know—because Romanov had told him. He got the impression that Romanov would have been happy letting them run their territory if they hadn’t threatened him, but they’d forced his hand with that proposal. It would have been smart to say yes and merge resources. It’s what the O’Malleys and Sheridans had done. Fuck, it was what the O’Malleys and Hallorans had done to a lesser extent. Those alliances made them all stronger.
Then again, having met Mae, he didn’t blame the Russian one bit. That woman had black widow written all over her.
“His loss.” He sat back, feigning disinterest. “Did he tell you why?”
“Does it matter?” Alethea frowned. “What do you know?”
It was time to dangle the bait and see if she’d bite. Aiden’s gaze drifted back to Charlie. “I have it on good authority that your shipment to Romanov in two weeks will be your last.”
“It’s not.” She narrowed her eyes. “He wouldn’t dare.”
“You know better.”
Dmitri Romanov had no shortage of balls. He wouldn’t have accumulated so much power if he was afraid to take risks. Taking on the Eldridges was a risk, even with the O’Malleys at his side. He was a smart man. He had to know that turning down a marriage with Mae would be enough to spark a response. So why had he done it?
Surely not because of Keira …
Alethea drummed her fingers on the table. “I’m listening.”
“Consider it a token of my goodwill to pass this information along.”
“Mm-hmm.” She snorted. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with you wanting him dead, would it? Easier to put a bullet between those gorgeous eyes of his than to orchestrate all this.”
If it was that easy, he would have done it already. But he’d been telling the truth when he talked to Cillian—Dmitri Romanov might be a threat, but at least he was a known quantity. Romanov was also gunning for the O’Malleys—for Keira—and Aiden couldn’t allow that to stand. He was still repairing his relationships with his other sisters after putting the good of the family before their individual needs. He’d give his baby sister a choice about her future. “I can’t do it alone.” Aiden kept his voice low, as if it pained him to admit it.
“Now the truth is out. Though, my dear boy, if you can’t do it on your own, how do you imagine you can help me?” She shot him a look from the corner of her eye. “I’m going to put that Russian bastard in the ground the way I have with every other enemy that’s crossed me. I don’t need you.”
The two guards in the room moved closer at the threat in her voice. Liam looked like he wanted to do the same, but Aiden waved him off. He kept one eye on Charlie and Mae as the last card was placed on the table. “We’re stronger together than we are apart.” It made him feel dirty to offer her an alliance—dirty in a way that nothing he’d done in his life up to this point had managed to. It didn’t matter that it was a ruse. He was effectively getting into bed with both Romanov and the Eldridges.
I’d do this and worse to keep my family and my people safe.
“Hmm. Well, I guess time will tell, won’t it?”
He didn’t particularly like where she was headed with this, but he couldn’t say that he was surprised. Aiden sighed as if he wasn’t coiled and ready to spring into motion the second one of her people moved wrong. “Alethea, all of Boston will take it poorly if you harm me, and I will take it poorly if you harm my fiancée. Let’s not waste our time with idle threats.”
“Who said it was idle?”
“Damn it!”
They both turned to find Mae raking in the chips, a small smile on her face, while Charlie slouched in her seat. She offered Aiden a sheepish smile. “Dinner’s on you, baby.” She pressed a hand to her stomach and made a face. “Speaking of … any chance your business is done? I’m starving.”
“Just wrapping up.” He stood and adjusted his jacket. Now was the time when Alethea would spring her trap—if there was one. Showing fear was out of the question, so he kept his gaze on Charlie as he crossed to her. I will get us out of here alive. I promise. He spoke over his shoulder. “You have the information. What you do with it is up to you.”
Alethea let him get almost to the door before she spoke. “You don’t fool me, Aiden O’Malley.”
He turned, touching Charlie’s back to signal her to keep close. It took more work than normal to keep his expression easy and open. “I’m not trying to fool you.”
“Bullshit.” She smiled a slow smile that made his skin crawl. “We’ll take that help that you’re so generously offering, and we’ll put Romanov in the ground.”
He knew the other shoe was going to drop, and she didn’t disappoint.
“For a price.”
He sighed. “By all rights, you should be kissing my ass for bringing you this information. You had no idea Romanov was going to double-cross you, and he would likely have succeeded in murdering both you and Mae if left to his own devices. I’m not playing this game with you. Use the information or don’t. But I’m not going to bend over backwards when you’ve already told me quite explicitly how little you need me.”
“Did I hurt your delicate feelings? How sad for you.” She shook her head. “Wait for my call, Aiden. We’ll talk more then.”
I’m saving Keira. He had to focus on that and let the rest fall where it may. Dmitri Romanov had done their family wrong several times over. They might be allies for the time being, but that didn’t mean he was going to cave to the man’s every whim.
Especially when it came to his baby sister.
He wouldn’t let it happen. He refused to.
He gave Alethea a tight nod. “I look forward to it.” Then he turned around and ushered Charlie through the warehouse and out into the night.
* * *
Charlie hadn’t taken a full breath since she’d thrown away that last pot to distract Mae from what Alethea and Aiden were talking about. She’d never had any intention of winning, though she’d had trip aces in her hand. Mae might have reached across the table and tried to cut her throat, and that would have ruined everyone’s night.
She hadn’t breathed at all when Alethea ever-so-carefully threatened Aiden.
That woman and her daughter were rabid dogs. She’d known that, but she’d comforted herself with the end justifying the means: Romanov had to go down, just like he deserved to. It had made sense in her head, though it had taken some mental gymnastics to get there.
Now?
Now she wanted nothing more than to grab Aiden’s hand and take him away from it all. She liked him. He wasn’t like these other mob bosses, who seemed to relish doing evil things and hurting people. He did what he had to do in order to keep his family safe.
And keep them in power. Can’t forget that.
She took his hand as they settled into the backseat of the sedan, the contact grounding her even though it was a lie. She couldn’t afford to have romantic feelings for Aiden. Her vision was already clouded because of her need for vengeance against Dmitri
Romanov. Throw in something as foolish as love and she’d lose her way completely.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded, too twisted up inside to speak. What if something had happened to him? Through it all, he’d never dropped the mask he’d used to manipulate Alethea—the friendly and vengeful mob boss.
Did he know that we had maybe a fifty-fifty chance of walking out of that warehouse alive?
She squeezed his hand tighter. “You can’t do that again.”
“What?” Aiden turned to face her fully, his green eyes concerned.
“Meet Alethea like that—on her terms, surrounded by her people, in a place where you can’t get out unless she lets you out. Not again, Aiden. Not like that.”
His brows slanted down, and then his expression cleared. “You’re worried about me? Bright eyes, you don’t have to be.”
Either he was lying to make her feel better or he’d missed the cold calculation in Alethea’s eyes when she’d watched them walk out. If he didn’t dance to the tune she set, she would have no problem killing him. She wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep at night over it.
Charlie gripped his hand tighter. “Promise me.”
“You know I can’t. I’ll do whatever it takes to see this through, and if that means getting into another situation like the one we just left, I won’t hesitate.”
She wanted to shake the stubbornness right out of him. “Even if it means you don’t walk out alive?”
He started to give her a pat answer. She saw the second he registered that she was actually scared for him—not herself. The mask slipped, and something like wonder dawned. Aiden pulled her into his lap and framed her face with his hands. “The end justifies the means. You know that.”
She’d thought the same thing earlier. Now she wasn’t so sure.
But he wasn’t going to listen to her tonight. Either he hadn’t seen the danger or he was determined to downplay it. If she kept pressing, it might mean a fight, and that was the last thing Charlie wanted. She’d never been more aware of time flowing, a river that she couldn’t fight. Aiden wasn’t hers. She couldn’t protect him. She didn’t even have a real right to demand he take more precautions. She was just a woman whose aims had lined up with his.
“Charlie—”
She kissed him. There wasn’t anything left to say that they couldn’t communicate with their bodies. She shifted to straddle him, the move making her dress ride up to indecent heights. All Aiden’s careful control was gone in an instant, replaced by a frenzy that matched her own. He slid his hands up her thighs to her hips, pushing the dress even higher, and grabbed her ass, grinding her against him.
All her fear and anger turned to desire, creating an inferno bound to incinerate them both. She couldn’t care less. Charlie reached between them and undid his slacks to pull out his cock. She palmed him. “Condom?”
He opened his mouth and then considered. “Fuck, I don’t have any.”
Damn. Disappointment soured in her stomach, but she shoved it away. “Then I guess we’ll have to get creative. I need you inside me. I don’t care how.” She pushed away his hands and slid down the seat to kneel between his thighs.
Or she tried to.
He caught her halfway through the move and shook his head. “No, bright eyes.”
“What?” Surely he wasn’t rejecting a blow job? That had to break some kind of international law. It just wasn’t done. “You’re starting to give me a complex.”
Aiden lifted her back to his lap, this time facing away from him. The passing lights showed her reflection in the glass separating them from the front seat. Her blue eyes were wild, her hair tangled from his fingers, her dress in danger of slipping off her breasts. Behind her, Aiden was barely a shadow. He moved her hair to one side and kissed her neck. “You come first, bright eyes. Second, too, if I have any say in it.”
She licked her lips. “One of these days, I’m going to tie you down and give you all the blow jobs I’ve been craving.”
“One of these days …” He bracketed her throat with one hand, keeping her head tilted to the side, and coasted the other hand up her inner thigh, spreading her legs further. “One of these days, I’ll let you.”
She nodded. “Good answer.” The move increased the pressure of his hand against her neck, and she squirmed, turned on far more than she should be.
His wandering hand reached the junction between her thighs, and he parted her, idly stroking. “I think I like that you’re worried about me.” His finger circled her clit and away. “I like it a lot.”
“Mmm.” What was she supposed to say to that? She’d already had to face the fact that she didn’t have the right words because she didn’t have the right.
His finger pushed into her slowly. “I won’t be without a condom again, bright eyes. Feeling you so hot and wet around my finger makes me crave the same around my cock.” He pumped as idly as he’d touched her to begin with. “A woman like you could make a man forget himself.”
It was hard to think, with his hard body behind her, his erection pressing against her ass, and his hand moving between her legs. She tried despite that. “Only for a while.”
“No, bright eyes. Not just for a while.” He dragged his mouth down the line of her shoulder. “When I’m inside you, all I can think of is you. When I’m near you, all I can think of is getting inside you again. If you gave me half a chance, I’d be buried to the hilt right now, condom be damned. That’s crazy.”
She rocked against his hand, letting her head fall back to rest on his shoulder. He let go of her throat. The only warning she got was his thumb brushing her sternum and then he pushed down her dress, baring her breasts completely. Aiden cursed. “Next time you forget such a vital part of your wardrobe, the moment I find out, I’m going to fuck you. I might give you the option of dragging you to the nearest bathroom … if you’re lucky.”
He lightly pinched first one nipple and then the other. Charlie couldn’t hold back a moan. She bit her lip, but the faint pain was nothing against the pleasure of his stroking her. She fought to keep her hips still, to do anything except grind against his hand like an animal in heat, but it was a lost cause. With his hands on her body and his mouth tracing those delicious patterns over her shoulder to her neck and back again, she was in danger of combusting on the spot. “Aiden.”
“I like the way you say my name when you’re on the edge.” He pushed a second—and then a third—finger into her. “Come for me, bright eyes. I want to feel you.”
He’d already learned her body in their short time together. Even if she’d wanted to hold off, there was no denying Aiden. He stroked her G-spot while the heel of his hand pressed hard on her clit, her small movements providing just enough friction to drive her out of her damn mind. For one eternal moment, she was poised on the edge.
And then he set his teeth against her neck and shoved her into oblivion.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Aiden led the way up to the hotel room, ignoring Charlie’s questioning look. It was crazy to stop before they got back to Boston. There were a thousand different tasks in need of doing.
But she was right—they’d almost died back there. He’d seen it in Alethea’s eyes. He’d hoped that Charlie had missed it, but he’d underestimated her yet again.
Fooling around in the backseat had just whetted his appetite. He needed her, naked and in a bed, her skin against his the only feeling that would calm the racing of his heart. The only stop he’d made on the way was to run into a convenience store and grab a box of condoms, because he would not deprive them again.
“Aiden, don’t you think this is a bad idea?”
“Yes.” He used the key to open the hotel door and then held it for her.
She sighed and walked into the room, amusement creeping into her blue eyes as she watched him throw the dead bolt and then search the room. Charlie propped her hands on her hips. “Are you expecting a murderer to be lying in wait?”
“We’re not in Boston. Eve
n if we were, I’d still check.” Because she was there with him, and he’d done a shitty job of keeping her safe up to this point. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t promised her safety—that he’d initially planned to use her as ruthlessly as any tool.
Things had changed.
Satisfied that they were safe enough for the time being, he unbuttoned his shirt. “Strip.”
“Aiden …” She pressed her lips together and paused. “You need this.”
“I need you.” It was the truth. It wasn’t the sex that he craved to settle him. It was Charlie.
She shimmied out of her dress. He might live to be one hundred, but he’d never see a sight more breathtaking than Charlie standing before him in nothing but heels. Her makeup was a little smudged from their time in the car, but it only added to the appeal. She wasn’t some Photoshopped model. She was real.
Aiden finished undressing as she watched, never taking his gaze from her. “I misjudged Alethea.”
“I know.” She stepped forward and placed her hand on the center of his chest. Using just that touch, she guided him back to sit on the edge of the bed. “You thought you could manipulate her.”
He had manipulated her, but it had been a close call. “Do you know what they do to—”
“Aiden, stop.” She knelt between his knees and ran her hands up his thighs. “Beating yourself up isn’t going to do a single damn thing but ruin this blow job. You made a mistake. We got out alive. We’re here. We’re alive. We’re safe.”
That was the problem. He’d made a mistake. He’d gone in overconfident and—
His thoughts slammed to a halt as Charlie leaned over and took his cock into her mouth. She sucked him until he hit the back of her throat, then started the slow slide back up. As if she savored his taste.
She wrapped her hand around the base of his cock and licked around his head. Aiden cursed long and hard. “Come here.”
“Nope.” She used her free hand to cradle his balls. “There might not be some handy ropes lying around, but I’m collecting—with interest.”
