by Marie Carnay
Her brown eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “I don’t need anything else. I only need you.”
“Will you marry me?”
One tear spilled over and raced down her cheek. “Yes.”
Damien rose up and Mia wrapped her body around his. When their lips touched, Damien knew that wherever they went next, as long as they were together, it would be home.
Damien lifted Mia in his arms and carried her to the bed. Thank God for king-sized mattresses. He planned to use every square inch.
Her hands were on his chest before he could kiss her lips. She gripped his T-shirt and dragged him closer.
“I need you, Damien.”
“I know.” He took her mouth, thrusting his tongue inside to swirl and dance with hers until she moaned into his lips. He nipped her lower lip and she groaned.
“I need to taste you first.” He dipped his head, trailing kisses up her neck and over her ear. He nipped at her earlobe, tugging on the soft flesh until she arched into him.
“No, I don’t want to wait…”
“You will.” He nudged her back until she fell onto the mattress. He stripped off his shirt and threw it on the floor.
One tug on the robe’s belt and the soft hotel terry fell open. All that tanned skin. Breasts begging for his hands to touch. The place between her legs he couldn’t wait to taste. She was sexy and innocent and full of life. Everything he thought he’d lost so long ago.
Mia’s flat belly that would swell with their child. The life they made while swimming through a sea of darkness. By the time their child would be born, they would be bathed in light. Damien would never drag Mia into the dark again.
Crawling over her, Damien slid his hand up Mia’s side and marveled at the woman who’d just agreed to be his wife. Her breasts spread on her chest, nipples hardening before his eyes. She was sexy and strong and so damn perfect. He didn’t know how he got so lucky.
Damien leaned in and licked one sensitive nipple into his mouth before moving to the other. Mia arched her back and ran her fingers over his head, pulling him closer.
Mia was the sun in the sky. The brightest star he’d ever seen. She’d pulled him out of the gutter when he had nothing and no one and gave him a future. A family.
He couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life in her orbit.
Damien slid down the mattress and spread her legs. The rest of their lives started that night. He was going to enjoy it.
26
MIA
As Damien’s tongue raked through her swollen folds, Mia arched off the bed. They did it. They stopped the Marcelo cartel, the ADA confessed to his crimes, and Mia and Damien were given full immunity.
No one could touch them. They would have new lives somewhere far away from Wellington and all the horror they had survived. Damien would be a free man. He wouldn’t have to look over his shoulder. Their baby wouldn’t just have a father, she would have a family.
A home.
Damien flicked his tongue across her clit and Mia cried out. He might be a cold and violent man when he needed to be, but with Mia he knew when to stop. With their daughter, he would be gentle. Kind. The best kind of man.
Mia reached between them and tugged at Damien’s arms. He crawled over her body with a question in his eyes.
She didn’t wait for him to ask it. Her lips landed on his and she raked her tongue across his flesh, tasting her own need all over his face. God, they were good together. She was soft where he was hard. When he demanded, she submitted. She needed, he gave.
Life could never get better than this. “I love you, Damien.”
“You said that already.”
“I’ll never stop.”
He kissed her again. “I don’t want you to. I love you, too.” His hand rested hot on her belly. “And I’ll love our child, so, so much.” Damien stroked her bare skin and Mia reached down for his belt.
“I want you, right now.”
“Are you sure it’s okay. I mean, I won’t…”
“You can’t hurt me. Anything we do is fine.”
Damien smiled. “I like the sound of that.”
Mia shoved his pants down and found his cock, hard and ready. “You should.”
She shimmied down the mattress until her lips lined up with his shaft. Planting soft kisses on the underside, she pushed at Damien’s hips until he rolled over.
With his cock standing tall, Mia opened wide. Mmm. She slid down his shaft, reveling in the heat and need she brought out in him.
Damien could be hard and cold when he needed to be, but with her, he let go. He wasn’t a hitman with a job to do. He was a man. A lover. The best thing to ever happen to her.
Mia flattened her tongue and took him deep, sliding up and down, faster and faster, until his spongy head hit the back of her throat. Yes. She’d never been this assertive and bold with a man before. Sex had always been so average.
But Damien brought out the inner Mia. The one who loved the taste of his cum as it beaded on his tip. The one who wanted his thick shaft filling her mouth and sliding down her throat.
The woman who would bear his child and be his wife.
She licked his shaft and Damien shuddered beneath her, reaching down to run his fingers through her hair. They had gone through hell to get to this point and she was never letting him go.
“Mia, baby…” Damien groaned, tightening his grip on her hair as she sucked him harder. Yes. Come for me. Right now. She reached down and cupped his balls, stroking and squeezing as he groaned louder.
With his fingers twisted in her hair and his cock deep inside her mouth, Damien came. She swallowed every release of his seed as it filled her mouth and he let her go.
“You’re incredible.”
“Guess I’m inspired.”
Damien laughed and pushed her back onto the mattress. He spread her legs and held them open. “Now it’s my turn, and I’m not taking no for an answer.”
His lips landed hot on her sex and Mia moaned. His tongue thrust between her folds and struck her clit and she cried out.
She tried to pull him up, but he shook her off. “Don’t make me tie you up.”
Mia grinned. “Maybe I like it.”
Damien almost growled and dove back in, lapping and licking and sucking her clit so hard, Mia could barely breathe. An orgasm flew out of nowhere and exploded inside her before she could even gasp.
But Damien wasn’t done. He crawled over her as she spasmed. His cock nudged against her entrance.
As her eyes fluttered open, he claimed her. Balls-deep in a single thrust. Mia saw heaven.
No other man could give her what Damien could. One look into her eyes and he saw straight through to her soul. He knew where to linger, when to speed up, how to give her pleasure she’d never dreamed of.
She angled her hips and he inched deeper, drawing a moan from her lips.
Damien nestled between her thighs, pushing her legs wider as his weight rested on her hips. She wrapped her arms around him and he bent to kiss her, taking her lips like he’d taken her body.
Slow and deep, he pressed his body against her and she sighed in satisfaction. The heft and strength of him above her, inside her, all over her. It was everything she had needed and never had.
She broke their kiss to find his eyes wide open and watching her. “You won’t hurt me, Damien. I don’t want some, scared, timid man right now. I want you.”
He groaned above her and slid out, toying with her entrance before he slammed himself home. His arms bulged and bunched on either side of her head and his cock stretched her to the limit.
Damien was all over her and inside her and giving her everything she needed. Everything she thought she’d lost. He thrust again, ramming her body into the mattress and sending her higher.
She bucked against him and he picked up speed, propping himself up on his elbows as he pumped again and again. Mia clawed at his back, ran her hands up and down the straining muscles, and spurred him on with every thrust. Sh
e wanted him to unravel, lose himself inside her and come undone.
Grabbing his ass, she kneaded his firm muscles, reveling in the flex of his body as he filled her over and over. He bent down and took her nipple, drawing it into his mouth and sucking until she cried out from a mix of pleasure and pain.
How had she ever doubted this?
Damien kissed away her thoughts, stealing her breath as he pressed her harder into the mattress. Oh, God. As he thrust, his hands slipped behind her back. As he pulled back, he flipped them both over.
Mia lay across his chest, his shaft rock hard inside her.
“I want to watch you, Mia. Ride me until you come.”
She blinked. They’d never…She’d never… “Are you sure?”
“So sure.” Damien ran his hands up and down her thighs and Mia pulled herself upright. She straddled his hips and planted her hands on his chest. She rocked above him, grinding her clit against his firm body and sending a bolt of pleasure straight to her core.
Oh…This is…good.
She closed her eyes and groaned, overcome by another orgasm stirring inside her. As she picked up speed, Damien ran his hands up her sides, massaging her breasts and squeezing her nipples. She moaned and worked herself up and down, harder and harder as he thrust up into her from below.
The mattress squeaked and groaned in time with her body and it only sent her higher.
He wanted her to ride him? She damn well would. Up and down she worked her hips, gyrating on top of the man who showed her what passion and heat and pure fucking magic could be. His hips rose up to meet every thrust. Sweat beaded on her clean skin and trickled down her spine. It dripped between her breasts and slipped down her belly.
Damien groaned and dug his hands into her ass and Mia came apart. Her orgasm rolled through her like a wave of thunder, rumbling through her core and out her limbs, all the way to her fingers and toes.
Her muscles clamped down around Damien’s shaft and he let go. The rush of his release sent aftershocks of pleasure and bliss through her body.
Mia’s whole world spun, flashes of light and explosions of color ricocheted inside her head as joy tumbled through her. She was still flying, dizzy and discombobulated, when Damien rolled them both onto their sides.
His hands tugged her close and she nestled into his arms. “Please tell me we have this hotel room for a few days.”
He ran his fingers up and down her back. “That’s what the FBI said. We’ll be staying here until the marshals come up with somewhere else for us to go.”
Mia smiled against his chest. “Good.”
“Why are you so happy about it?”
“Because we’ve got a king-sized bed and room service. Just think of all the fun we can have with those.”
Damien laughed and the vibrations soaked into Mia’s skin. “I thought pregnant women needed to rest and take it easy.”
Mia pulled back with a grin. “I will be. Right here in this bed.” She ran her finger over the tattoo curving around his arm. She would never get sick of his body. His strength. The way his gray eyes said so much without his lips saying a word. “Besides, didn’t you know pregnancy hormones make women horny?”
“You’re lying.”
“Not lying.”
“Then you’re going to want to…”
“Have sex like rabbits.”
Damien smiled and wedged his hand between her legs. His fingers slipped between her slick folds, rocking back and forth until Mia moaned.
“Then I hope it takes the Marshals weeks to find us somewhere new. The more time I get to spend making you come the better. I have a whole life to atone for.”
“And giving me orgasms makes up for it?”
He leaned forward and brushed his lips across hers. “It’s a start.”
Epilogue
MIA
Eighteen Months Later
Mia heard the little laugh from inside the kitchen and she smiled. Every time Damien tossed their little girl up in the air she giggled.
“Be careful, she just ate!” Her voice carried through the open doorway and another round of giggles followed it.
A moment later, little Melanie swooped in, flying in her daddy’s arms. Her chubby little hands clapped as she laughed again and her blue eyes sparkled. “Mo, Mo!” She clapped and wriggled, asking for Damien to toss her up in the air again.
All through the pregnancy, Damien had been the best husband a woman could ask for. He’d gotten up in the middle of the night to satisfy her crazy cravings and helped Mia make their nursery perfect for their little girl.
He’d been there when she went into labor and was the first to hold their daughter in his arms. When he’d asked to name her after his sister, Mia had cried. She couldn’t think of a better name.
He tossed Melanie up into the air again and she erupted in a fit of laughter.
Mia held up the knife she’d been using to chop apples. “If she throws up everywhere, you’re cleaning it up.”
Damien smiled at his daughter. “You hear that? Mommy didn’t say no.” He tossed his daughter in the air again and Mia shook her head.
It had been six months since Steven Willows had been convicted of murdering Damien’s sister. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole and Damien and Mia had been given new lives and jobs across the country.
In their tiny little house a few miles from the coast, they weren’t the DA’s daughter and the hitman for hire. They were just two people madly in love.
When Mia had dreamed of her future, she had seen this moment. A white picket fence, a good husband, a happy family. She’d never thought it would come true. Or that she would swim through hell to get it.
She fingered her mother’s pearls around her neck. After all these years, it felt right to wear them.
Mia was finally home.
* * *
Want more steamy romance? Flip the page for a bonus novella, Bound.
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Bound
A Stepbrother Romance
Sometimes the only one you need is the one you shouldn’t want.
Bound, blindfolded, and willing. That’s how I want her. When I caught her going through my things—black cord, cuffs, more—I almost took her right there. But I can’t. She’s off-limits. We might not have grown up together, but our parents are married. She might be my stepsister, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t walk away.
He’s everything I want—handsome, assertive, sexy as hell. The only catch? He’s my stepbrother. I should say no. Run as fast as my prim little feet can go. But I’m tired of being the good girl. I want it dirty and wicked. Tied and blindfolded and at his mercy. He’s the only man who can set me free.
1
Jessica slipped her sweater off and stuffed it in her bag. Breaking a sweat after five minutes outside didn’t bode well for her shoot the next day. The makeup artists would hate her.
“So is it always this hot here?”
“Yeah. Welcome to Miami, sweetheart. It’s summer year round!”
She smiled at the cab driver in the mirror and turned to watch the palm trees flit by. It was a far cry from her chilly New York spring. Girls walked down the street in bikini tops and shorts, guys hung out on the corners in sunglasses and tank tops. She could see why Tate moved. All the sun, the party atmosphere and sexy people. What more could a DJ want?
The cabbie turned off Ocean Drive and wound his way through the Art Deco district, pulling up in front of a small, stuccoed walk-up with hand-crank windows and a tiled front entry. It was cute. Inviting. Qualities she’d never associated with her stepbrother.
After paying for the cab, she grabbed her duffle and headed up to the front door, scanning the buzzers for his name.
Tate Winston. Apartment 204. Bzzzz.
“What?”
Still charming apparently. “It’s Jessica. Le
t me in.”
The front door unlocked and she yanked it open, squeezing herself through as it slammed shut behind her. Damn. Somebody needed to fix that.
She stomped up the stairs and made her way down the hall to 204. It’s just a weekend. You can play nice for a few days. Even if he is a jerk. With a deep breath, she reached out to knock, but the door swung open. To abs.
Seriously ripped abs that flexed into a washboard she could use all night long. And they wouldn’t even wreck her nails. A shot of heat flashed through her and she smiled as she looked up.
Oh my god. “Tate?”
“Hey, Jessica. You’re early.”
“You’re not wearing a shirt.”
He snorted and stepped back, leaving the door open as he walked away. “Like I said, you’re early.”
He disappeared into his bedroom and came out a second later with a t-shirt in his hand. “So you gonna come in, or you just wanna stand in the hallway all day?”
As he pulled the shirt over his head, Jessica stole a final glimpse at his sculpted body and tried not to blush. Last time she’d seen Tate, he’d been a scrawny, gangly nineteen—gracing their parents’ wedding with a cameo before leaving for Miami.
He definitely didn’t qualify as man candy back then. But he sure as hell did now. Jessica gave him a small smile and stepped into the apartment, shutting the door behind her. She needed to get it together.
“You…um…look good.”
“Yeah. So, you’re here for what, three days?”
She frowned and set her bag on the floor. His looks might have changed, but his attitude hadn’t. “Mmm-hmm. Thanks for letting me crash here. I tried to find a hotel, but everything I could afford down here was booked solid.”
“Whatever. All I’ve got is the couch. You can sleep there. I’ve got a gig tomorrow, so I’ll be home late, I’ll try not to wake you when I come in.”