Page 116 of Contract of a Billionaire

My chest warmed. “You’ll always come first too,” I whispered. “You and Kol.” A moment of silence passed between us.

“Alessio?” Hesitation slithered through me.

“Hmmm.”

“I hope your friends didn’t get offended,” I muttered. “When I lost my shit about gun smuggling and all that.”

He shrugged. “I’m sure they’ve heard it before.”

“And you?” I questioned. “I know you distributestuff.” I couldn’t even say the word. Guns and drugs. “Does it irk you that I disagree with it?”

“No, I love your morals and hope for a better world,” he responded with a hint of dry amusement. “I’ve always loved them. Your eagerness to see the best this world has to offer. To save it.”

“You want to save it, too,” I whispered. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have ended human trafficking. You wouldn’t have saved your sisters.”

His eyes darted my way with a flicker of dry humor. “Maybe you give me too much credit? You’ll realize who I truly am and regret us.”

I shook my head. “Don’t do that, Alessio,” I told him in a soft voice. “I’m staying. Everything else will work itself out. Yes, we have disagreements but everyone does.”

“On distribution of illegal guns?” he retorted dryly. “Or my need to kill anyone who touches you? Hunt down any man who has touched what was mine in the past four years?”

I swallowed.

“I won’t let anyone touch me,” I vowed. “And maybe you’re not okay with your side businesses either. You were forced into it. First by your father, then as a form of survival to become stronger than him. But no matter what, I’m staying with you.”

I let the words fill the silence.

“I should punish you for being so good,” he finally said dryly. “And forcorruptingme.”

I chuckled. “I’ll take the punishment.”

“Good girl.” My thighs clenched at his praise. It didn’t matter what Alessio said or did, my body just responded. “When we get home– “

He let the meaning linger and heat blossomed between my thighs, pulsing and throbbing. My fingers itched to touch his slight stubble and start kissing him now. My nipples tightened painfully and Alessio’s gaze lowered to them as if he could read my body.

I glanced at the dashboard noting the time. “Should we get Kol tomorrow?” I breathed. “I don’t want to wake him up.” And I wanted Alessio inside me the moment we got home.

His right hand reached out, while his left one remained on the wheel.

“Will your parents be okay with it?”

I chuckled. “Are you kidding me? They’d keep him day and night, then give me visitation rights if they could.”

Reaching for my phone, I typed a quick message to my parents. We’d had a group chat for years. Just as I suspected, the reply was instant.

“They’ll keep him and are headed to bed as we speak,” I told him. My phone beeped again and a picture of a sleeping Kol came through.

I showed it to Alessio. His features softened as he watched it for a moment. “You are a good mother.” I stilled. “Don’t be surprised, you know you are.”

“Thanks,” I murmured. “My parents and Branka helped a lot. I don’t know what I would have done without them.”

He nodded and I couldn’t shake off the feeling he was waiting for something. I just didn’t know what. His thumb rubbed my bottom lip and my lips parted.

“Have you dated many men over the last few years?“ His question was casual, his tone lazy but my spine stiffened. There has been nobody for me. Once Kol was born, it was all about him and my career. There was little time for anything else.

“No.” I wanted to ask him the same question but I worried finding out the answer would break me. Dinner dates here and there didn’t count in my book.

“What are their names?”