Ruthless Creatures by J.T. Geissinger

I told him I love him, but I’m not sure love is a complex
enough word.
There’s a weight to this thing I feel for him. A darkness. A
violent edge, like what I see in the dangerous men’s eyes.
It frightens me, because I know his life, by its very nature,
is unsafe. I thought I’d never recover when David disappeared,
but in the end, I survived. I even thrived without him.
If anything happens to Kage, I doubt I’ll be so resilient.
There’s a hairline fracture inside me that he’s holding together.
If I ever lose him, I’ll break.
So I can’t lose him. It’s as simple as that.
“Here you are.”
When Kage presses a soft kiss to the back of my neck, I
jump in surprise. I’d been lost in thought, staring out the living
room window to the expansive view of Central Park. The sun
is setting. The shadows grow long over the ponds, jogging
paths, and trees.
“I wanted to give you a minute with Stavros. The poor guy
looked like he was about to crap his pants. I didn’t want to
make it worse for him by standing there as he had a
meltdown.”
Kage smirks. Wrapping an arm around my waist, he pulls
me close. “It’s a good thing you weren’t there, too. You
would’ve gone ballistic.”
“Why?”
“He asked permission to kidnap Sloane.”
“What?”
“He’s not over her. Wants her back. Thinks the best way to
do it is to force her into close proximity.”
When I stare at him in horror, he adds, “I said no, baby.”
“I’m not worried about Sloane. I’m worried about what
would happen to poor Stavros if he dared to kidnap her. She’d
castrate him with a rusty butter knife and choke him to death
with the stub of his own dick.”