LOGINKNOXThe report sat on my desk like it was radioactive.Plain manila envelope, typed label, nothing special to look at — but my stomach twisted just knowing what was inside. I’d had men dig deep, deeper than even Steel realized. I thought I was just cleaning up loose ends for Valour’s request. But when the results came in… Jesus.I rubbed the bridge of my nose. My mouth felt like I’d been chewing sand. I’d been carrying this secret in my chest for two hours already, and the longer it sat there, the more it felt like it might burn a hole straight through my ribs.Steel was pacing my office like a caged lion. “You gonna tell me what the hell have you sitting there like you swallowed a damn grenade, or do I have to drag it out of you?”I looked up at him — six-foot-something of coiled rage, arms crossed, jaw ticking. He hated waiting for anything. Especially me.“Sit down, Steel,” I said. My voice came out lower than I intended.That caught his attention. I don’t tell Steel to sit. Not u
SINThe lights blinded me, but I'd gotten used to that a long time ago.Flash, click, flash.The photographer barked directions as if I was a mannequin who rented space to him."Shoulder down! Chin higher! Good—hold it there!"Yeah, sure. I stood stock-still, a lace strap sliding down my arm, the kind of lingerie that was meant to cry sexy and untouchable. It mostly just cried itchy to me.Two months now since I've been in the hospital. Two months now since the doctor had advised Steel to use his hands for nothing, and two months now since I'd been walking around with a live wire taped to my body. My body missed him. My sanity missed him. But the doctor had been clear: no sex until three months.Steel begrudged every second of it. So did I."Beautiful!" the photographer shouted, jolting me awake. "Sultry—more eyes. Yes, yes!"Sultry. Okay. I attempted to smolder without eye-rolling, but my son's voice behind me did not help."Mom, you sneeze," Jasson said with a straight face, slouchi
STEELThe doctor's words echoed in my head as I exited that scorching white room with Knox.Three months.No sex.It felt like someone had carved the word celibate into my ribs with a dull knife.Knox was whistling like he'd just won the lottery. He always did this when he knew I was angry. Bastard.We'd just made it out to the waiting room when I spotted them.Jaden and Jasson.The twins.My boys.Standing shoulder to shoulder, a little taller than I remembered the last time I'd actually seen them. Same stubborn jaw. Same intense eyes. Same restless energy running its way through their posture like they were ready to kick the entire damn world.My blood.They glared at us as we approached them, and didn't even blink. Just stood there, waiting.I froze in place. "What are you two doing here?"Jaden spoke to us, his voice low and commanding. "We'd like to talk to you.""Here?" I said, glancing around the row of chairs in the room, the sharp smell of disinfectant lingering in the air."
KNOXI swear, if I had a dollar for every time Steel rolled his eyes at authority, I’d be able to retire in Barbados by now.He was sitting shirtless on the padded exam table, a fresh set of bandages across his ribs, scowling like the doctor had just told him his favorite bar burned down. Which, in Steel’s world, was basically what had just happened.“No sex for three months,” the doctor repeated slowly, like he thought Steel was hard of hearing. “None. At all. Your body needs time to recover from the trauma.”Steel’s jaw ticked. “You already said that last week.”“And I’ll keep saying it until you take it seriously,” the doctor shot back, scribbling something on his clipboard. He was one of those older men with gray hair that looked like it belonged in a toothpaste commercial—serious, efficient, and completely unimpressed by Steel’s whole brooding, bad-boy act. “Your internal injuries need stability, and you risk—”“Spontaneous combustion?” I cut in, leaning against the wall with my
STEELHer nails clawed down my back, sharp, desperate, and it only made me slam harder into her. Every drag of her body under mine was a war against my sanity because I wanted to be in her forever with her mouth gasping my name, her body trying to keep up, and me refusing to let her forget who the fuck she belonged to.“Steel—” she gasped, head thrashing against the pillow, lips wet and trembling.I bent down, teeth grazing her jaw, biting down just enough to make her cry out. “Say it,” I growled into her ear, voice a rasp that was almost unrecognizable. “Whose pussy is this, Liza? Tell me before I fuck the words out of you.”She squeezed around me so tight I nearly lost it right there. Her hand came up, gripping my hair, pulling me down until our mouths collided—messy, biting, angry. She kissed me like she hated me, like she loved me, like she couldn’t breathe without me.“Yours,” she moaned into my mouth, breaking the kiss with a whimper. “It’s yours, it’s always been yours—fuck—”
STEEL The door slammed shut behind us, and the air between us grew tight. I could hear her breathing hard, fast, broken — and it stoked the flames that'd been burning since I spotted her on his arm tonight. I closed the distance in two strides, every muscle tensed, every thought focused on her. She tried to stand up straight, chin high, but her hands trembled where she held her clutch. "Steel—" she started. I cut her off with a snarl. "Shut up, Sin." Her lips parted in surprise, and shock passed over her face, but she didn't move. She never moved when I talked that way. "You know what it did to me," I growled, my fist slamming into the wall beside her head. She winced but didn't back away. "Watching you smile like that. Faking it with him. Allowing him to put his goddamn hand on you like he owned the right." Her throat constricted as she swallowed. "It's for the cameras. It's politics, Steel. You understand this." "I don't care if it's politics." My fingers wrapped around her jaw, sp







