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Vixen met me at a side entrance and didn’t waste a second. “Come with me, we need to get you ready,” she said, leading me down a short hallway into a small prep room.

The air inside smelled faintly of makeup. She pointed to the center of the room.

“Take off your shirt, please.”

I pulled off my shirt and dropped it to the side. She studied mytattoos—arms, hands, neck, and the ones across my chest, her gaze hovering at the mark over my heart. She laid out a tray of makeup, unscrewed a bottle, and loaded a sponge.

“We need to cover these. Anything visible. She might recognize something.”

She started sponging the cool makeup over my skin, working methodically to cover every line of ink on my arms, hands, and neck. When she moved toward my chest, I stopped her, my palm flat over the tattoo near my heart.

“Not this one. Don’t touch it.”

She looked up, nodded, and kept her attention on the rest, careful not to go near the tattoo that mattered most and a few more on my chest.

“This is waterproof. No matter how much you move or sweat, even if you shower, it won’t come off. You’ll need this to remove it,” she explained, showing me a small vial. “Use it when you’re done. I’ll give you a few bottles before you leave.” Next she handed me a small case. “Contacts. Green. She can’t see your real eyes tonight.”

I slid them in, blinking at how strange and unnatural my gaze now looked.

Finally, she handed me a black mask and the voice-modulating collar. I pulled the mask over my eyes, clipped the collar around my throat, and felt the buzz as it powered up. I spoke a few words under my breath and heard my voice drop into sounds that didn’t even belong to me anymore.

“Where is she?” I asked.

“In the last room. She arrived masked. No one saw her face and the house is empty, as requested.”

I walked down the corridor alone, my heart pounding in my chest so hard it hurt. I knew this was wrong on a level that should have made me turn back, but nothing in me wanted to retreat. If this was the only way I was ever going to touch her, Iwas taking it.

I pushed open the door and stepped into the room where Serenity was waiting. I scanned the space, searching for her. When my eyes landed on my wife, for a second, all the air left my lungs.

Maginifique.

She was gorgeous.Toobeautiful to even be real.

Her skin had a touch of bronze that made her look sun-kissed even indoors. Her curves filled out the lingerie so perfectly it looked painted on. A mask rested over the upper half of her face, leaving her lips bare and ready to be kissed. She had pulled her beautiful hair up into a high bun, and my brain was already imagining my hand grabbing a fistful of it, bringing her to me so I could taste every inch of her skin. She sat on the edge of the bed, legs crossed at the ankle, the line of her thighs enough to make my dick throb against the fabric of my pants. Even half-hidden, she looked sinful, and something in me knew she wasn’t meant to be touched without kneeling first.

Her pupils met mine, and I felt it, that same invisible pull I had known since I was twelve years old.

I walked farther into the room, letting the door close behind me, my hands already itching to feel her. She stood and moved to close the gap between us, hips swaying sensually enough to steal my breath and stop my heart. God, she really wasinsanely beautiful—it was unreal. I realized I was about to get what I’d been craving, what I’d been yearning for. And fuck, the anticipation was eating me alive.

When she started to circle me, my pulse kicked harder. Her fingers grazed my arm first, then slid across my bare chest, tracing the few tattoos Vixen hadn’t covered. Heat followed every point of contact, shooting straight down to where I was already hard for her.

“Name?”

“Knox,” I answered, the modulator turning my tone into something darker.

“Are you ready to give me the pleasure I deserve?”

I looked at her—really looked—at the lips I had thought about for years, at the throat I had imagined under my mouth, at the body I had sworn I would never touch and had wanted every night since.

Before I could think, I reached for her hand, closing my fingers around her wrist and pulling her into me. The soft shocked and breathless sound she made when she hit me lit something savage in my blood. Feeling her pressed against me for the first time, so warm and soft, right where I’d wanted her for years, almost knocked the air out of my lungs. My free hand lifted on its own, settling against the side of her face, claiming a right I had been starving for. My thumb dragged across her lips and she parted them. Desire slammed through me when I felt the heat and tremor in her breath as she exhaled.

“If ruining you all night is what you expect from me, then consider every inch of this body owned and taken tonight.”

Her eyes darkened behind the mask and that look damn near ended me.

I couldn’t wait any longer.

I dipped my head and caught her mouth with mine. The first contact was supposed to be rough, a warning of who the fuck she was inviting into her bed, but the second my lips touched hers, something inside of me gave in. The kiss came out slow instead, deep, tender in a way that scared me more than any gunfight ever had. Her lips were soft and warm, moving against mine like they had always belonged there. Her taste was a mix of heat and something sweet, everything I had been denying myself.