Page 120 of Shattered Veil

“I know you’re routine. I packed everything you need.”

“My phone?” I reach for it, not that I can see the screen.

“In my bag.” He revs the engine and kisses my nose.

Twenty minutes later, the car slows to a crawl, and then picks up speed. I catch the sound of a gate.

“This is killing me!” I screech.

“Just another thirty seconds, butterfly.” He makes a sharp turn and then stops again, cutting the engine.

His hands wrap around my head. “Kiss me.”

“No problem.” I lean in and his mouth devours me.

“I’ve never wanted lips as badly as these.”

Licking mine, I say, “Same here.”

“Are you ready?”

“I think...”

“Look.”

I slip the red satin blindfold off, and shock rolls through me. Before I process what the hell is in front of me, my gaze darts around the small airport. More like a private airfield.

“Uh oh,” I mutter.

“Problem?” Balor nuzzles my neck.

“No.” I take a deep breath. “Which plane is your brother’s?”

“None of them. Eoghan and Jillian took it to Vegas again.” He brushes my cheek. “Don’t you see it?”

I look more carefully, and the sleek jet parked on an angle is pure white, the bright sun rising behind it in the east. But across the body of the plane are...

“Butterflies.” I hold my mouth. “They make planes that you can rent with pink butterflies?”

“No. And this plane isn’t a rental.”

My gaze slides to his. “Keep talking.”

“It’s mine.” He grips my hand. “Ours. Yours, really. I had the butterflies added just for you.”

Blushing, I don’t know how else to process this. I’d gone from being made to feel like rat feces on the bottom of someone’s shoe, to being adored by a billionaire mafia man who just bought me a goddamn plane.

“Is this some kind of early April Fool’s joke?”

“Not at all.” He waves off an attendant coming to collect us. “I have another confession.”

My heart drops. Did he sleep with someone else? Before we met again in that restaurant with my father? Or recently before we committed to each other? I have to be strong. No one’s perfect. “Go ahead. Tell me.”

“My brothers and I are competitive.” He smirks. “Between the plane, the dresses, the jewelry, and your initial escort fee, I’ve spent more than five million dollars on you.”

The amount stuns me. “I don’t want to keep the escort fee. How can I keep a plane?”

Balor thinks about that. “Consider the plane as a way to escape me if I act like a jerk.”