Page 76 of Cruel Romeo

She burrows deeper into my warmth. A muscle in my jaw jumps.

I’m not used to this. Sticking around once the sex is done has never been my style. I get clean, get dressed, get out. I don’tstay.

But this is my bedroom, so that’s not gonna work.

You own a couch. Several guest bedrooms, too. Go sleep there.

But I don’t move.

I trace the curve of her naked hip with my fingertip. Slow, light, too light to wake her. She’s gorgeous like this, all bare skin and fucked-out softness, still slick between her thighs.

Mine.

The thought comes uninvited, sharp as a blade in the ribs.

You know better than that.The dark, rough voice of thepakhaninside me wars with the man.She’s a means to an end. To her, so are you.

But when I look at her, that possessive feeling doesn’t go away.

She’s full of secrets, my little fox. I know she is. Hell, so am I. But I know all about her dirty little secrets, the lies she heaps up to bury the truth of who she is. She’s the one who has no idea. That I’ve known all along, that I’m using her.

I swat the guilt away like a fly.

Sima moans into her pillow. Shifts again, letting the sheets slip off of her. I let my eyes travel over the round curve of her ass, the perfect dip of her waist. Her creamy skin, milky in the moonlight.

It’s easy to speak of deals. My father’s will is ink and paper, black on white, unmistakable in its interpretation. But this… this is flesh and blood.Sheis flesh and blood. And when I let myself see her that way, suddenly, I’m not thinking about survival anymore.

That’s the most dangerous thing about her: Her power to make me forget.

A buzzing fills the room. My phone on the nightstand, hooked to the charger. I’m tempted to ignore the call—it’s not even 4:00 A.M. Whoever it is, it can wait until morning.

But thepakhanin me won’t let go.

Careful not to wake Sima, I reach over and press the phone to my ear.

There’s a scrape of static before Lev coughs. His voice is tight, hurried. “We’ve got a problem.”

“Of course we do,” I murmur as I swing my legs out of bed. The chill of the floor steals away the last trace of warmth from Sima’s body against mine.

“They found the driver,” Lev says. “But the shipment’s gone, man. Weapons, cartridges—all of it.”

My gut tightens. “Gone.”

“Gone,” Lev confirms. “Not a fucking trace. It’s like they knew, Petyr.”

I resist the urge to punch through a wall, if only for Sima’s sake. “I’ll be right there.”

Lev hesitates. It’s that fucking pause he does before saying more words I won’t like, so I hang up before he can. Whatever it is, it can wait until I get there.

I pull on my pants and shirt, then my jacket, padding barefoot through the room so Sima won’t wake up. It’s not thoughtfulness—it’s practicality. If she wakes, she’ll have questions. Questions I won’t feel like answering.

In my bed or not, she’s still a Danilo.

And the less the Danilos know, the better.

Once I’m fully dressed, I turn to her once more. She’s curled up in the space I left, as if she’s been looking for me in her sleep. Her hand is resting where mine was just moments ago.

The sight sticks like a splinter.