Page 14 of King

"When we first met, I tried so hard not to want you," I whisper, as his mouth moves lower, as his hands part my willing thighs."I tried to hate you, but I couldn’t.Instead, I love you."

He stops and lies his head on my belly.I wait, my fingers combing through his hair.When he does nothing, when he says nothing, I wonder why he stopped.Did I say something wrong?He moves up the bed so that his face is level with mine and shakes his head over me; his face looks so pained.

"I'm so sorry, Natalia.I'm so sorry...for what happened to Sherri.I had no idea she was so vulnerable.I had no idea what Alexi was using.I thought he used a bit of coke now and then, a bit of pot, but nothing more…"

"No," I say and shake my head."Don't be sorry.I only blamed you because I thought you were her new boyfriend."I cradle his face in my hands and smile at him.“I was so wrong.”

He shakes his head again, as if he can’t accept my words."Natalia, I ..."Then he looks at me, in my eyes.“I should have been more careful, but I wanted to get him so badly in revenge for Liam’s death.”

"It’s something we share,” I say and nod.“Both of us were so filled with a desire for revenge that we made too many assumptions," I whisper, pulling him to my mouth.Then he kisses me, overtaken once again by desire.

His mouth finds my sex once more, and it feels so good on my flesh, his tongue stroking my hard clit.Now my body takes over, my hips straining against him, moving myself against his tongue until I can’t stand it any longer, and I cry out with pleasure as my orgasm begins.I want him inside of me immediately, to start thrusting in me before the feelings can subside, and I pull him up to me, my hand grasping his cock and trying frantically to pull him inside.

When he enters me, as his hardness fills me up completely, my breath leaves my body, and I know it won’t take many more thrusts before I orgasm again.Before he even establishes an effective pace for his own pleasure, my back arches as another orgasm surges through me, and I cry out beneath him, my mouth crushed against his.

Hearing my cries of pleasure, feeling my body contracting around his cock arouses him further and soon I hear his own breath shorten, and his thrusts grow more rapid.Then he groans and sucks in his breath as his orgasm begins, and those delicious grunts of pleasure come from those full lips.

He collapses against me, his mouth finding my own, and we kiss deeply, drained from the intensity of our desire for each other and the pleasure each receives.

I can’t help but think about my pregnancy and how happy Harrison is about it.I didn’t want to burden him even more, considering everything happening in his life, but he didn’t hesitate for a moment to welcome the news.

It’s still early days, and I know that up to a third of all pregnancies fail in the first weeks after implantation.I hope this one is safe.

I know Harrison wants a family, but can we deal with parenthood on top of everything else?Then, I kick myself mentally.

Harrison is sostrong.

Our love is so strong.

It has to be enough.

ChapterSeven

Harrison

I wait to tell Natalia about Ryan until the following morning.

We wake and shower together after a very intense but very fast session of lovemaking, the water flowing over our bodies.Then, we sit at the kitchen island and eat our breakfast of toast and coffee.

“I met with Fillmore yesterday.”

Natalia frowns.“Isn’t he from your old unit?What’s he doing in the city?”

“He lives here now, and we’ve been in contact for a while.He was concerned about me, and we met and talked about old times.He,” I say and hesitate, not sure how much to tell her.I don’t want to endanger her, but at the same time, I know she wants to be a real part of my life.Considering everything she’s been through, she deserves the truth.

The whole truth.

I promised I wouldn’t hide anything from her, and I intend to keep that promise even if I would rather she not be burdened with the knowledge of how fucked up our world is.

But she’s strong.Much stronger than I ever really understood.

“What?”she says and touches my arm.“Tell me.”

I take in a deep breath and nod.“He has a hacker friend.His friend hacked into Ryan’s emails and bank account.He found some incriminating evidence that Ryan is selling info to the Ivanov family in exchange for money to pay off a big gambling debt.”

“Oh, my God, Harrison,” she says and shakes her head slowly.“I hate gambling.It’s ruined so many lives.It’s as bad as heroin.”

“It can be if you’re susceptible.I guess Ryan is.He had several hundred thousand dollars in debt because of gambling at the casino, and instead of coming to me, he went to Ivanov.In exchange for the money, he was providing Ivanov with intel on our family’s business so they could use our transport trucks to move their guns around the city and the boroughs.”