Deviant

by Natasha Knight

  Finally, he got the box open and turned it to me, his eyes glistening when I met them after glimpsing the old-fashioned gold band in the box, the diamond glittering on top of it.

  “It was my mother’s. I had to have it resized for you and the jeweler who made it for them lives in Cortona.”

  “Julien—”

  “I love you, Mia, and I want you to marry me. I want you to be my wife, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  My hand trembled as I went to touch the ring.

  “Will you marry me, Mia?”

  A warm tear streaked down my face and I sniffled, meeting his tear-filled eyes. Unable to speak, I nodded, covering my mouth when he stood and took the ring from the box. Without a word, he slipped it onto my finger, the fit perfect.

  “It looks beautiful,” he said.

  I looked up to meet his gaze and he kissed my cheek, kissed the tear there.

  “Don’t cry, Mia. We’ve had too many tears. It’s time to laugh.”

  I smiled. “I’m happy, Julien. These are not sad tears.”

  The door opened just as he went to kiss me and Gianna came in, carrying the cake plate with one remaining piece on it. The moment she saw us she stopped —and would have backed out if Julien hadn’t called her over.

  “You’ll be the first to know, Gran,” he said, holding my hand up.

  Her eyes reddened instantly. “It was your mother’s.”

  Julien nodded and Gianna cried, taking us both into her embrace at once, kissing us, and again, talking too fast for me to understand.

  “Did you open the envelope?” she asked him when she stepped back.

  Julien looked confused for a moment but then reached into his pocket and took out a folded envelope.

  Gianna shook her head and took it from his hand, straightening it out. She handed it back to him with a soft smack against the side of his head, and he opened it, pulling out an official looking form. While he read it, I looked at it over his shoulder.

  “You’re giving me the café?”

  “I’m giving it to both of you. And I hope you’ll give it to your children one day.”

  I felt Julien’s gaze shift to me, but I kept mine on Gianna. I was happy, I wasn’t going to think about what couldn’t be right now. And who knew, the doctor didn’t say it would be impossible. He’d said it would be a miracle.

  “I want you to stay, Julien. Now that you’re home, I want you to stay.”

  “So you’re buying me?” he teased.

  “Whatever it takes. Besides”—she wrapped an arm over my shoulder—”I need this one here. If you two leave now, I don’t know what I’ll do short of following you wherever you go. You probably don’t want that.”

  We all chuckled. “We’re staying Gran.” He turned to me. “We’re staying.”

  Epilogue Two

  Julien

  I’d seen Mia’s face when Gran had mentioned children. She tried to hide her sadness about the fact that she’d be unlikely to have any, but she couldn’t hide it from me.

  Well, nothing was impossible and I’d do my part to keep trying, that was for sure. Even if it didn’t work, we still had options. Adoption was something I’d be very interested in. In a way, I thought of it as a way of paying it back for Charlie, saving another kid from what happened to him. Was I seeking redemption for my own sins? I didn’t know, and I didn’t care.

  “Ready to go?” I asked as the last of the dishes were dried and put away. It was close to midnight and everyone had finally left. We’d sent Gran home to bed and Mia and I had cleaned up our café.

  “Yep. I’m exhausted!”

  “Well, owning a café will likely do that to you.”

  She smiled and slipped off the apron she’d been wearing. I took her hand, pulling her to me, kissing her, feeling the sharp edge of the ring she wore, the ring that promised she’d be mine, in the palm of my hand. Sliding my hand down her back to cup her soft little bottom, I hoisted her up and carried her to the counter, never breaking off our kiss as I set her there, pushing her dress up to her waist before opening the buttons at the front and taking out her breasts. She’d worn a bra, and the little mounds fit perfectly in my palms, the nipples hardening instantly.

  “Julien, what are you doing?”

  She asked it through a kiss and I grinned, reaching my head down to suck one breast into my mouth before drawing the nipple out between my teeth. Her hands on my shoulders squeezed and she groaned. Sliding one hand down between her legs, I slipped it into her panties as I took her other breast into my mouth, sucking and tasting, concentrating on that nipple as moisture collected on my fingers. Straightening again, I kissed her, lifting her slightly as I did to drag her panties off. I then knelt, pulling her to the very edge of the counter as she leaned her head back against the wall and opened her legs.

  “I love how you smell.” I couldn’t get enough of it, actually. When she was aroused, it was like a call to me, and I loved that I did that to her.

  Gripping her hips, I took her clit into my mouth, making her moan instantly as I began to suck softly. Her hands closed around my head and she pulled me to her so my face pressed into her pussy as she leaned back some more, setting her feet up on the counter and spreading her legs wider. Her clit swelled in my mouth and I knew she was close from the sounds she was making so I slowed, looking up at her face before pulling back and standing, looking at her sex, at the gaping lips of her pussy, her slick, pink cunt.

  “Julien—”

  Pulling off my shirt, I gripped a handful of hair and tugged her head backward, looking down at her face, her open mouth. I kissed her, letting her taste herself on my tongue while she worked the zipper of my jeans, opening them and pushing them down to free my swollen cock. Lifting her up off the counter, I pushed her to her knees where she greedily opened her mouth and took me in.

  Christ, she was so fucking good. Her hair tangled in my fingers, and I worked her over my length, pushing deeper, watching her as I did, loving the feel of that hot little mouth, that wet tongue working while she watched me. With a groan, I dragged her back up.

  “I need to fuck you tonight, Mia.”

  Setting her back on the counter, I pushed her thighs wide and looked at her eyes. She wrapped her hands around my face and kissed me, her hunger equaling my own as I thrust inside her at once, catching her gasp in my mouth as her cunt stretched to accommodate me. I loved how fucking tight she was. Tight and hot, wet and willing.

  She wrapped her legs around me, our bodies touching constantly as I fucked her, kissing her, feeling her tighten the grip of her legs around me, her mouth open for me as the walls of her pussy began to squeeze my cock. She said my name, closing her eyes as she came, and I just watched her, watched her face tense, her eyes soften, her grip tighten upon me, little whimpers coming from her throat as her pussy pulsed around my cock.

  Once she loosened the lock of her legs, I set her down and turned her, leaning her over the counter and pushing her dress up to the middle of her back. I loved looking at her like this as she bent deep, thrusting her hips back and up. I gripped her buttocks and spread her open, my thumb closing over her asshole as I thrust once more into her dripping cunt, making her cry out. Gripping her hair with my other hand, I turned her head back and watched her face, watched her watch me, those pretty green eyes locked on mine as she came again, this time my cock throbbing inside her, emptying there, all while she watched, just as she had when all this had begun.

  Spent, we remained on the floor in the kitchen of the café, both of us quiet, neither of us seeming to be able to get close enough to the other.

  “Can you reach the cake?” Mia asked after a long while.

  I chuckled and glanced at her, then reached up to take the serving dish that contained the last piece. “You’re hungry?”

  She shrugged a shoulder with an embarrassed look. “I like the cake.”

  I held it up to her and she bit off a piece. I did the same and we were once again s
ilent as we ate that last piece of cake.

  “I don’t want to wait too long to get married,” I said.

  “Me either. I have no family or friends to invite, so we don’t have to wait on anything.”

  “Now we’ll be a family. You, me, and Gran — and who knows who else.”

  She lowered her lashes at that and I saw tears glistening in her eyes. “I may not be able to have babies ever, Julien. You have to know that.” Her eyes searched mine. “You understand that, right?”

  “I know. We have options. Adoption is something I’d like to explore at some point. Not quite yet, but in the future.”

  She nodded, but looked down at her lap.

  With a finger under her chin, I forced her to meet my gaze. “I love you, Mia. That’s all. I don’t care about anything else. I want a simple life with you, here. That’s all.”

  A tear slipped from her eye, and I wiped it away.

  “I love you too, and a simple life here is just what I want. I feel so very lucky already.” She caressed my face and brushed her lips against mine in a soft kiss. “So very lucky.”

  The End

  # # #

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  Read on for excerpts from the Natasha Knight novels, Theirs To Take, Captive, Mine and Given To The Savage.

  Excerpt from Theirs To Take

  “No, not that one.”

  I had never felt so relieved to hear Syn’s voice or feel his cane at my thigh as I did in that moment.

  “That one isn’t for sale,” he spoke quietly, his tone low, but there was no question he would be obeyed.

  I turned to meet his dark gaze. The grin that curled one corner of his mouth upward sent ice through my veins. He kept his black eyes on mine as he tapped the cane against the fronts of my thighs once, twice, then with a flick of his wrist, lashed me with it.

  Tears stung my eyes nearly as badly as the rattan did my legs and I took a step backward, looking down at the welt rising where he’d struck, grateful that the man who had been considering me nodded with a reluctant growl before stepping to my right, to the next girl who stood shuddering beside me.

  Gabriel, Syn’s brother, joined him. Both kept their eyes on me as Gabriel whispered something into Syn’s ear. Syn nodded, then turned his attention from me to the girl who was being handled now. Gabriel, the older, more stern of the two, approached me. My gaze faltered and my body shook but I refused to look away.

  “Evangeline,” he said, calling my name. “Kneel.”

  Once a girl was sold, she was made to kneel so that the next buyers knew who was still available. The girl beside me whimpered and I turned to see the large man weighing her breasts, turning her nipples in his fingers.

  “I’d like to try her,” he said, his voice gruff.

  Syn’s eyebrow went up. The girl stood upright, naked, her hands clasped at the back of her head. He looked her over, his gaze cold even as the girl now openly wept.

  Syn turned back to the man. “You can look. You can even touch,” he said, turning the girl so she stood with her back to the man. He then pushed her forward, forcing her to bend deeply at the waist. “But you can’t fuck until you pay.”

  “Evangeline.” Gabriel’s grip in my hair demanded my full attention so I could only listen to the girl’s whimpers as he brought his mouth to my ear. “I said kneel. Eyes down. And just be glad it isn’t you this time.”

  Without giving me time to obey, he forced me down by my hair until I knelt. I stared up at him, but my defiance lasted only a moment when I saw the darkness in those beautiful, golden eyes. I cast my gaze to the ground before me, swallowing, shivering at what was to be my fate if the brothers truly kept me as I knew now they would.

  If you’d like to read more, Theirs To Take is available now at Amazon.com.

  Excerpt from Captive, Mine

  I always knew I was different. Knew I lived a different sort of life. I just didn’t expect to end up here — like this.

  For weeks I’d felt it. I’d known someone had been watching me. But I’d ignored it.

  Looking back, I could think of a hundred ways I could have avoided this, avoided him. He’d said one thing and, like a fool, I had believed him. Useless words. Stolen words.

  Tucking my knees into my chest, I pulled the worn blanket up over my body. He’d stripped me bare before bringing me here, before binding my wrists together so tightly they felt raw. I shivered in the cold, damp room knowing he was going to teach me a lesson. I’d been to this room before. I knew what had to happen here.

  Tears again, stupid tears. He had no right to keep me captive. His captive.

  “Let me out!” I screamed for the hundredth time, my voice hoarse, my throat too dry.

  This time, though, there was an answer: the sound of his footsteps approaching, the almost imperceptible sound of the key sliding into the lock, turning it.

  I pressed my back harder into the wall, fisting the blanket with sweaty hands.

  I was going to be punished and it was going to be bad. I knew it. He’d promised it and he always kept his promises.

  If you’d like to read more, Captive, Mine is available now at Amazon.com.

  Excerpt from Given To The Savage

  The heavy steel door opened and a thin strip of sunlight brightened her cell.

  “It’s time,” came the guard’s voice.

  Rowan’s heartbeat quickened as she looked up to meet his eyes, but he wasn’t looking at her. Not one of them would dare meet her gaze.

  “Bring her out,” he said, and immediately, two sets of hands closed over her arms, lifting her to her feet. Her wrists were bound behind her and her ankles were chained so that her steps were hobbled, and if they let her go, she would fall.

  But it was all for show. One guard alone could easily overpower her. Although breeders were taller than average human women, they were no match for the strength of the men.

  The sound of the crowd hungry to witness her punishment filled her ears as soon as she stepped out into the cool morning air. She shivered, the ground ice on her bare feet, her only cover a thin, white, or once white, dress as was her usual uniform. She looked from her place up to the raised platform where, within moments, she would be led. Where she would be stripped naked, bent over, and bound to the cold stone block and made to endure her very public switching.

  The knowledge of what lay in store sent a shudder through her.

  Captain Amro’s voice came over the loudspeaker as the guards walked her forward. For as much as she wanted to walk up there with her head held high, she found herself resisting, pulling back just a little, even as she knew it was futile.

  “This breeder has been found guilty of inciting rebellion within the community, and, most horrendous of all, the death of another breeder, and the subsequent loss of a child as a result of her actions…”

  His voice died away as the crowd audibly sucked in their breath and their shouts calling for her punishment, even her death, began.

  “An act warranting a sentence of death…” the loudspeakers blared.

  Terror now paralyzed her as the guards urged her up the stairs.

  “However, our laws and our mercy prevent us from condemning any breeder to death…” the captain’s voice continued.

  Rowan struggled, trying in vain to free herself as the guards now lifted and carried her up the stairs and to the platform.

  It wasn’t true what he said. It was a lie, all of it. She would never, never have harmed another breeder, never would have done anything to cause the death of one of her own sisters, or a child — neither within nor outside of the womb. Captain Amro was the guilty one, not she.

  “But rest assured,” Captain Amro carried on, just glancing at her as the guards set her on her feet on the platform. Her entire body trembled while she scanned the crowd whose shouts grew louder as the grips of the hands that held her tightened, as if they
knew that in an instant, if she could, she would run, even hobbled as she was within her chains.

  “Rest assured,” Captain Amro raised his voice and with his upraised arms, gestured for the crowd to quiet. “The breeder will be punished to the full extent our laws allow.”

  His glance fell on her again as she was forced forward toward the thick stone block that took up the center of the platform. The switches stood, cut and ready, soaking in a pail beside the block. There were too many of them to count.

  Her stomach heaved and she was glad they’d not fed her this morning.

  “Bring her,” Captain Amro said.

  Strong hands forced her forward.

  Once again, Rowan resisted, struggling against them. She turned to one of the guards. “Please,” she begged, catching his eye. His filled with fear and she used this, used their archaic belief that the breeders, with their startling green eyes and slanted pupils, could curse them with a mere glance. “Let me walk on my own,” she pleaded.

  He nodded once and looked away.

  She had intended on taking her punishment with her pride intact. They could punish her body, but they could not touch her mind, not unless she allowed them to.

  She was innocent of any crime, unless resisting rape was a crime. She raised her eyes to the captain’s and if contempt had a sound, it would be the hiss that left her lips in that moment. His gaze was flat, devoid of any emotion at all, and, keeping his eyes on hers, he bent to pick up one of the switches and tested it, the sound hushing the crowd, sending cold fear to her core.

  She closed her eyes then and forced a deep inhale. Exhaling, she stood straighter and opened her eyes, meeting the captain’s gaze once more.

  His eyes narrowed at this shift.