I understood The League’s reasoning for the rule, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.
“And you may act like the king of one-night stands, but you’ll want more from me. More than I can give.”
And there it was. Had she rehearsed and memorized those lines word for word? She never missed a beat in her delivery, same as the last five times when we did our little back-and-forth like this.
Emilia sure as hell didn’t lack confidence. But her words always hurt more than I’d cared to admit. She could handle sex without growing attached, but apparently, I was too soft. I’d be a bloody “victim” to love.
“Sean.” Emilia palmed my cheek, a contrast to her cold words.
“This arrangement with me as one of the leaders is most likely temporary. When I signed on, I thought we’d take down The Alliance within a year, and I’d be done. So, why can’t we—”
“Your family is still connected. Even if you left, it wouldn’t change the rules,” she interrupted, and it also felt like a blow to the balls. But it also sounded as though she’d considered the idea. “You won’t want to get out, though. Your eyes are now open to the darkness. Do you think you will be able to just forget and ignore everything you’ve seen?”
I dragged my palm down my face, frustrated with that bit of truth. Hell, she was right. I wouldn’t be able to turn a blind eye to what I now knew. Alliance or not.
It was late. And maybe I was too exhausted to tangle with her anymore tonight. “Why is it that I only see you when you need my help, or you need to release tension by training?” There went my mouth.
I had other ideas on how to release tension. And the longer I stood directly in front of Emilia, the closer I’d get to opening my big mouth again and describing in vivid detail how great our bodies would feel together, tangled between the sheets.
“You wouldn’t avoid me so much, otherwise, if you didn’t want to—”
“Tonight was about releasing tension.” Her crisp words were a flat line to my heart.
“Taking down those gun runners?” Why was I surprised that was how she chose to wind down? Some women did yoga. Others stress cleaned or shopped. Emilia took down bad guys to work loose the knots in her body.
And now that I’d joined her world, one I had no clue existed two years ago, I understood that. I’d watched my cousin Cole transform into someone tougher and stronger when he’d been forced to step in as leader, and I felt those changes happening to me now as well.
I’d first blamed Sebastian for bringing the danger into our lives, and then my brother blamed himself since his issues with a now deceased crime boss had placed us in the crosshairs of The Alliance in the first place. But the deeper I became entrenched in League affairs, the more I just blamed criminals for everything. So many people were tainted by greed and power, and the world needed cleansing from the sins of the likes of The Alliance.
Yeah, she was right. My eyes were almost too open.
Emilia peeked at the guy squirming against his bike before focusing back on me, her hand no longer on my chest and feeling the intense beats. “I’m sorry this has taken so long, though,” she said, catching me off guard. “Sebastian and I had hoped we’d wrap up everything before his daughter was born last year.”
“Holly and Sebastian’s baby is now a year old,” I said under my breath. “And Luca Moreau is still living free after everything he did.”
“Trust me, the idea that Luca of all people is out there and not dead or inside a League prison bothers me more than it troubles you.” She folded her arms and lifted her chin, her red lips taunting me. Screaming for me. I wanted to suck that bottom lip. Watch those lips wrap around my cock while my hand tangled in her hair.
Bloody hell. I couldn’t think straight around this woman. I couldn’t separate work from desire.
“Luca will pay for his sins. He’ll pay for what he did to Alessia. But he’s the reason we have so much intel on The Alliance. The plan for him to weasel his way into the depths of their organization is working.”
“You’re more trusting of him than I am.” I turned away, no longer able to look at her beautiful face.
Luca Moreau had been a fixer for The League. He’d betrayed his uncle, France’s leader, and he’d especially fecked over his best friend, Sebastian. Luca had faked Sebastian’s sister’s death and locked Alessia away in his League-controlled prison in Russia.
But Alessia was free now and married to Cole. And my sister, Holly, was a mother and happily married to Sebastian. And as for my brother, Adam, he was married with a son, and I’d never seen my twin so happy.
We’d managed to keep our younger brother, Ethan, out of League business by placing him in our company’s New York office, but I was worried if we didn’t wrap up everything soon, the claws of evil would reach for him, too. And it had a vicious bite. I didn’t want his eyes open. Nor Cole’s sister, Bree, an actress in the States, either.
Somehow, everyone around me managed to be happy even though we were facing the belly of hell regularly, all the while trying to keep our business up and running. Well, everyone except me.
No, I can’t be happy because the only woman I want is off-feckin’-limits.
“How long are you staying in Dublin this time?” I firmly tamped down my frustrations and realized purchasing expensive toys and fighting, things I’d thought alleviated my tension, wasn’t working.
“Holly and Sebastian invited me to spend Christmas here since I don’t have any family.”
We’re your family. And wow, was Christmas around the corner? I was losing track of the days. “Holly didn’t tell me.” How on earth would I survive the holidays with Emilia without fantasizing about shedding her clothes and dragging my tongue along her body? “Feck.”
“What?”
Had I cursed aloud? I willed my thoughts to swirl around the drain and vanish. I needed a clear head for the next few weeks if she’d be staying in town. “You plan on working while you’re here? Or should I say, continue working?” I jerked a thumb toward the guy out of earshot from us tied to his bike. “I assume they’re not Alliance or you wouldn’t be so openly going after them.”
Dismantling The Alliance was complicated. Slowly moving the pieces into place without Alliance leaders knowing we were responsible. Positioning people or teams we trusted in Alliance stronghold positions worldwide for when we were ready to advance on the leaders. Take them down simultaneously in one fell swoop before they had a chance to react.
Emilia began to turn away without answering me, and I captured her wrist on instinct. “What is it you haven’t told me? Or all of us? You have secrets, and I get the feeling at least one of those secrets might get someone killed.” It wasn’t just about me wanting to know all of her secrets. I had my family to protect.
Her gaze cut down to where I held her wrist. Was she contemplating dropping me to the ground right there? She could. But I wasn’t the same man she’d kissed last year, and that was thanks to her and The League. I could easily flip her over and pin her beneath me, too. I was sort of hoping for that to happen.
“We all have secrets,” she countered in a soft, almost seductive voice.