Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“I know it was.”
“Don’t be an ass and ruin it.”
“I’m delightful.”
“You’re an arrogant prick.” She sighs and moans and wiggles her hips. “Respectfully.”
“Brat.” I bite her nipple and she laughs, trying to get away, but I hold her tight and pull her hair. “Tell me why I shouldn’t hold you down right here and fuck you senseless.”
“Because—” She hesitates, frowning, chewing on her lip. “Well, I guess there’s no good reason.”
I bury my mouth on hers. “When I’m done with you, I want you to stay in here. I want you to wait for me. I want to come back to you lying in bed, your ass in the air, waiting for my palm.”
“You’re spanking me already? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Then think of something bad so I can punish you for it.”
She laughs but her laughter dies in a groan as I slip a hand beneath that long shirt and find her bare pussy, already wet again.
The breakfast room is attached to the kitchen on the far side of the house, down the hall from my father’s former study. Big windows overlook the gardens and the sky’s massive and blue and broken only by puffy clouds. The room’s airy and comfortable, with a table and cushioned chairs, and I remember my parents spending a lot of time in here when I was a kid. My father would drink his coffee and read his paper, and Mom would sip tea and let me run around at her feet, and she’d sometimes point out the window and smile and say, I bet you can’t run all the way to that rock and back before your father finishes the sports section. I’d always try, and I never could. Dad hit me once for failing, and that ended that game.
Now the table is occupied by Hugh and Cormac. Both men sit with their backs to the window facing out at the room which leaves me no choice but to have my back to the entrance. It makes my spine itch, but I don’t show my discomfort. I take a seat across from the father and son pair, both of them watching me with matching slimy smiles like twin crocodiles poking their little snouts up from swampy depths, and I gaze back at them and try not to show my loathing. At least, I don’t want it to be obvious.
“Thank you for joining us,” Cormac says, sounding like a gentleman. Although I’m aware there’s nothing gentle or manly about the bastard. “I had to convince Hugh to come to this meeting, but I think it’s in the best interest of everyone involved.”
“Your daddy’s setting your schedule now?” I ask, looking at Hugh with a big mock smile, just seeing if I can knock him off balance before we begin in earnest.
He glares back. “I’m trying to be mature about this.”
“And I’m still unhappy about you trying to murder me.” I put my hands on the table, half to show him that I’m unarmed, but also so I can leap over and strangle him at any moment.
Hugh rolls his eyes. “Oh, what, that one little attack? You should get over it, cousin. That’s just how these things go.”
“You nearly killed your own men. How’s that holding up? Morale pretty good right now? I’m guessing the whispers started already. They’re wondering who you’re going to sacrifice next. Everyone knows I survived your ambush and got the better of your strongest men, and it’s hard to imagine coming back from something like that. Who’s going to trust you now?”
Hugh’s jaw works and I can tell I got under his skin, but worse than that, he knows I’m fucking right. The only reason he’d take a meeting like this is if the family really were turning their backs on him and making his life harder. Cormac clears his throat as a staff member comes in with coffee and a tray of cheese and fruit. I pour myself a drink and sip it, but ignore the food. Neither Cormac nor Hugh touch anything, and it briefly occurs to me that eating or drinking might be unsafe, but I push that aside. Even they wouldn’t stoop so low.
“I was talking to Hugh after you and I spoke the other day, and I believe I came up with a good plan for how we can move forward as a family.” Cormac speaks like he’s a politician and it’s no wonder he survived the mafia for so long, the bastard can wriggle around like a frog, although I can’t be the first person to want to put a bullet in his fucking head. “It’s a sensible plan. Hugh?”
My cousin clears his throat and looks like he’d rather shove a rusty stake up his own asshole, which confirms what I suspected—Cormac is likely the power behind the power.