“Will you just kiss me already.” Maria lifts on tiptoe and meets every kiss, every lick, and every nip of my teeth with answering heat. Her fingers dig into my back, clawing my shirt, as I give her a glimpse of what’s to come.
Her eagerness spurs me on as I kiss her lips, nip at her ear, and trail a line of heat down the gentle arch of her neck. I’m a slave to my lust, hanging on by a thread, as my adoration for her grows and my need becomes unbearable.
Maria’s hands climb up my back until her fingers claw at my scalp, twisting in my hair and tugging on the roots. She follows me, keeping pace with my rising need until a low cough sounds behind me.
“Sir …” Wolfe’s interruption is a buzzkill. “This may not be the right place for that.”
I look up, noticing how Wolfe and Brady shield us from the crowd. When he gives me a look, I return his stare completely unapologetic.
“Come, princess, it’s time to take you home.” I guide Maria down the sidewalk while Brady’s muffled laughter turns into a snort and a wheeze.
The closer we get to the Belvedere, my senses heighten and adrenaline pulses into my bloodstream. I’ve felt like this before, moments before heading into battle and engaging with the enemy.
35
MARIA
As far as kissing goes, Liam does that very well. There’s a rawness to his kissing, an unbridled passion that sweeps me off my feet. I’ve never experienced anything like it.
He can place his lips on the tip of my bare shoulder and my entire body quivers. When he touches my neck, sweeping his fingers up and into my hair, my breaths turn ragged, uncontrolled. My toes curl with anticipation when he grabs my waist to pull me close. My senses riot with an overload of sensation when we hover a kiss away.
Liam makes my body burn.
It’s intense.
I’m not the only one affected. Virile power rages within him, a raw sensuality he barely contains. When he does unleash it, it explodes with the power to destroy everything I thought I knew about sex and turns it on its head.
Breathing in his dark, woodsy, decidedly masculine scent scrambles my brain. He makes me want more, and I know where I want this to go.
Last night, I pointed a gun at him, demanding he tell me what he’d done with Sybil. Now, there’s a ring on that hand. We need to pump the breaks and slow things down, but considering I carry a ring on my finger, slow doesn’t make much sense anymore.
Not that the ring is real. Not that there’s anything but intense physical attraction drawing us together.
Every touch, every kiss, is a barrage of sensation raging like a firestorm within me. I’m both powerless to stop the devastation and eager to feel the burn.
Wolfe and Brady follow a few steps behind us. There’s no sign of Gerald or Stefan. Either they’re getting better at not being seen or Liam scared them into hiding.
We hold hands.
Actually, Liam holds my hand and I grip his arm, leaning into him as we weave through the tourists on our way to the Belvedere.
“That was pretty epic by the way.”
“What was?” Liam glances down, brows tugged together.
“The way you dressed Gerald and Stefan down. I wanted to give you a fist bump. I’ve never had anyone stand up for me like that before. It was perfectly epic.”
“Thanks. That was my intention all along.”
“To be epic?”
“No, silly. To impress my girl.”
My soft smile brings an answering grin to his face.
“Are you ready?” Liam reaches down, taking my hand in his. The reaffirming squeeze he loves to give is everything to me. In that touch, he lends me strength and tells me he’s there if I need to lean on him.
My insides churn—not with the light, unsettled, and anxious feeling of butterflies in flight—but rather with a sickening, seething, swirling sensation of worms chewing on death and decay. Bile rises in the back of my throat, and I have to press my fingers to the hollow of my neck to make the sickening sensation go away.
“Maria?” Liam gives my hand another squeeze. “Are you okay?” He pulls me to a stop half a block away from the Belvedere. “We can turn around. You don’t have to do this.”
I want to turn around. I want to run screaming from this place. It’s infested with evil where horrible things are done to innocent women …
As a matter of course.
As a business enterprise.
As a routine daily event.
All of it occurring under my nose.
They took Sybil.
They kidnapped five others.
How many came before them?
Dozens? Hundreds? More?
The urge to empty the contents of my stomach nearly overwhelms me.
My uncle’s been running this corruption from within the Belvedere for decades. How many lives has he ruined? How many people has he killed?
“I have to do this.” I draw in a breath, tugging the humid air of the Mississippi Delta deep into my lungs. I may have grown up in New York, but New Orleans is my home.
And the Belvedere is mine.
Anger wells up from within me, seething with disgust and revulsion over what my uncle has done. I will avenge Sybil. I’ll bring justice to the countless victims whose lives my uncle destroyed.
“We can find another way.” Liam gives me an out, but I’m the key.
It all comes down to this.
Every step Guardian HRS has taken to end this operation led them to me.
To the Belvedere.
From the kidnapping of Zoe Lancaster to Sybil’s abduction, it all ends with me.
Lancaster?
The name rings with familiarity, but I can’t put my finger on why her name echoes in my head. Was she a fellow student at Prescott Academy? Sybil and I spent seventh through twelfth grade in the prestigious college preparatory academy.
Maybe?
Frustration grows within me because something important is trying to crawl out of my subconscious. A link? A connection? Some thread that makes sense?
“If I’m the only thing standing between my uncle and the Guardian’s ability to take him down, I’ll do my part.” I inject strength into my voice, but I don’t feel it.
Fear and weakness pull at me, growing stronger and more vocal as we draw near the hotel. It wouldn’t take much to turn around and run.
But my father didn’t raise a coward.
He trained me from a young age to become a leader and to fight for what was right. He groomed me to take over the Belvedere.
“The Guardians appreciate what you’re doing, but if you have any doubts, now is the time to turn around. I support whatever you decide.”
The sad thing about what Liam says is that it’s true. Even me stepping aside cripples their ability to complete their mission, Liam will support my decision.
“I’m not turning back. I want to do this.” I grip his arm. Steel beneath skin. He is my rock. “I need to do this.”
Returning to the Belvedere brings all kinds of emotions boiling to the surface. Yesterday, this was my home. It was safe and my legacy; a place where I intended to make my mark on the world.
It’s my father’s gift to me, and I refuse to let that memory be soiled.
My love for my father runs deep—despite what the Guardians say about whether he may, or may not, have been a criminal—and I want to make him proud. Even if he’s no longer with me.