Page 2

TWO

HARKIN

US AGAINST THE WORLD - Chris Grey

H er cold lips land on mine, and my body responds automatically. She’s the air I breathe, day in and day out. Without her—my thought stops there, unable to even bear the idea. Losing Alina was one thing. I thought her death killed me, but all it did was tear down the man she knew to rebuild someone better in his wake. For Keira, it would mean an all-out war before I climbed my body into the coffin next to hers. There is no me without her.

Pulling her closer, I fuse her front with mine, breaking our kiss and sinking my nose into the hollow of her neck, drawing in her scent. I needed to feel her skin against mine, erase the last hour of our lives. She’s lucky I was almost back when the alert from the security system hit my phone. She’s right. The first thing I did was pull up both of their locations and watch to see where they were. By then, their dots were off in the woods, assuring me she’d gotten out of the cabin and was likely heading for our meeting spot.

When I pulled down the drive, not bothering to hide my arrival, one man was coming around the side of the cabin. He yelled something in Italian before raising his gun in my direction, but his friend came clambering out the front door, stealing his attention for a second too long.

My gun popped off, hitting him square in the chest. His stocky body hit the snow with no sound at all. The saving grace of being high in the mountains, we didn’t have neighbors to worry about. And even if we did, a gunshot wouldn’t be something to think twice about up here.

His friend got off a couple of shots, pinging their car instead of mine or me. When I slid behind their SUV, dropping to the ground and onto my back, my next bullet took out his kneecap. He fell forward, tumbling down the front stairs. One quick double tap to the head silenced the scuffle. The time in the mountains training with Keira not only perfected my aim, but erased any hesitation about killing someone.

Her hands push under my shirt and up my chest, cooling my skin. She needs me as much as I want her. I can feel it in her desperate touch. See it in her heady gaze.

“Strip, little one.”

“It’s freezing in here,” she protests.

My eyebrows raise, my lips tipping at the corner. We’ve come a long way with her submission, but my girl holds firm to her obstinance. She wouldn’t be her if she didn’t.

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

I step back, giving her space to toe off her mud-covered runners. Her fingers grip the hem of her skintight running shirt before slowly peeling it over her head. Her sports bra follows, exposing supple breasts on full display to jostle as she shoves her leggings down her hips and to the floor.

She shifts back and forth as goosebumps rise along her skin. Her dusty rose nipples peak, growing stiff from the cold air. I groan in appreciation at the sight.

Wrapping my hands around her waist, I lift and set her ass on the table. “Lean back, sweetness.”

Her elbows drop with a thud. She looks like a feast set out just for me, and I’m a man starved. Dropping to my knees before her, she throws her legs over my shoulders, whining as the anticipation of what’s to come takes hold in her mind.

My tongue glides across the sensitive flesh of her inner thigh, stopping at the apex just before her sex. I drop a kiss and repeat the assault on the opposite leg, this time biting down and licking away the sharp sting.

“Harkin, please,” she begs so sweetly, the only time she’s genuinely pliant for me.

“Mm, you should have answered the phone,” I remind her.

She lets out a frustrated huff and rocks her hips toward my face.

“Taste me.”

There it is. What she really wants. I blow lightly up and down her bare pussy. Her squirming continues, and I can’t stop the chuckle it draws from me. My cock stiffens, pushing to break free from its denim prison.

When I finally draw my tongue through her folds and flick her clit, she arches into me, sighing at the first wave of pleasure. I work her body up until she’s a whimpering mess on the table. Just as her legs tighten and start to shake, I shove two fingers deep inside her tight cunt. The perfect timing has her clamping around me as her first orgasm rips through her body, drenching my digits.

One isn’t enough.

I don’t stop working my fingers in and out. As she comes down from her high and relaxes against the table, I add a third finger, stretching her tight hole. She doesn’t stiffen, adjusting quickly, but this is hardly the most my girl can take.

Using my free hand, I pop the button on my jeans and shove them down, letting them fall to the floor. My dick stands at attention, the head beading with pre-cum. Slowing my fingers in her pussy, I pull them free. They’re coated in her arousal, and I use it to jerk my cock.

Her heavy eyes drop, watching my hand work up and down my shaft.

“Is this what you want?”

Eyes zoned in, she nods. The tip of her tongue peeks out, disappearing quickly as her teeth bite down on her bottom lip. There’s a hunger in her eyes that tells of a predator lying in wait for its prey.

I notch the tip at her entrance, pushing in an inch before stopping and looking up to meet her gaze. She’s always beautiful, but this right here—her pupils blown wide, her cheeks tinged pink, while she’s naked and spread before me—is the image I’ll have burned in my psyche for the rest of my days.

“More,” she whispers.

I slam home, shaking the table on its unsteady legs. “Fuuuck. This pussy feels amazing.”

Shoving my arms under her thighs, I pull her up and lift her off the table. She grabs hold of my shoulders in shock, wrapping her arms around my neck to secure her body in my grasp. The second she does, my thrusts resume, pounding into her tight flesh and chasing my release. When she cries out at the punishing pace, it only spurs me on faster.

Slamming her down on my dick, her muscles spasm, tightening around me in a vice-like grip.

“Harkin,” she screams, throwing her head back and exposing her neck.

I lean in, biting down, branding her over and over, across her chest, and down to her breasts. Rutting one more time, I come, shoving up and pulling her down against me all in one, securing my load deep inside her. It’s just another invisible mark I’ll leave behind.

Our rapid breathing slows as I set her back on the table and lean against it, my cock softening inside her but not ready to pull free.

“I’m okay,” she says, breaking the silence.

I don’t respond, instead nodding and brushing a soft kiss on her forehead. We should get back; it’ll be dark soon, and the last thing we need is to get lost in this cold. When we step out of the forest, back at the cabin, I eye the mound of freshly packed snow at the edge of the clearing. The grounds were too hard to dispose of the bodies, but I wasn’t about to leave them out for anyone to find.

Will the wildlife find them and do the job for me? One can only hope. James is aware and told me he’d take care of it if not.

“So, we’re heading back to New York?” Keira asks as she towels off from her quick shower.

I’ve packed our bags, and they’re waiting in the living room, ready to be loaded into the car. Some of the gear will have to stay locked in the basement, but it should be safe. Our addition bounds into the room at the sound of her keeper’s voice. She drops to the ground next to Keira in a watchful pose.

“Eventually,” I finally answer.

“Is it safe? I mean, if they found us here, there’s no question they have people watching the apartment in Brooklyn.”

“We’re not going back to Brooklyn. You still can’t talk to Stace, but Alina’s daughter isn’t doing well, and I thought you might want to be closer.”

“Not at the expense of our safety. She might be my niece, Harkin, but any help I can give her needs to be done from afar. Speaking of which, have the results come back yet?”

It’s taken longer than typical for a DNA test. When I realized Alina was still taking her to a public doctor and not receiving private care, James infiltrated his way into the clinic. I’m unsure how he collected the sample, but it was good enough for me to send mine and Keira’s in for matching.

I was determined to keep our location a secret in case the kit was somehow intercepted between here and New York. It needed to go on a little journey, throwing off anyone encountering it. Because of that, James only received word from the lab a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve been sitting on the results. Not that I’d told Keira that.

I draw a deep breath; this isn’t the best time to get into this. I haven’t checked to see what the results say. You’d think I’d want to know immediately and make that clean break I’ve been eagerly awaiting. But the slightest bit of doubt has crept into my head since I received the email from James. What if it comes back, and she’s somehow mine? I can’t trust myself on how I’ll react.

“No, not yet. But they should be here any day,” I strain.

I don’t want to lie to her. Our relationship didn’t start on an honest foot from either of us, but we’ve come a long way. This just has the potential to change everything, and I’m not ready for that.

“Come on, let’s get you dressed so we can hit the road,” I say, breaking the unease in the room.

“I can dress myself. You’re only needed when it comes to removing the clothes.” She winks at me, ever the playful minx.

“Fine. Meet me in the living room. We need to leave soon, before it gets too dark. But, little one, I’d take my sweet time dressing you if we weren’t in a hurry.” I leave her with that and call Cinder to follow.

The headlights of a passing car shine brightly through the windshield. Fucking asshole didn’t turn off his brights. The invasion wakes Keira, and she stirs in the passenger seat. Cinder snores loudly in the back. Cracking the lid to another energy drink, I tip it back, chugging down the excess caffeine I’ve been running on the last couple of days.

“Do you want me to take over? You can’t keep running on fumes,” she chides, her tone still laced with sleep.

“The last thing we need is to get pulled over.”

“It’ll be fine. I’ve gotten much better, thank you very much.”

Laughing at her confidence in that statement, I say, “That might be the case, sweetness, but we still can’t take the risk. I’ll be fine.”

The hours pass, more miles through the dark, speeding by in a blur of shadowed landscapes. We cross the New York state line when dawn finally crests above the horizon. But instead of heading back to the city, like my girl would love to do, we proceed upstate toward Albany.

James is set to meet with us once we get to the short-term rental I secured through a falsified LLC. God only knows how long we’ll be there, but it’s closer to ground zero. Domenico’s bound to pop his head up eventually.

From what James has reported, his empire is in the hands of the man who carted Alina off, Marcello. It seems Keira has more family than she anticipated. Yet, another thing I’ve kept from her these last few months. But the truth about everything is due to come out. Once we’ve settled into our new place and I’ve taken the time to make sure she’s fully relaxed.