by M. Robinson
Chapter Three
I arrived at the Morelli mansion with my emotions running the gambit of worry, trepidation, and heartache. I’d fucked up, and I had to fix it. Simon was right, there had never been an escape for him. The fact he’d managed to spend any time with me in Vegas over the last year was a feat in itself.
The hours since Simon had left me and arriving in New York had solidified what a colossal mistake I’d made by sending him my rings. They represented something private we shared, something that bonded us without the world interfering, and I’d hurt him with my need to fight for my independence.
He was right. He would have let me walk away, but I’d picked him. Now I had to own my decision. And I had to fix the hurt I’d caused him.
“Okay, Silent Night, what gives?” The eldest of my four brothers, Tyler, asked as he studied me from across the car. “All you’ve done is brood since you landed this afternoon and haven’t said more than two words in the last twenty minutes.”
Sometimes, I regretted picking that as the name of the poker club. It always worried me that one of my brothers would find out, and it was what had led Simon to my underground activities in the first place.
I glared at him. “Are you ever going to stop calling me that?”
“You’re named after the goddess of night, and you do have a habit of sneaking around and holding knives to people’s throats.”
“It was once, and she deserved it. Besides, I was thirteen when that happened.”
As a coming-of-age gift, Yia Yia Gina had given me a priceless broach, something all of my many aunts had assumed would go to one of them and not a teenaged girl. My Aunt Teresa had taken exception to the decision and decided to borrow the jewelry from my room permanently. So, in turn, I broke into her house and procured its return.
“And since then, you’ve spent your time doing all kinds of nefarious things. Tell me I’m wrong.”
“I admit to nothing.”
He smirked. “You’re going to drive Drakos insane.”
If he only knew.
I dropped my head back against my seat, closing my eyes.
“Oh no, you don’t. The second I mention Drakos, you shut down. What gives? You getting second thoughts?”
“If I did, are you going to help me escape this? Are you willing to forfeit the trust the family gets with the wedding?”
Tyler leaned forward, holding my gaze. “If I believed for one minute you weren’t in love with that asshole, I’d have you on a plane to the Maldives. But we both know that’s not true. So what’s the issue?”
I stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. Until tonight, he’d never indicated he knew anything was going on with Simon and me. As far as the family was aware, Simon and I had only four formal meetings, tonight being the fifth.
“Don’t look at me like that. Just because I don’t say anything doesn’t mean I don’t know what my baby sister is doing or who she is doing it with.” Tyler’s brown eyes narrowed. “I know about everything you’ve gotten into in Vegas.”
“But Papa is—”
“Just as Drakos runs his family, I run ours. Papa stepped aside years ago.”
“You’re the reason Papa allowed me to move to Vegas.”
“I allowed you to move.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t want this life for you. You didn’t fit here. I expected you to follow in our great aunt Julia’s footsteps and find someone far away from our world.”
She was the reason I was being used as payment for the contract in the first place. One Mykos daughter was good as any, and the Drakoses just had to wait for four generations to get one.
Tyler continued, “Instead, you decided to play Russian roulette, or should I say Greek roulette, with Drakos, and here we are.”
“It was poker, not roulette.”
He glared at me. “Either way, you’re back in the fold.”
“Looks that way.”
“Idiot.”
“Yep.”
“You love him that much?”
I looked out the window at the falling snow. “Yep. Somewhere between trying to decide if I should shoot him or stab him, it happened.”
“Then you need to stop looking at everything you gave up to be here and accept this is your life now.”
“I’m working on it.”
“Good. Now I need you to do me a favor for keeping all your secrets from Papa and Mama.”
“What’s that?”
“Keep to tradition and play the hellion Mykos heiress one more time before you become the respectable Drakos wife.”
I smiled, loving my big brother for always accepting me and all of my antics. “Consider it an early Christmas present.”
Chapter Four
I entered the palatial ballroom in the heart of the Morelli mansion and immediately felt my heartbeat accelerate. Not because I was worried about returning to the fold, as Tyler had put it, but because I was going to have to face Simon.
“This place is impressive,” I whispered to Tyler.
“The Morellis know how to throw a party.”
A beautiful mix of silver and gold with pops of red, blue, and green decor filled the room, giving it an enchanted feel. Everything was elegant and screamed wealth and affluence. Exactly what a Hamptons Christmas affair would entail.
And with a gathering like this, there was a purpose. For some to make connections, others to be seen, and for the majority, it was business.
The Mykos and Drakos families fell into the latter category.
Simon and I were business.
We represented a merger worth nearly one hundred million dollars.
Not a literal merger but a familial one.
A union that many hoped would never take place.
The unanticipated benefit of my great aunt breaking her engagement and causing a rift between the Mykos and Drakos families was the profitability of territory wars and rivalries, specifically to the extended family and business partners who carried out the tasks involved in maintaining the feud.
With my marriage, enemies had to become allies, and opportunities to undercut each other decreased. The money everyone would receive from the trust wouldn’t match the benefits or the power they’d lose as soldiers and generals in the conflict between the families.
I had no doubt countless Mykoses and Drakoses were hoping with every fiber of their beings for the Mykos hellion to make some sort of stand against the wedding she’d refused to accept since she was a teen. What would they say if I told them I’d fallen for the groom and the marriage was a done deal?
I scanned the crowd of elegantly dressed couples and searched for my parents.
“Come on. The family is over there.” Tyler hooked my hand around his elbow. “And for the record, no one knows about you and Drakos but me, Nico, Damon, and Evan.”
“I figured.”
If one of my brothers knew something, more than likely the others did as well. It was how they operated.
As we moved along the edge of the room, I picked up a champagne flute, drinking it down and setting it on a nearby table before grabbing another from a passing server.
“Really?”
“You’re the one who wanted me to play up the hellion.”
“Don’t you want to be sober to do it?”
I frowned. “I’m a Mykos. It would take more than two glasses of champagne to get me drunk.”
“Are you actually a Mykos? Remember, I know your secrets.”
Before I could answer Tyler, I heard someone say in Greek, “Are you sure you want to marry her? Who knows what she does in Vegas. I heard she has a lover. You don’t want someone else’s bastard passed off as one of ours.”
Immediately I stopped, turning to see who’d expressed that opinion. A man with Simon’s same build but at least thirty years older stood next to him. There was a gleam in his gaze that said he’d wanted me to hear the comment. It had to be another one of Simon’s uncles. The few I’d met had strong
opinions on me living in Vegas away from the watchful eyes of my brothers and parents, and it looked as if this one held the same sentiment.
Fuckers, all of them.
Tyler gripped my hand. “Is there something you haven’t told me?”
“Really?” I scowled in his direction then realized his amused words were a sharp contrast to the death stare he was shooting at Simon’s uncle.
Tyler was calm in all situations, letting nothing rile him. That was unless someone fucked with his family.
“Tyler, I knew they were going to fuck with me until the wedding. They want to scare me away. We already know it isn’t going to work.”
“Drakos better handle his family or I will.”
That was when Simon responded with, “I know everything I need to know about her.”
“I see.” Simon’s uncle smirked. “She is the Mykoses’ weakness. Taking her will keep them in line. They wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to the baby of their family.”
“What did he just say about you? Okay, I’m done with this.”
And there went any hope of keeping Tyler’s temper in check.
Tyler pulled me toward Simon and his uncle.
“My wife will never be a pawn in any of the Drakos games. Is this clear? If anyone even considers it, I will make their life very difficult.” The threat in Simon’s voice was something I’d never heard him use.
And it seemed to have mollified Tyler enough to loosen his grip on my arm.
“Didn’t realize you were already attached to her.”
“Attached or not. She is mine. No one uses her.”
“But you, you mean. Afraid someone will break your toys before you do?” The asshole stepped back as Tyler and I approached. “And here she is, your bride.”
Simon stiffened and then shifted, turning his back on his uncle to face me.
We stared at each other for a moment before he said, “You’re beautiful.”
“You look pretty good yourself.”
To describe Simon as handsome was an understatement. I’d seen him in all kinds of dress and outside of naked, I’d have to say a tux was my favorite.
“We came over when we heard your uncle discussing your toys.” Tyler shot a look over Simon’s shoulder.
I wanted to sigh, but Simon’s uncle had done it to himself. Tyler wouldn’t forget the slight.
“Simon knows this toy has no problems pulling a knife and slicing a throat if anyone thinks to use her,” I said in Greek, loud enough that I had no doubt any Drakos in the vicinity heard my words.
Simon’s lips quirked at the corners, and he leaned forward, taking my hand and then whispering in my ear, “That is, unless the toy wants me to use her.”
Immediately my skin heated, and I had to resist the urge to kiss him.
God, he smelled good, a mix of his cologne and the clean, fresh scent of his soap.
“Simon?”
“Yes.”
“I want them back.”
“What exactly is them?” He rubbed his thumb on the inside of my wrist, making my pulse jump.
“My rings.”
“Why?”
Lifting my face, I met his intense gaze. “Because you’re mine too.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
“I suggest saving your discussion for later.” Tyler set a hand on my back. “The families are watching.”
As I pulled my fingers from Simon’s, he ordered, “Solarium, one hour. We’re settling this tonight.”
Chapter Five
I entered the glass-enclosed solarium in the Morelli mansion, thankful I’d escaped the festivities in the ballroom without anyone feeling the need to join me.
A giant Christmas tree illuminated the back of the dark room, and flowers and plants of all types occupied the edges of the space, giving it a garden feel, a sharp contrast to the ice and snow covering the ground outside the windows.
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, letting the fragrance in the air calm my senses.
“Want one of these in our home?”
I whirled around to find Simon leaning against a wall barely a foot behind me. The heat in his green irises had my core clenching and body aching for the orgasm he’d denied me.
He’d taken off his tux jacket and tie, telling me this was going to be some discussion.
“I’d rather have my rings.”
“Why would you want them? They’re shackles to a life you don’t want.”
“I want a life with you.”
“Do you?”
“I wouldn’t have married you if I didn’t.”
“And yet you sent me a symbol of our marriage back with a nice note.”
I moved toward him, setting my palm against his chest. “I’m sorry.”
“About what exactly? The rings or the note?”
“The rings.”
“Not the note?” He gripped my waist.
“No.”
“Why is that?”
“Because you pissed me off.”
He turned and pressed me against the wall so fast I lost my breath.
“And how do you think I felt? I ordered you to shut down to protect you from those in my family who don’t want the wedding to happen.”
“You think they will use my clubs to stop our wedding.” I gripped his shirt. “I know how to deal with vipers. I grew up in a den of them.”
“Don’t underestimate your value in this game. They will have no problem exposing you publicly or throwing your family to the wolves.”
“Like you threatened to do to me when we met.”
His palm settled on my jaw, tilting it to the side so he could rub his stubble against the skin along the column of my neck. “But unlike me, they aren’t going to give you an alternative. They won’t let you become a vital part of their lives. And they definitely won’t fucking marry you.”
“I won’t live in a bubble, Simon. That isn’t who I am.”
“I will keep you safe.” He grazed my shoulder with his teeth.
“I’m that important to you?”
“Tell me if this answers your question.” He lifted his head and leaned in, stopping when his nose was a hairsbreadth away from mine. “You aren’t just your father and brothers’ weakness. You’re mine. I would burn this fucking world down if something happened to you.”
I stared into his beautiful green eyes, seeing the truth of his words.
Cupping his face, I drew his lips to mine. Immediately, he groaned, deepening the kiss.
God, he tasted incredible, of scotch and his own earthy essence, something I hadn’t realized I needed so desperately.
The hand at my waist slid upward, cupping my breast and pinching the straining, sensitive nipple through my dress.
“Simon,” I gasped, breaking the kiss and arching up.
His mouth trailed down my throat, licking, sucking, and biting in that way that drove my need for him higher and higher.
He lowered to his knees, his fingers circling my ankles and then gliding upward, under my gown, over my knee and thigh, gathering the fabric as he went.
“I believe I owe you something.”
“Yes, you do.”
With a quick jerk of his hand, he ripped my thong from my body, making me gasp, and then in the next second, I moaned as his hot tongue took a long swipe over my sex.
I dropped my head back against the wall and closed my eyes, losing myself in the pleasure I’d craved ever since he’d left me hanging earlier this morning.
He pushed two fingers deep into my soaked core and circled my pulsing clitoral nub with his mouth.
“God, you taste incredible.” His tongue flicked and strummed my clit as his fingers curled inside, hitting the spot that made my pussy clench in a tight grip around him.
I was helpless as the first tide of sensation washed over me.
I threaded my hands through his hair and arched up, grinding my pelvis against his wicked mouth.
“Simon,” I cried out, m
y pussy clamping down and flooding his pistoning fingers.
This man could play my body like a concert pianist. A hand slid up my belly, holding me in place, while he continued to carry me through the exquisite pleasure coursing through me.
When I finally came down, he pulled his fingers free of my body, wiped his mouth on the inside of my thigh, and rose.
“I’m going to fuck you now.”
“We can’t. Someone could come in.”
“And do you care if anyone knows you’re mine?”
It was a dare.
After a few moments, I turned, lifted my hair, and glanced over my shoulder.
Instead of unzipping my dress, he fisted my hair, tugging it back and bringing his mouth down on mine.
My body immediately responded, and my core contracted, flooding with desire. I reached back and cupped his head, losing myself in his possessive kiss. His mouth was all-consuming and claiming.
Simon lifted me into his arms and carried me over to a small sitting area near the windows. The second my feet touched the rug, we went to work on each other’s clothes, unzipping, unbuttoning, and removing anything and everything keeping us from each other’s hot skin.
The moment there were no barriers between us, Simon pushed me back onto the couch, gripped my hips, and thrust deep.
“Oh God,” I cried out, loving the feel of his thick, hard cock.
“Nyx. I’m not going this long without fucking you again,” Simon said, reaching up and grabbing hold of the back of my neck. “This pussy is mine.”
I pushed up on the cushions with my palms to meet the slow, steady pace of his hips.
“Fine, whatever. Fuck me harder.”
“Like this?” He pulled out to the tip and slammed in.
“Yes,” I gasped. “More.”
My pussy quickened and contracted as the throbbing in my clit intensified.
“Simon, I’m almost there. Don’t stop. Oh, God. Don’t stop.”
“Does the ache hurt, baby? Want me to make it stop?”
I clenched my eyes, desperate to go over and unable to do anything but take what he gave me.
