Page 24 of Merciless Wager
I still drank as much as I could before turning the water off and looking at my reflection in the mirror. It was then that I saw the large bandage on my upper arm and shoulder. I touched it, then grimaced at the fresh wave of pain the smallest of touches caused.
Closing my eyes, I tried to remember what had happened, but all I could recall was leaving for New York City. I pushed forth through the agony in my skull and saw enough glimpses to piece together the rest. We’d been ambushed by the Sicilians. Leon Barganella wanted what I had, but I’d die before handing her over to him. My family needed to finish destroying his already weakened organization, then claim his territory as their own. We could do it more easily with the help of the Russians.
“You’ve tried, but failed. Next time, you won’t even get close enough to try,” I swore as I opened the top drawer of the vanity in search of some aspirin. When I found nothing there, I headed downstairs.
I’d no sooner gathered three aspirin and grabbed a bottle of water when a vision appeared at the top of the stairs. Aurora was so fucking beautiful, and more dangerous to me than any mafia organization could ever be. That much I hadn’t realized until now.
While they wanted to eliminate me and the power I held, she wanted everything and more. And if I wasn’t careful, I might just end up surrendering it all to her. Still, I couldn’t help but follow her slow descent down the stairs, and finally her every step as she closed the distance between us.
“How’s your shoulder?” she asked me. When she glanced down and saw the pills and water, she added, “And the hangover?”
“I’m fine,” I replied more dismissively than intended. I slipped the small pills into my mouth before chasing them down with a large gulp or two of water.
“What exactly happened to me?” I asked her.
“You don’t remember?” she asked in response. At my slight head shake, her facial expression softened. “You’d been shot, and I’d stopped the bleeding. Afterward, a medic cleaned the wound and removed the bullet.”
“You helped me?” I asked as I rounded the kitchen island.
Again, her fucking hands had been on me, and I couldn’t remember. At least until... In a wave, more memories came rushing back, and this time, I felt and tasted her lips on mine. Something switched inside of me, and judging by the way she inadvertently stepped back, I suspected she knew where my thoughts had turned.
“Why did you do that?”
“I-I’m a nurse, if you haven’t forgotten.”
“I guess I did. So you helped until the medic arrived, then later helped me into bed and slept beside me all night?”
A slight flush colored her pale cheeks. Now, I was imagining how her entire body would blush at my touch. While I used to wonder how her flesh would display my marks, I now only needed to look at her neck and the prominent hickey displayed.
“Yes,” she said after hesitating. “I only ended up in your bed because you wouldn’t let me go.”
“Even a drunk me had the right idea. Unfortunately, he lacked execution. That was very foolish on my part. A mistake I won’t make?—”
“One you won’t get a chance to make again,” she said to me.
“Is that so?” I asked her.
She hesitated on her feet, and the slight twisting of her hands was a dead giveaway that she was nervous. Over the two weeks we’d been in each other’s company, I’d picked up on many tells of her. Already perceptive to a fault on any given day, I was even more so when it came to my bellezza. Aurora was so goddamned fascinating that I missed nothing when it came to her.
I ignored her fidgeting and made a move toward her, causing her to take one back. Upon realizing it’d just be a matter of time before I trapped her like I usually did, she turned and tried to make a beeline for the stairs, but I was able to reach out and grab her.
With a hard yank, she flew against me, and her back was now plastered against my chest. Any pain I felt from the wound or my skull was worth every second of having Aurora in my arms. The only difference between now and last night was that I intended to finish what I’d started, regardless of what had initiated it.
“And you didn’t stay in my bed for any other reason?”
“N-nope,” she stammered.
“I think you’re lying to me and to yourself.”
“I’m not,” she quickly replied.
I smirked at her dishonesty. “So you don’t want to feel my lips on yours again?” When she remained silent, I continued. “Or are you hoping to feel them somewhere else, such as...” I paused as one of my hands covered a breast, then gave it a tight squeeze. “On these perfect fucking tits.” When she shook her head, I dragged my hand lower until I was able to slip it between her legs. “Or on your pussy, that’s already soaked.”
“It’s not. You need to let me?—”
“Prove it because I can feel how wet you are through your jeans.”
“Zarren, please?—”
