Page 21 of Darkest Game (The Dark Mafia #3)

“Getting you to safety. Elaine will try to kill us even in a public park. We have to move.”

“We have to explain it to my family.”

“Nico will kill me, even if there’s witnesses. I can’t stop.”

And I don’t stop either.

I run beside Liam as we get further away from Elaine but also further away from my family.

A glance over my shoulder reveals that Nico is in hot pursuit of us.

“He’s going to kill you,” I gasp.

“Fuck. This way.” He pulls me through a grassy area and on to the other side. We reach the outside of the park and are met with New York traffic. All the cars are not moving. Liam doesn’t hesitate to pull me across the road. But when Nico tries to follow, he’s stopped by all the cars that pick up.

“Where are we going?” I gasp as Liam continues to pull me away from my family. A part of me wants to dig my heels in and stay with them. But another part of me wants Liam to take me away.

“I’m getting you to safety. Here.” He flags down a taxi and ushers me inside. He rattles off an address to the cab driver. “Fuck. That was a close one.”

“Elaine almost killed you,” I whisper so the driver can’t hear. “She almost killed me. How did she find us there?”

“She was probably tracking one of us and just got lucky that we both happened to be there at the same time.”

“So, even though you gave me back to my family, you think she’s still going to try and kill me?”

“Yes. She hates you. She wants you dead. You have to be more careful, Irina. Standing around outside is asking to get killed.”

I wrap my arms around myself. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I’ve never had to deal with any of this before.”

He stares at me with an expression I don’t understand, before he sighs. “You’re right. You don’t know. I just want you to be safe. That’s all. Why the fuck was Nico not keeping a better eye on you?”

“He was right there. I approached you. If I had stayed by him, I probably wouldn’t have been in Elaine’s eyesight. I was being na?ve. I know.”

“You’re safe now. That’s all that matters. But fuck. Nico is going to think I stole you again.”

“You technically did.”

“To save your life.”

“I know. Maybe be saw Elaine. Maybe they’ll figure out the truth. I’ve tried explaining to everyone that it was Elaine who was trying to hurt me. Not you. But…”

“But they weren’t listening.”

“No. They hate you. They didn’t care what I had to say at all.

I thought when I was reunited with my family that I would finally have a voice again.

But I was ignored. None of them gave me the consideration that I know what I’m talking about.

I think they all see me as a little girl still.

And I’m not even the youngest of my sisters.

But Ana has always been more talkative and bold.

I think it makes them perceive her as older than me. ”

“Right now, my only concern is getting you to safety. After that… well, we’ll deal with it.”

“Where are we going?”

“I have a safehouse we can go to. I told the driver to drop us off at a gas station near it. We’ll walk the rest of the way.”

“Liam?”

“Yeah?”

Tentatively, I cover his hand with mine. He inhales sharply. “Thank you for saving my life again. And thank you for actually listening to me. I feel like you’re the only one who truly sees me.”

After a beat, he takes my hand and squeezes it before letting go. “You’re welcome.”

We’re dropped off at the gas station in Long Island and walk the few blocks to Liam’s safehouse. It’s a nice part of the city but the house is still fairly small. Not a huge mansion. But I don’t need a huge mansion to be happy.

I just want to be safe and figure out my complicated feelings for Liam.

The house is fully furnished. Liam lets out a groan as he plops onto the couch. “I think I hurt my back diving onto the ground like I did.”

“You saved me from getting shot.”

“It was worth it then.”

I sit in a chair next to the couch. Sitting directly next to Liam feels too intimate. We have slept in the same bed together but that was under unusual circumstances.

“So, what do we do now?” I ask.

“Now, we wait it out. I have some of my men I need to call. Inform them of what happened. And we’re still on the hunt for Elaine. I just want to know which one of us she was following to the park. She had no way of knowing we’d both be there at the same time. It was a surprise to both of us.”

I shiver at the idea that Elaine is watching me when I don’t know it. “Why won’t she just give up?”

“Because she’s obsessed with avenging her husband’s death. Even if she hated her own husband. Real complicated shit, you know?”

“I do understand having complicated feelings for your own husband.” I flick my eyes at Liam and watch him shift around on the couch, looking anywhere but at me. “Why won’t you look at me?”

“Because, fuck, Irina. I shouldn’t want you. But I do.”

“Want me?”

He finally looks at me. “Yeah. Want you.”

“Want me how?”

“You can’t be that innocent.”

I frown. I have some idea of what he means but I need him to clarify it.

“Or maybe you do,” he murmurs. “I want to touch you. Make you mine. But I can’t.”

“Why not?” I gasp.

“Because you really want me touching you? I’ve saved you from being raped multiple times.

I’m not going to force myself on you. And we were both forced into this marriage.

Neither of us should want it. It’s too messy and fucking complicated.

This would all be easier if I could just push you from my mind. ”

“I can’t get you off my mind either,” I admit.

“Don’t say those things to me,” he says in a low voice, his eyes turning dark.

“Why not?”

“Because it makes me want to pull you into me and have my way with you.”

I shiver. The thought of Liam touching me sends goosebumps over my body. “If I said… yes, would you touch me?”

He stares at me steadily. “You want me to touch you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then don’t toy with me, baby. Because I want to touch you. You’re my wife. Might as well be honest. But if you’re unsure, then we can’t go there. Because I’m not going to force you to be with me.”

“What if I was sure? What…” I bite my lip and his eyes zero in on it. “What if I told you I wanted you to touch me?”

“Then I would kiss you until you couldn’t breathe. I would show you pleasure that I’m sure you’ve never experienced before. I could teach you so many things.”

“What things?” I whisper. We’re playing a dangerous game right now and I don’t care one bit.

“I could teach you how to kiss. How to touch my body. How to touch your own body.”

“How to… have sex?” I ask. I can’t believe I’m even having this conversation with him but it feels right. Dangerous and dark but right.

There’s no denying that Liam makes me feel things. Intense, powerful sensations. I’ve never been this aroused in my entire life before.

“Yes,” he says gruffly. “How to have sex. Fuck. Knowing I would get to be your first…” He shakes his head. “But we can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Are you seriously saying you want to have sex with me?”

“Well… not right now.”

“If we had sex, there’s no going back from that. I don’t think I could ever let you go then and if that was the case, you’d never get to see your family again. Not when Mikhail and Nico want me dead. I’ve been selfish for most of my life but with you? I don’t want to be selfish.”

His words only make me like him more.

My legs stand up of their own accord and I sit down next to him on the couch. “We won’t have sex. I’m not even sure I’m ready for that. But I want to know what it’s like to have my first kiss. Please.”

He runs his hand down his face. “Why do you need it? You can just wait for another man to kiss you.”

“Because you’re my husband.”

“Chances are I won’t be forever. Then you’d be free to date.”

“I was never free to date. My father never allowed it. And if you die or we divorce and I’m unmarried, then chances are, I’ll be married off to another mafia man for the sake of politics.

I was always taught by my mother that that’s my future.

Since you’re my husband now, I want to know what it’s like to kiss.

What it’s like to feel all the things I was denied for so long. Please.”

“You don’t need to beg, baby.” He cups my cheek, running his thumb over my skin. “A girl like you shouldn’t beg.”

“What is a girl like me?”

“Sweet. Caring. Innocent. Fuck.”

“You say that a lot.”

“It helps me.”

“Helps you?”

His eyes darken as they take me in. “It helps me to get some of my feelings out so I don’t do something I’ll regret.”

“And you would regret kissing me?” The thought breaks my heart right in two.

“No. And that’s the problem. I wouldn’t regret it for anything. But you can’t be mine and I’m holding onto a thread, trying to keep myself from taking you. You have to stop tempting me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.”

“You’re really confusing me. If you don’t want me, then let me go.” I try to pull back but Liam wraps his hand around the back of my neck. It’s not forceful. It’s just there, letting me know he doesn’t actually want to let me go.

“Irina,” he says softly, his eyes roaming over mine.

And that’s when he brings his lips to mine.

The kiss starts off gentle. Both of us hesitant to take things too far. But then Liam deepens it.

It takes me a moment to get my bearings and figure out how it works but it’s not hard at all. Kissing Liam feels natural. As natural as breathing.

My hands find his shirt and hold on tight just to steady myself. I could get lost in his lips forever and never find my way back. But do I even want to find my way back?

I’m still torn between my family and Liam. In an ideal world, they would all just work together. But I live in the real world. The mafia world. And in that world, no one gets happy endings.

Liam lowers me onto the couch as he kisses me harder and harder, like he’s trying to consume me from within. I kiss him back, eager to learn. Eager to experience this.

Actual living.

His hand moves down to my thigh and he hikes my leg over his hip. My summer dress rides up slightly, not enough to show my underwear, but enough to feel like what we’re doing is taboo. Neither of us stops this though.

Liam presses his hips between my legs and settles himself there. A ringing in the back of my mind tells me that we should stop this.

But it all feels too good to listen to that voice.

Liam grips my thigh tighter, making me gasp. A flush of heat hits me between my legs. I want him to touch me there. I want him to touch me everywhere. I’ve never been this desperate for anything in my life before.

He rocks his hips against mine, sending more heat through me. His lips find my neck and trail kisses along my skin.

“Liam,” I gasp, clutching his back. This is all happening so fast and yet it all feels so right.

Then his phone rings.

He jerks back, like he just remembered that we can’t go this far and moves off me. I sit up, my face, flushing, as I shove my dress back down. Liam stares at me for a long moment before answering his phone.

“Hello?” He’s quiet before his eyes narrow and he snaps, “What? I’m on my way.” He hangs up the phone.

“What is it?”

“That was one of my guys, Jimmy. Elaine has my mother. She’s using my mom as bait.”