“I’m listening.”
“You told me about Cristiano showing up. You told me about the meeting and what Val had planned for Ronan Kelly. But then you patted my head and told me to behave while you beat your chest and rode off on your black horse.”
“Adriana—”
But I couldn’t stop. The Band-Aid had been ripped off, and the wound was exposed. “And if that wasn’t enough, when I showed up at Senado and took my place by your side, as your equal—your wife—you fucking collared me, Brody. You swung your dick around and yanked on the leash like I was a goddamn dog! And you did it in front of Santiago and his entourage. In front of the very bitch who insulted me. Did that make you feel good?” I exploded, smacking my palm against the door. “Did it make you feel important? Did my brother slap you on the back and give you an ‘atta boy for putting me in my place?”
“That’s enough, Adri—”
“Did you get what you wanted, lieutenant? Or would you have preferred if your pet had dropped to her knees and sucked your dick while the men talked?”
The other side of the door got deathly quiet, and then…
“Open the fucking door.”
I staggered back, the harsh, demanding tone of his voice taking me by surprise. I knew that tone. Brody Harcourt had two moods: calm and nuclear. The thin line that separated them depended on the situation, but you never knew when it was coming. When he snapped—he snapped.
So I kicked at the pieces. “Fuck you.”
His low chuckle was far from amused. “Princesa, you have ten seconds to open this door before I break it down. Either way, I’m coming in.”
“I’ve already told you…” Still gripping my shoe, I folded my arms over my chest and leaned against the door. “It’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding.”
“Five seconds.”
“I’m sorry, dogs can’t open doors. No thumbs.”
“Two.”
I’d lived with this man for almost a year and a half. We fought as hard as we loved, but he never made idle threats. After one, the door would come down.
“Dios mío, fine.” Unlocking the door, I flung it wide open. “What?”
Our gazes locked, and those penetrating hazel eyes—the ones that forced both vows of love and screams of passion from my lips—darkened. “Jesus,” he whispered, his voice rough. “You look beautiful.” The hands that mere seconds ago were tightly clenched by his side, released, and he shook his head. “My God, Adriana… I’ve imagined what you’d look like for months, but the fantasy…” His gaze traveled down the length of my body, dipping inside every crevice and caressing the heated skin lying beneath the thin layers of lace. “It doesn’t come close to the real thing. You’ve always taken my breath away, but this… I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.”
Don’t fold, I told myself. Stand your ground.
But one look at him, and I crumbled. That damn rogue piece of blond hair that always flopped forward, dusted across his eyebrow as he drank me in, and I fell all over again. He wasn’t in his tuxedo yet, but it didn’t matter. Even dressed in black jeans and a white button-up, I’d marry him. In a wedding gown, in a red dress, or fucking shoeless.
“Damn you, Harcourt.” I let out a sigh, and a five-thousand-dollar Jimmy Choo hit the floor. “I’m trying to be mad at you.”
It only took two steps for him to sweep me into his arms. “Baby, I didn’t want you at the meeting because this is the one day that’s for you. I didn’t want it to be about the cartel or murder or sex trafficking rings. I wanted one perfect day for you to remember. A day you could tell our children and our grandchildren about without having to censor pieces of information. I wasn’t trying to control you, Adriana. I was trying to give you a gift.”
Every time. Every damn time I tried to villainize this man, he managed to blindside me and turn everything inside out and upside down. My shoulders hung heavy as I lightly punched his chest. “You really know how to ruin a girl’s pity party, don’t you?”
A knowing smirk tugged at the corner of his perfect golden-boy mouth. “And as far as what I said to you at Senado? Ava Chernova is a Bratva pakhan. Viviana Santiago has the entire South American regime under her control. You want respect and support as a female leader in your world? You need to practice what you preach and stop pissing in your sisterhood sandbox.”
God, I hated when he made sense.
“Fine,” I bit out between clenched teeth.
One hand from my waist slid up to cup my cheek. “I’m sorry, did you say I was right?”
“Watch it, counselor. I still have twenty minutes to change my mind.”
His cocky smirk twisted into something much darker. Tightening his hold, he walked us backward, his thumb tracing my bottom lip. “Twenty minutes, huh?”
Fuck, I knew that look too. “No!” Planting my feet, I shot my arm out and pressed my palm against his chest. “Don’t even think about it. You’re not even supposed to be here.”
It was cute that I thought standing like a no-sex zone crossing guard would stop him. We’d agreed to two weeks of pre-wedding celibacy, but Brody’s movement never faltered, each step pushing me and my pathetic arm backward. “No, I’m not, which makes it even more enticing, don’t you think? It’s been a while, but I think I still remember how to calm that fiery temper of yours.”
His last step sent my back against the wall, and I let out a low grunt. Digging for one last shred of willpower, I opened my mouth to try and douse this flame he was determined to fan, but his next words stole them right out from under me.
“Besides, I want to say, ‘I do’ with your taste on my lips.” As usual, when it came to him, a switch flipped in my head. All I could do was nod as he dragged my vintage wedding gown up my legs and tucked the bunched fabric under my arm. “Be a good girl and hold this.”
Again, I nodded, my voice still lodged somewhere in between my throat and my chest.
I closed my eyes. Not because I didn’t want to watch, but because I wanted to block out everything about today: the wedding, the meeting, the fight. All I wanted in my head was him.
“Brody,” I moaned as he sank to his knees and lifted one leg over his shoulder.
Tugging the thin lace barrier to the side, he brushed his lips inches away from where I needed him. “Yes, princesa?”
“Paybacks are a bitch.”
A low chuckle was all he offered before his mouth attacked, his tongue immediately finding my clit. If it weren’t for the wall, I would have collapsed under his relentless assault.
“Ay, Dios mío, yes…” Shamelessly, I chased the release just out of reach. The one spinning in a vortex of color. White, red, and black swirled together, each shouting as I shouted back. Somewhere inside, I knew it all meant something, but I was too close to the edge to care. And as my future husband wrapped his lips around the most sensitive part of me and sucked, I screamed out his name. “Brody!”
“Adriana, are you… What. The. Fuck?”
Panic shot through me, and my eyes snapped open just as Brody spun around. We both stared, horrified as Val stood in the open doorway, murder carved into his face. I didn’t know what was louder, Brody’s curses or the sound of my own pulse roaring in my ear. We all three stood staring at each other, my mouth hanging open like a goddamn fish while Brody dragged the back of his hand across his mouth.