Page 26 of Married with Blood
I gasped as he pulled back slightly, enough to glare into my eyes. Rich brown melted into a smoldering yet sinister flame in those orbs riveted on me.
“I’ll warn you once,” he whispered, his breath whipping against my wet lips. “If you think you’re here to be nosy and spy for your brother, you’re a dead woman walking.”
Oh, you?—
I gripped the front of his jacket and pulled him closer.
I kissedhimthis time. I covered his mouth with mine, parting his lips, earning a sexy grunt from him and stealing a sample of his hot taste. Before he could clutch me closer and carry this on with me, I retreated.
Nipping his lower lip as I went.Hard.But not hard enough to draw much blood.
He reared back, licking where I’d bit him as his lidded glare intensified.
“Consider thatyourwarning,Husband.”
Narrowing his eyes, he shook his head slightly, perhaps in disbelief, before he grabbed my hand to walk me down the aisle.
9
MAKSIM
She bit me.
She fuckingbitme.
After the hasty ceremony that had been thrown together at the last minute, I took Carina’s hand and held on. Tightly.
Once I got over the shock that she’d be so defiant to me after I’d warned her, I wondered when I could have another chance to speak with her. To ask her if she was here for no other reason than to spy, and if so, what the hell Arturo was after.
Having a wife still seemed like a drag. Like another obstacle to my already busy job of helping Adrik keep the family together.
But something about her made me snap. Perhapsshehad snapped.
A chance to get to know her or elaborate on who the hell this woman was, really, would have to wait. We moved through the guests, and I had to do my part in mingling and speaking with them.
She stayed with me, her hand firmly in mine.
Then we sat for lunch.
She sat right next to me.
Afterward, more meetings with the many guests who’d come here so soon after Adrik and Elena’s wedding. Even though this was an arranged marriage and a very,veryquickly thrown-together event, it was still a chance to bring people together. As such, we spoke with the Rossis and others who were still allies. A couple of new deals were even brokered out here on the vast entertainment space of the patio.
Dinner followed, and still, I kept a close leash on Carina.
All through the talks and mingling, she was quiet. She stayed with me and didn’t speak up. At first, I wondered if she was simply that well trained to know that she should defer to the men in the room.
After a while, though, I realized she wasn’t spying, per se.
She was merely paying attention.
Once or twice, I got the hunch that she was biting her lip and holding back from participating in a conversation. But that didn’t make sense. She couldn’t know about any of what we referenced—even in code.
All day long and into the evening, I could barely concentrate on anything related to my job or any deals. I was stuck on the mystery of whether she was here to spy. If she was here as a threat, I’d need to handle it. I’d already lost faith in the Garcia Cartel, so her being here as a sign of peace was a joke. Yet, as I endured the hours with her next to me, I was no closer to havinga solid idea on whether Gregori was testing the perimeter of our empire by trying to mess with our allies like the Garcias.
When she stood to the side, working through what looked like polite small talk with Elena—under Adrik’s watchful eye as he stood close to them—I got a drink at the bar.
“She seems…” Alexei leaned his elbows against the bar.
