Page 51 of Beastly Armory
Lowering my voice to its deepest, I ask, “What’s good, foxy?”
“I came about another meeting.” Blinking heavily, her hazel eyes don’t dare to meet my face.
“You can come for something else, if you want.”
She snorts and presses her palms on my pecs, but doesn’t push hard. “Don’t be lewd, Max. This is business.”
Diving into her neck, I sniff a long column up to her ear, gathering up her amber and vanilla scent. A sharp inhale into her mouth swishes by my ear as she holds her breath. “Your bodyismy business. Let me eat your cunt again. I’m fucking starving for a little fox tail. Give me thatflower.”
With a full exhaled laugh, she finally shoves me away. “Behave. This is serious.”
As I take a step back, I grab her hand and tug her with me toward the pond at a slight jog.
“What are you doing?” she squeals, like when she would get mad during a water balloon fight in the summers.
My face broadens into a large smile as I yearn to relive those memories, or maybe just that carefree, safe feeling. I miss it and it seems to be one I have the most whenever she’s around. “Remember the old swing? I made them fix it.”
“No, Max. I don’t-I don’t want to.” Digging her heels into the grass, she tries to slow our progress, but I tug on her harder until she has to follow.
“Come on!”
When we reach the old oak, I swing her around to the round wooden bench seat and Livia reluctantly gets on, straddling the rope. It’s new and sturdy. Last week, I sneaked and tried it when no one was looking, almost going for a dive in the pond, but it’s too cold for that now. With my hand pressed into her back, I give her a big shove, and she goes flying over the water with a shrieking laugh, a beaming smile lighting up her face. It’s exactly the one she made when we were young. And suddenly I know why she was resistant to trying this again.
Bittersweet. That’s what this is. My chest tightens, remembering those golden days, and a lump forms in the back of my throat until it’s hard to swallow. I miss mymama and papa, my friends, a time that was so simple and carefree.
Our parents never let us know the battles that were waged outside of our high walls, but now I see it. Things aren’t safe. Maybe they never were, but I want to create that for future generations. Gripping the rope, I pull her to a stop.
“I want to go again!” The giggles continue until she sees my face. Dismounting, she crashes her full body into mine, wrapping her arms around my waist in a tight squeeze. “It’s okay. It’s okay, lion.” And like she can read my mind, she chimes in, “There’ll be new memories. We canmakenew ones.” With a wave of her arm, she showcases the land in front of us, but it’s hard to see with heavy eyes. “Look, this place is turning out beautiful. Better than it was before.”
Nestling my face into her mohawk tail, I nuzzle her neck and embrace her, using her body for comfort. Seeking solace, I move to press my lips to hers, but she bends her forehead so they are out of reach. We hold there. Both our heads held together, mind to mind, exchanging air into each other’s mouths.
Quietly, my voice drops as I breathe the words between her parted lips. “Come on, Livia. It makes sense for us to be together. Who you gonna get with? Ace? Strauss? Some asshole mafia prince?” Desperation erupts in my whisper as I plead, “Be with me.”
Still attached, she squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head.Fuck, I hate that I want her so badly. Her presence in my life is becoming a need. I don’t even want tothink about how much. I’m getting tired of this. I drop my hold on her and take two steps back, cracking my jaw.
“Fine.” I sigh. “What’s this business you came about?” I ask, folding my arms over my chest, trying to hide the annoyance in my tone.
Swiping at her eyes with her thumbs, she gathers up some wet substance. It couldn’t be tears. This raven obviously doesn’t have emotions, that’s for sure. Swallowing deeply, she sniffs, her voice cracking. “Um, we have another meeting. This one in Cliff Harbor with Tony ‘Nickle Eye.’ I think he’s Russian. Echoes says he has a penchant for jewels. He has rifles, fully automatics. We need those.”
I give her a small nod as I roll a rock under my shoe, then kick it. “Yeah, okay, when?”
“Tomorrow night, which is why I motored over here so quickly when I found out. We need to get on the road early if we’re going to make it by then. He wants to see us at his lake house. Alone, of course. He specifically requested me.”
I don’t like the sound of that. “Why?”
“Not sure.” Her eyebrows raise as she tries to catch my eyes, her bottom lip rolling under her teeth. At least she’s smart to be nervous.
“Okay, let me inform my people and we’ll get set up.” We turn toward the house.
“Max.”
I get the sense she’s going to apologize for being such a fucking ice freeze on my balls. I don’t want to hear her excuses. She’s not a lesbian; it’s apparent she likes the D.Maybe she has someone on the outside of the city. If so, I’ll kill him. Simple, easy, clean.
“I’m inviting your brother and you to dinner. Stay. We’ll have some wine, steaks. Despite how mean she is, Mrs. Kroft makes amazing spätzle.”
“Yeah, okay.” She threads a hand through mine to slow my steps. “Max.” I stop and turn to her, meeting her gaze. Those honey eyes could have me falling to my knees. “You really are doing amazing things here. It’s all coming together.”
“Thanks.” Looking at her hand in mine, I reluctantly fling it off, then walk inside, pulling out my phone to call Cal. He agrees to come over and I busy myself in my office with the doors locked while Livia heads upstairs to Arianna’s room.