Page 219 of The Devil We Crave
“Permission to reach into my left pocket?”
“Do itslooow-lyyy,” he murmurs, twisting the knife against my crotch.
I slip my hand into my pocket and pull out the velvet ring box.
…andimmediatelywince when he lifts the blade right against me.
“My friend,” he growls. “You haveradicallymisjudged the situation if you think I’m going to beremotely okay with you wanting to marry my nineteen-year-old daughter three fucking months into dating her?—”
“It’s not for her.” I lift it to him. “It’s for you.”
Nero looks amused. “I've heard of sucking up to your girlfriend’s father, kid,” he chuckles, eyeing the ring box, “but this seems abitabove and beyond?—”
“I think you should open it, sir.”
His brows knit.
“You just asked me if I’d ever kill for your daughter.”
He takes the box with his free hand and thumbs the lid open.
His brows arch, and a satisfied grin spreads over his face.
“I hope that answers your question.”
Nero starts to chuckle. “And here I thought you were blowing smoke up my ass when you asked if I wanted a trophy.”
His gaze drops back to Kyle Santoro’s finger lying in the box, still wearing the Santoro family crest ring, which I severed when I slipped back onto the boat right before we torched it.
The knife leaves my balls.
“Mr. Drakos,” Nero growls, sheathing his knife and then holding out his hand. “Welcome to my home. For bonus points, you get to keep your balls.”
I grin. “I thought your wife was going to be the tough one.”
Nero chuckles as he pats my shoulder. “Believe me, kid. You just got the easy route in. Come on, let’s eat.”
44
YELENA
“I’d sayyou got through that with flying colors.”
My heart is as full as my belly as Achilles and I walk down the tree-lined block of brownstones after leaving my parents’ house after dinner.
I slip my hand into his, squeezing as I sink closer to him, needing the brush of his arm against mine and his strong body pressed to me.
I giggle. “I’m just amazed my dad didn’t pull a knife on you or threaten to cut off your balls.”
Achilles grunts tightly. “Thatwould have been crazy.”
He smiles, untangling our hands and wrapping his arm around my shoulder to pull me even closer, like he knew that's what I was really after.
Of course he did.
Which is…ugh.
I almost want to say “part of the problem”, even though I'm unwilling to voice even inside my own head that thereisany problem.
