Darkest Sins (Perfectly Imperfect #9)

Her eyes flutter open, shining like the starlight I tried catching so long ago.

“I need to make you come again, cub. I’ll keep taking you over and over until I’m convinced you’re real—here in my arms—and not some figment of my imagination. I need to watch you shatter under my touch. Again. And again.” I slide two fingers inside her and lean to whisper in her ear. “I’m going to fuck you until my damn cock bursts and my brain finally accepts that you’re with me and I’m not dreaming. You’re mine.” I curl my fingers upward. “You got me, cub?”

“Yes,” she mewls.

“Good.” I pull out my fingers and lift my hand to lick her juices off. Then, I impale her on my throbbing cock.

Rugged breaths. Moans. Panting. Our sweat mixes as I pound into her relentlessly, driving my dick deeper into her with every thrust. More. More. Again. Again. I almost lose it when Nera buries her nails in my shoulders. Breaking the skin. The dresser drawers rattle, and a loud crack splits the volatile thumps and the slapping of our naked flesh. The fucking thing is going to break. Grabbing Nera under her ass, I shift us to the left and press her against the wall next to the battered piece of furniture.

Every time I plunge into her, she sucks in a breath, letting out tiny little gasps. My God, she’s so fucking beautiful, and the sounds she makes are driving me insane. I quicken my pace,keeping our gazes connected. I know I’m out of control, but I can’t rein myself in.

“I love you so fucking much,” I rasp as I marvel at the sensation of having her body shiver in my arms while her pussy spasms around my length. A low moan leaves her lips, and then she shatters in my embrace.

“I love you too, demon.” Her voice is hoarse.

“Good,” I growl and crash my mouth to hers. “Because we’re moving to the bed now.”

“How many people do you need me to knock off?”

I lift my cheek from Kai’s chest and narrow my eyes at him. “No one else for now. Please.”

“Someone has put up two million to have you killed. I’m going to take out anyone who’s ever seen that hit order just to make sure the motherfucker cannot follow through.”

I would have smiled at his statement if I wasn’t certain he was being deadly serious. “We made a deal, demon. When I find out who’s after my head, you’re free to do whatever you want with him. But you won’t mess with how I’m handling this business.”

“Oh, I’ll find the man who dared to hurt you,” he growls. “And when I do, I’m going to enjoy the sounds of his screamswhile I rip off his arms. And his legs. Then, I’ll twist his fucking head off and put it on a spike to rot.”

“I don’t think a warning of such magnitude will be required.”

“It won’t be a warning. It’ll be a guarantee to everybody else.” He tilts his head and drops a kiss on my chin. “Will you tell me about her? About . . . our daughter.”

I smile and lay my face on his chest again. And then, I tell him.

I tell him how my water broke while I was in the middle of a meeting with the capos. How I thought she was the most beautiful baby when they handed her to me for the very first time, even though she was screaming like a banshee. About Lucia’s first word (No!). Her favorite toys and songs. How she bit Adele, one of our maids, when the woman tried to take away her teddy bear to get washed. I tell Kai everything I can think of until my lips feel numb from all the talking. He listens in silence, his arms holding me pressed to his side while his chest rises and falls in quick succession. Even after I run out of stories, he doesn’t utter a word, just keeps stroking my back with his trembling fingers.

“I’ve been taking photos of her, almost every day. I wanted to have all the big and small moments recorded so I wouldn’t forget them. And . . . and so I could show them to you, if you did come back one day,” I whisper into the darkness. “Will you tell me where you were all this time?”

“In hell, cub. Instead of seeing my baby girl being born, I was in hell. Where I belong.”

I lift my head, trying to see his face but it’s too dark. Throwing one leg over his hips, I climb on top, and press my palms over his cheeks. They are wet.

“You belong here,” I say. “With me. And our daughter. But I need to know, Kai. I need to know. No lies. And no more secrets.”

I can hear the pounding of his heart, feel the movement of his chest under me. Slow, deep breaths. His palms rest on the small of my back, stroking my skin.

“I can endure a lot of things, Nera, but to see you with the hatred in your eyes? That, I couldn’t bear. So, I spent days and nights following you or lurking on the rooftop across from your apartment. Watching you. Having you so close, yet so out of fucking reach at the same time, was the worst form of torture. I never meant for you to see me that night.” His hand glides up my back and into my hair. “I heard you, you know? When you shouted off the roof into the darkness.”

“I didn’t mean it. I was hurt and—”

“I know.” He kisses my forehead. “You had every right. I couldn’t make myself come before you and tell you the truth. But my silent presence, no explanation, was hurting you. I needed to take myself as far from you as possible because, I was afraid that if I didn’t put enough distance between us, I’d crawl back to you. Just to have you near. To be able to see you once in a while. But my toxic proximity would only have poisoned the rest of your life. So I took a job in Mexico.

“It was meant to be a simple recon mission. Gather the intel on the latest trouble brewing between the cartels, and get out without being spotted. But I was ambushed before I even left the airfield.”

I squeeze my eyes shut. I’ve never had any dealings with cartels, but I’ve heard the stories. “What did they do?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me!” I press my lips to his. “It matters to me, demon.”