Xander (Billionaire Racers Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

could be more complicated than the mob. Favors owed, paid, collected on. Blood debts. Money debts. A Gordian knot stretches from Moscow to Miami and then halfway around the world, and if Ivan Petrov has pissed off the wrong people, he has also had it coming to him for years. And yet all she has to do is ask, and I will do it.
    She protests again. “I have a business to run and my father—”
    “This is my first condition. If you want my protection, you come to me and I give it to you.”
    She chews on her lower lip. Lily is not stupid. She knows that first implies second . “And then?”
    “And then we meet my second condition. I want my wife back.”
    Her eyes widen. “I was sixteen .”
    “And I was twenty-two.” I shrug. “We made promises to each other, and now I want you to keep them.”
    Her eyes narrow. She is thinking to negotiate with me. “For how long?”
    My fingers flex, the ink dancing across my knuckles. Six years ago, I inked her name on my wedding finger. It is a reminder to myself of what is at stake. “For now. I will let you know when I am done with you. I want what is mine. I want my wife.”
    “You don’t know me,” she protests. “How can you say you want to be married to me when you don’t know who I am?”
    She has a point, but it is not entirely true. Some things I know. For example? Her enemies are my enemies.
    “I know plenty,” I counter.
    “Like what?”
    “You have a degree in marketing and Russian literature from Columbia University. You are the CEO of your own Internet marketing company. You buy flowers every Friday.”
    “Are you watching me?” She sounds horrified. Did she really think I would leave her entirely alone and unprotected? I have been hands-off, but da , I have also checked in a time or two.
    “I am learning about you,” I say gruffly. “Exactly like you asked.”
    “That’s not what I meant,” she protests, and I think she actually means it. Too bad. She should have been more specific.
    “I am kissing you now. To seal our deal.” I give her the heads-up because a shotgun marriage does not actually give me kissing rights. She is the one person in this world who gets to tell me no, but I will also only give her one shot at it.
    She does not say no and she does not step away. Does not knee me in the balls, slap my face, or call for security. I give her all the time in the world, and she just stares up at me with the cutest puzzled look on her face.
    “If this is a new line of party favors, you should plan for a queue.”
    “This is just for you.” The words coming out of my mouth do not belong to me. I sound like a fucking player, but I mean them.
    I wrap an arm around her waist and ease her deeper into the shadows. We are not alone out here—my bodyguards are always close by—but darkness creates an illusion of privacy.

    LILY
    Xander cages me between his hard body and the wall. When I suck air into my oxygen-starved lungs, his scent floods me. God. He’s an asshole. I push at his chest, and he goes nowhere. Instead, he cradles my face in his big, inked hands.
    “You are my wife. I am your husband. That means I have your back. Whatever shit goes down, I fix it.” How can I stay strong when he makes it so easy to lean on him? “How much time does your father have?”
    Xander’s ability to figure out what his opponent wants is a key reason why he’s been so successful.
    “He’s not well physically.” I’m not sure what to do with my hands. We’re not kissing—and we’re not precisely fighting. There’s not a whole lot of space between us. When I shift, my legs brush his, and I’m pretty sure that’s his dick I feel brushing against me. Since this just makes my panties wet, apparently I’m okay with our close quarters.
    His mouth brushes my ear. “You are holding out on me, angel . You need a doctor if he is sick. I am muscle. I am a fixer for a different kind of problem.”
    “The Banda are pressuring us. Nothing big, nothing