It was why she’d gotten so upset when he accused her of loving the other Blood. It was why she couldn’t just brush him off when he voiced all his doubts.
She hated that this realization had taken her so long. But she didn’t let a curse or a groan escape with her heavy sigh; instead, a wry smile floated on her lips.
I’m in love with Blood of the Country of Diamonds.
His lips tightened slightly. “Just admit it,” he rasped. “You’re in love with a version of Blood Dupre.”
She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “I…am…”
She felt a sense of doom settle on her shoulders with the realization. How could she be attracted to a man like this? A stubborn, cutting, jealous, egotistical, and overly analytical Mob boss? His personality was basically a list of negatives. She was so disappointed in her taste that she fell into silence.
What a headache.
“The Blood of Hearts and Clover has always been important to me,” she murmured. “And he always will be. I wish he were here to hear this.”
Blood’s body tightened over her; she shook her head to cut off his raging jealousy.
“But he’s not the one I love, Blood. You are.”
“…What?”
Blood’s dumbfounded voice leaked from his lips. He looked off-balance, like she’d dodged his best right hook.
The old Blood wouldn’t have revealed such an open face. She felt an urge to smile.
“I never had any idea what he thought of me. But I still knew he didn’t hate me…and I’m pretty sure he liked me. But I can’t tell you if it was the same ‘love’ that you just spoke of. He never told me.”
The old Blood hadn’t gone near her until he’d fully accepted her—and then he’d still held her at a safe distance, even if his affection had seemed too deep for simple “interest.” He’d considered her special. But how?
Maybe that Blood had been looking for steady, unwavering love, and she was an Outsider who could vanish at any time. Maybe he didn’t want to burden her with his feelings. Or maybe he’d been hoping for a different kind of love, or something she couldn’t give him. With them both in different countries now, Alice had no way of finding out.
He’d let her into his rose garden in Hatter Mansion—a juxtaposition of calm against cruelty. Like him. She’d been special enough to him for him to throw open those doors. Maybe he himself hadn’t known the reason.
But he’d cradled her in his secret world, and Alice had liked that. She’d never wanted more from him…and she prayed their relationship never changed.
She looked up into the gaze of the man breathing heavily on her lips.
“You’re a Mafia boss,” she murmured at last. “You’re power-hungry, stubborn, prideful to a fault, hard to understand, and you kiss people in public.
“But…you tried to get close to me. You tried to find out about the real me. That’s probably the biggest difference between you and the old Blood. And that’s why I…fell for you.”
She knew what kind of person Blood Dupre was. But even knowing that, she wanted to know the Blood in front of her better. The younger Blood who didn’t keep his distance, even in a land of distrust and violent enemies. When this Blood had said he was going to investigate her, she’d felt, deep down in her heart…a tiny bloom of happiness.
He stared at her and didn’t say a word.
Alice let out a breath and scowled. “What, Blood? Are you seriously going to make me do all the talking?”
Blood blinked a few times, as if regaining his thoughts. “I just…didn’t expect that,” he murmured. “You stunned me speechless.”
“You’re blushing,” she teased.
Blood screwed up his face and sucked his teeth.
“Shut up. I didn’t think you even liked me, let alone…” His finger gently brushed up the side of her face, and she was reminded of his soft touch when he’d nursed her arm. His finger slowly twisted into a lock of her hair, wrapping the strands around and around.
Alice couldn’t believe they’d been fighting a second ago.
She slanted her mouth. “You didn’t know whether I liked you or not, and you still…kissed me in front of Jericho?”
“Doing that made it more difficult for you to go back to him.” He hummed and twisted her hair. “Two birds with one stone.”
“Ugh. You’re an awful man.”
“Good—I can’t keep this job unless I’m an awful man.”
She smiled at him. Blood chuckled back.
The words weren’t sweet, but she felt a sudden hunger for his warmth. She slid her arms around the lean frame pressing down on her and tilted her mouth up.
“Ah…”
“…mm…”
The kiss was nothing like their first. As her lips caught with his, once then over and over as heat built up inside her, her mind went white. She closed her eyes.
His own arms snaked under her and up her back as he pushed down on top of her. Crushed up against his body as his mouth moved against hers, fear suddenly gripped her pounding heart.
“Mm—wait,” she breathed, the panic pushing words into his mouth. She couldn’t think of a good excuse. “Our clothes will get…wrinkled.”
He grunted, the sound a wet vibration against her mouth. “I envy your ability to think right now.”
Alice gasped as one broad hand slid over her body, caressing her through the thin barrier of her clothes. He slid his mouth off hers and instead chuckled a low rumble into her ear.
She wasn’t mentally prepared for this.
“W-wait, Blood—”
“You said you loved me, right? Maybe the other Blood Dupre couldn’t catch you, but I will.”
“Catch me? You… Ah!”
She felt heat in a risky part of Blood’s body and her voice jumped an octave.
She wanted to run. She wanted to bury herself in her safe, familiar anxieties.
But his low voice changed her mind.
“I’ve caught you, and now you’re mine—more precious to me than anything or anyone. I’m the Blood Dupre who will take you away.”
The heat of his words melted her thoughts away. She felt drunk on the urgent, heavy desire that drove his hand around her body.
She let that hand wander.
“S-stupid,” she gasped, but it turned into a moan.