King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

376

Adrik

I woke the next morning before Sephie. I fully expected her to stay asleep. She was so tired last night, even after she slept most of the afternoon, that she fell asleep in under two minutes. She was laying across my chest in her favorite spot, her fingers lightly playing on my chest. I ran my hand through her curls, causing her to snuggle into me more. I continued to run my hand over her body, loving the quiet moments I got with her.

“Good morning,” she said quietly, without moving.

“I didn’t expect you to wake up with me this morning. You can go back to sleep, love. I know you’re exhausted,” I said, my fingers playing with her curls.

“I feel bad sleeping when your father is here. Feels tude,” she said, finally picking her head up and looking at me.

“He won’t care, Sephie. He’s not the boss of you,” I said, grinning at her.

Her smile stretched across her face. “Somehow I don’t think he’s going to stay in the city for too long. He’s very grumpy about having to meet with people he hasn’t seen in years. I think there’s a reason he hasn’t seen them in years, but they clearly can’t take the hint.”

“He’s still considerably less grumpy than I’ve ever seen him before, since he met you,” I said.

because I know he’s a cheeseball and he’s trying to be extra nice so I don’t tell everyone else

you called him that

she said, looking back at me grinning ear-to-ear as she walked in the bathroom. “What’s

a few meetings, but they should be short. Neal is the last meeting. We’re finishing up removing Armando and Ricardo from the building project. He’ll be happy to see

the bathroom as she was putting her hair up on top of her head. My breath caught as I watched her walking around in nothing but my shirt, her hair messy from the night before. She caught me staring at her, still in bed. She walked back to

said as she was silently

me her heart-stopping smile as she held my face in both her hands. She leaned in and kissed me sweetly. “I love you,

at the end of the day. I was anxious to get Armando and Ricardo off the building project so it could continue to move forward. I didn’t need either one of them to make the project happen. I brought Armando on as a courtesy. At the time, I still believed he was loyal to me and was going to reward him for it.

for years. He was very happy with that idea. “She’s got more business sense in her little finger than Armando does in his entire body. I’ve never met someone so successful and yet so du mb in my entire life. I don’t understand how he’s stayed in business this long. But she’s clearly just getting started,” Neal had said when I brought it up to him. “If we bring her on for no other reason than her

why I wanted Armando and Ricardo off the project, but he also

with me over the years, so he never said a word about the darker side of my business dealings. Even still, he seemed relieved to not be working with Armando

the paperwork, discussing a few changes. “There are no traces of Armando or Ricardo on any of the documents for this project any longer. Sephie is also now a partner on the project, as you requested. I just need her signature on the few places that are marked in

crew though, but he’s very dependable. I’ll send you his information.

“That’ll save me a huge amount of time trying to find someone else.”

more random details on the project, when Sephie walked into the office, followed by Ivan and Andrei.

Neal. I’m good. You?” she said, taking his hand.