A Dirty Business (Kings of New York #1)(90)

“I’m guessing Nicolai Worthing is related to Justin somehow. He called, said his cousins were imbeciles.”

“Makes me like him.”

He ignored me. “And he offered a sort of franchise proposition. He moves in, takes over everything, while I run the money. The West family still controls everything at the top, but I’m not involved with the dirty business.”

“Except the money part.”

“There’s that. Yes. That part.”

I pointed at myself, raising my other eyebrow. “And you’re telling me? An officer of the law, more so in regard to parolees, but still. It’s in my wheelhouse, and you know, there’s the issue where I’m not dirty. I just like fucking you.”

He grinned.

I grinned back. “Why are you sharing this new player with me?”

He swirled the last of his bourbon around the glass before letting out a small sigh. “I wanted to be straight with you. Assumed you would have questions, and I don’t want to start this relationship off with lies. I’m sure little lies will come into play later, but not yet. And because while he was giving me this offer, I realized something.”

“What’s that?”

He had a look in his eyes, a gleam. It was a light, and he was still grinning at me, in a very delicious way, but while that was making my heart speed up, the look in his eyes was adding to it. He was happy, and that made me happy, and in our present situation, I wasn’t sure either of us should be happy.

But he was, and that made me, so I was going to accept it.

“I realized tonight that when you chose me, it made me want to choose you back.”

My eyebrows dipped down. “Huh?”

The grin was gone. He put his glass down on the counter, reached, and put mine next to it. Then he started forward, coming and placing his hands on my waist. “I realized tonight that I am in love with you.”

He picked me up before I could react, and I squealed as he did. My legs locked around his waist. My hands went to his shoulders, but I leaned back to see his face. “What?”

“Yeah.” He turned serious, his voice dipping down into a whisper. His gaze scanned over my face, going to my mouth, lingering, and then moving to my eyes. A whole new look was coming from him. Sincerity, but also a light. It was a new light. Like a bulb was turned on inside of him. He began walking, carrying me backward. “I didn’t realize that after the call. I realized that when you stood next to me when we were facing off against those guys, but then the call came, and while I have no interest in accepting this guy’s offer, I did realize something else.”

“What’s that?” I settled back, my hands connecting behind his neck.

His hands went to my ass, but I scooted back enough so I could bounce in place. It was odd, a position that I’d never been in before unless as a child, but I liked it. Felt carefree. Fun. Trace grinned at me almost ruefully as he cupped my ass cheeks, helping me bounce. “I want out.”

I paused midbounce. “Out? From . . . ?”

“From the family business.”

I went still. Tensing. “You mean . . . ?” My heart slammed up in my throat.

He nodded, slowly, intensely. “I want out. My uncle is dying, and when he dies, I’m going to make the business die with him.”

“Are you serious?”

“I am.”

“But Ashton?”

We were in the bedroom by now. He didn’t move to turn the light on, and when we came in here, all the other lights would turn off. They were on motion detectors. His windows were slanted so that no one could see in unless he pushed a special button to let them see, but he never had. We could see out; they couldn’t see in. He took me to the bed and moved so I was standing on it. Then, his hands went to my pants, and he began to undress me, sliding my zipper down. “Ashton is my brother. He’ll either go with me or he won’t, but he’ll still support me. It was an understanding we’ve always had with each other. If one wanted out, the other would be fine with it. Our brotherhood was and is always first.”

He slid my pants down, his hands trailing along with them. My skin was lit from sensations from that touch.

He reached up to pull down my panties. I lifted a foot, then the other. He tossed my pants and underwear aside. His hands ran up my legs, the back of each of them, going to cover my ass. He palmed me and moved me forward, his head tipping back so he could see me from the lights turned on outside. Streetlamps. Other buildings. The moon, what we could see. Even a few ships were out there, but they were background light, letting me see his face fully.

“Do you love me?”

His voice thickened as he asked, and he moved a hand around me. Coming to my stomach. Sliding up, moving my shirt with it as it went until he rested it between my breasts. He leaned in. He moved my bra down, and his mouth covered one of my nipples, his tongue sweeping around. He moved, finding my other breast as he pulled my shirt and bra off, probably tossing them alongside my other clothes.

I was fully naked in front of him, but he tipped his head back once more. His eyes finding mine. “Do you?”

I couldn’t answer, not because I didn’t know or didn’t want to, because as he asked, his hand moved around to cup me. His thumb pressed over my clit, starting to move in a slow and sensual motion, and at the same time, two of his fingers moved up inside of me.