Page 147 of Lovely Venom

I rise to one knee in front of her and say, “Marry me, Raina Riatt Sokolov.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

Raina

Ifreeze.

What?

Connor is on one knee, holding out a ring. His eyes are full of heat and something frightening. Hope. Real, unshakable hope. With me at the center of his optimistic dreams.

I can’t breathe. Am I wife material?Mobwife material no less.

I think of Lennox and Ava.

Could I?

Maybe.

“I...” My voice dies as I stare down at Connor.

This man has seen me at my lowest and still wants to claim me as his own. I know what he feels for me is real. I feel it every time he touches me, every time he lets his guard down just for me.

But I also know he’s cunning and calculating.

The Albanians have been a thorn in the Quinlans’ side for years. I’m the key to the brotherhood’s collapse. Griffin wants me to deliver the fractured pieces on life support through an alliance.

Waiting for the DA to arrest theknightshas been grueling. It’s been seven days and I’m bouncing off the walls. Connor makes me dinner every night, except Sunday, and finds all kinds of ways to keep me sane.

This is about power and leverage for me.

The ring sparkles as he gently shakes it. “Raina?” he says, voice low. “What’s wrong?”

I want to say yes. God, I want to. But the moment I do, he’ll have me in a car and on the wayto City Hall, and then what? He will lock me up, claiming some kind of spousal privilege and take away my chance at vengeance.

I pull my hand back gently. “Can we wait?”

Connor’s face falls. Dark eyebrows knit together, shocked that I’m pushing back. God, I hate that look. “Wait? Why?”

“I just found my real father. We’re planning a fucking massacre. And you’re asking me the most important question a woman can get. I don’t want it in the shadow of death or while I’m standing here naked with wet hair stuck to my face,” I snap, harsher than I mean to. “For all I know, I’ll be dead tomorrow whenI kill Tahiri.”

He just watches me with that wounded-wolf look, like he’s afraid to move and scare me off. “I’m not letting either happen.”

“You can’t promise that.” I recoil, and everything inside me tenses with restlessness. I feel like I’m suffocating in his gaze, in this room, in this war.

“Yeah, I can becauseyou’renot killing Tahiri,” he lays down his final move on the chessboard.

I drop the towel and pull a fistful of my old clothes from the dresser. The faded jeans and black T-shirt feel like a comfort I didn’t know I needed. The armor I wore before I became whatever I am now.

Connor reaches for me. “Venom, don’t.”

I shake my head. “I’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?” he asks softly.

“I don’t know.” I head for the apartment’s front door.

He steps in front of it. “No.”