~Rylee~The golden sliver of light passes through the gaps of the curtains. My eyes squinted. I curled into a ball, instantly realizing that I was alone in bed. An army of goosebumps rose from my arms to my legs. I pulled the covers closer to my body, smiling at feeling eyes watching me in the distance. Even without peeling my eyes open, I knew it was Klaus.“Perving?” I murmured, voice raspy with sleep.“You like me perving,” Klaus said. I could hear the smile in his voice.I opened my eyes. He was sitting on the edge of the table wedged on the cream-colored wall. His injured leg was hanging from the desk. Klaus looked domesticated dressed in gray sweatpants and a dark blue cashmere sweater. His feet were bare. Add his tousled dark curls and day-old stubble… he looks sexy as hell.Damn. I want him for breakfast.“Breakfast?” he asked, a knowing smirk tugging his lips.He knew what was running into my mind, yet he motioned for the tray of food beside him.I gnawed my lower lip, pullin

~Rylee~Klaus had to take an important call while we were in the middle of cleaning downstairs. The call took a while. I took it upon myself to ensure all the doors were locked and did a quick sweep of the entire ground floor. I turned the alarm on, leaving no lights open.Under the blanket of darkness, I climbed the stairs, turning the lights off in the hallway as I headed to our bedroom.The door was slightly ajar, dimmed lights from the inside spilling out into the hallway. I pushed the door open, slipping inside, shoulders tensing as soon as I made out Klaus’ silhouette in the dark.He came forward from the corner of the room. The only light inside was the bedside table lamp, casting a reticent warm glow on Klaus’ side profile. He was naked from the waist up; only his dark, rugged jeans remained.“Close the door,” he murmured, his voice deep and gravelly.My breath caught. I could feel his eyes on me. Warmth instantly bloomed in my center. This had been my entire mission all night

~Klaus~‘Business as usual,’ it’s how I would describe things at the family business. Both the mafia and The Martinelli Holdings have been wiped clean of moles or potential threats that rooted from Kino and Dominguez’s schemes of taking us down.It had been a brutal battle. We had to lock away a few people who we thought we could trust, interrogate them and make them choose whether to side with us or die. Like I said before, cleansing is harder than creating, but we cannot let decades of our family’s legacy go to waste just because of Kino, Zio Davide, and Dominguez’s plots.“Is Rylee still in the mood?” Ghost asked, sliding out of the truck. We just came back from town after picking up the hays bales we needed for the stables. Rylee and I have taken residence here at Huntersville after the new year. Although it’s wintertime, there’s still a lot of work to be done.“She’s always in the mood,” I groaned, following Ghost out of the truck. We each pulled a hay bale from the back of the t

“Hey, are you good?” I set my hand on Klaus’ bouncing leg. He has been extremely anxious since yesterday. We are on our way to Ivy’s clinic, Claudia’s OB-Gyn friend who’s been taking care of me since we moved here to Huntersville. Once he gathered himself from the news of my pregnancy, he called Ivy and demanded a schedule for an ultrasound. We barely got a wink of sleep. Both of us were eager to know more about our baby. I am nervous too, but Klaus’ nerves were a tad shakier than mine, I guess. He laced our fingers together, kissing my knuckles. “I’m excited,” he said. The sparkle in his eyes seconds his statement. He pawed the back of my neck, kissing me passionately. “We are having a baby, mia rosa. Our baby,” he hushed. The partition on the limo was up, giving us the privacy we need. We planned to keep the news to ourselves, relish in the bliss before we break the good news to our family and friends. “I know.” I cupped his face, tears of happiness clouding my sight once again.

We built this place out of boredom one spring break during college freshman year. The three of us got together pretty quickly not knowing that we were running away from the darkness shadowing our childhoods. Devin spends his spare time in this country because it reminds him of his late mom. Evan was escaping the troubles at home, emanating from his adoptive brother’s hatred for him while I wanted to be a regular college boy, away from the burdens of being a mafia heir. Look at us now. I’d say we are still those trouble makers, still wickedly good-looking, but we’ve come a long way. The happiness our wives brought to our lives overshadowed the burdens of our past. “Damn, you two have googly eyes,” Evan hushed, setting his phone down with a knowing smirk. “The fuck did you just do?” I groaned. “Checking for leverage,” he said, tipping his beer bottle. “Say a word about what you heard, and that video of you dancing with Rylee will go live online.” I shook my head and grabbed a beer f