by J. L. Beck
I’m on my back with him between my thighs in the next second.
“Are you wet for me?” He delves his fingers through my pussy, testing me for himself. Then he licks his finger and settles his weight against my hips once more. “You are wet for me. Does jerking my cock turn you on?”
I swallow and nod hesitantly. Does he really want to know this? Or is he playing some kind of game with me? My inexperience hits me all over, and suddenly, I don’t know what I’m doing. He leans in and nips my lower lip with his teeth to catch my attention. But he already has it. I can't take my eyes off him when he’s like this. Like he lives and breathes just for me. No one has ever looked at me like this.
“I’m not done with you, Angel. Let me see how long it takes my sweet little Angel to scream for me.” He dips his fingers inside me, then brings them up to catch my clit.
I’m shaking, and I don’t know why. My heart feels like it might burst from my chest Alien-style at any moment. A laugh bursts from me, and I slap my hand over my mouth, eyes wide, as his narrow.
He freezes. “Are you laughing?”
I shake my head quickly, a hot flush clawing its way up my neck. “No. I’m so sorry. I didn—”
He tugs my hand off my face and takes my lips one more time. While he coaxes my mouth open, he rubs his cock against my clit, right where his fingers used to be.
When I lean up and into him, he pulls away. “You aren’t laughing at this.”
Then he angles himself again, this time, barely catching my entrance with the head of him.
I suck in a breath, holding it. Waiting…yearning…even as fear spikes through me.
“Relax, take a breath,” he orders. This time, he notches himself right there, right where I want him and where I’m terrified he’ll go.
But I shouldn’t be, right? The second we do this, our deal is fulfilled, and I don’t have to worry about anything. He’ll take care of Sal, of me, of everything. In my mind, it sounds like the dream I had months ago with Rose. Freedom. While I may not be free…I don’t think I want to be. I learned a long time ago there are way worse things to be scared of than being owned by a man who wants to take care of your every need. I know he’s not perfect, hell, probably not even a good person, but who is in this world.
“Breathe, Angel. It’ll only hurt for a second.” He pushes into me slowly, taking his time as my body adjusts to his. He’s with me every second, his forehead pressed to mine, even if the position forces him to arch his back to maintain it.
He watches me, and while I want to squeeze my eyes closed, it feels like abandoning him. So I keep my eyes on his as he finishes pushing into me. Everything feels tight and tingly. A flash of pain was in there somewhere, but pain doesn’t mean the same thing to me as it does to others. I barely noticed it while staring at him.
“You’re mine,” he whispers. His jaw sets tight, and he pulls out and pushes back inside me. “You belong to me.”
I nod because I can’t get my voice to work. He stops moving, and everything in me is starting to tighten more.
“No, Angel. It’s not enough. Say it. Say it for me, and I’ll give you everything you want. I’ll make you feel good.”
My exhale comes out in a rush. “I’m yours,” I whisper.
Instead of pushing into me again, he twists to the side, aligning us and entwining our legs. He pulls mine up onto his hip and guides us together. “Yes, you belong to me.”
I arch into him. The pain is gone, and I can’t feel anything but him. In my body, in my head, in my heart. I clutch at his shoulders, wanting him to give me more.
“I’ve got you, Angel.” He presses into me again, not so much an in and out motion as just rocking, and it puts the top of his cock right at the sensitive bud of my clit.
God, how can this feel so good? I’m shaking from head to toe and grip him harder. My orgasm slams into me so hard I see stars on a landscape of black. His mouth hits mine while I’m still trying to recover, his lips devouring me, his tongue taking over. I give it back to him, all the pleasure he’s giving me, trying to at least…
I feel him come hard, his breathing as erratic and shallow as mine. When he stops, everything is hot and sticky between us. He moves our legs around so he can stare down between us. There’s a white splotch of his cum on my thigh that he scoops up with his fingers and presses back inside me.
“This stays inside you.”
“We…didn’t use a condom,” I manage, realizing only now the possible consequences.
He nuzzles my neck, arching my hips into his to press us together. “And we won’t. Every time I come inside you is a chance to get you pregnant with my heir.”
I’m frozen against him. While we got married, I hadn’t considered he was serious about it. That a baby might be something he wanted with me. But I can’t.
No. Not while Sal is out there and can hurt my baby and me. Not when he always takes every bit of joy I have.
27
Adrian
In the morning, I stare down at her, so beautiful and serene spread across the white sheets. It felt good to finally take her and make her mine. Even if I saw doubts swimming in her eyes before she fell asleep in my arms. It’ll take time for her to fully trust me but getting rid of her fiancé will go a long way to help that.
I slip out of bed, careful not to wake her, and dress quickly. There’s something I need to do. If she hadn’t needed me, then I would have done it last night, but I couldn’t resist the plea in her eyes when she asked for me—me.
She is still passed out when I exit the bedroom and head toward the command room. As expected, when I enter, no one is there except Kai.
He’s sitting at the table with his back to me, jacketless, wearing the same clothing he wore to the party last night. When I enter the room fully, he stands, his face lined with regret and self-recrimination. He knows what needs to be done too.
He doesn’t get a warning. I hit him in the side of the face full force and send him back into the chair so hard it tips over, taking him down on top of it. A dull ache starts in my hand and then shoots into my wrist, but it doesn’t matter. Justice must be paid, and he knows what he almost cost me.
I punch him again, and he still doesn’t defend himself. But I can’t quite reach him partially under the table, lying haphazardly over the chair, so I motion at him to stand again. He follows my order without a second thought, even knowing what comes next.
I flex my hand as I question him. “Did you find Sal?”
He leans his head back to keep blood from running down his face. “No, sir. He was gone. The others are still out searching for him.”
“Then you’ve done nothing to redeem yourself. Are you ready?”
Completely resigned, he drops his hand and stares me down. Then nods.
I let the anger I felt last night course through me—the rage, the pain, but most of all, the terror. This time when my fist makes contact, he remains standing. His head merely snaps backward from the force of the hit. Pain has reached my shoulder, but it’s nothing. Nothing. Nothing at all compared to what she endured last night as her attacker lay on top of her. As she fought for her life from the one man I told her I could protect her from.
I grab his shirt front in my fist and move to strike him again, but something clamps onto my hand. I barely have enough presence of mind to freeze and look.
Valentina is standing there, her eyes rimmed with tears. “Stop, please,” she sobs. “He doesn’t deserve this.”
I shove at him and step back. “You’re right.” Then I take the gun off the table he loaded himself and press it to the center of his forehead. “He almost let you get raped or killed. He deserves more than a few bruises and a busted nose.”
She reaches for the barrel of the gun, and I swing it away so she can’t grab it. “Step back, Valentina, before you get hurt.”
“No. This happened to me. It should be my choice.”
Her words reach me, and I stare down at her. The white robe she
’s wearing is three sizes too big and sweeps the floor with each agitated movement. Her hair is curly and frames her face in a halo of gold-tinged brown. I lower the gun and focus on containing my rage long enough to end this.
“You’re right, Angel. This is your retribution.”
I grip her wrist and press the gun into her hand. It looks ridiculously oversized in her small palm. She moves like she wants to drop it, but I cup her fingers around the pistol grip and turn her to stand in front of me. With my body behind hers, I align our arms and cup her other hand to the other side. In this position, I can help her.
“Protecting you was his job. He failed. He understands what that means for him.”
Tears are pouring down her cheeks now, and each one is like an ice pick to my gut. I hate to see her cry. Yet punishment must be dealt out. “He made a mistake. He doesn’t deserve to die for it.”
I lean down to speak into her ear. “And what if Sal had raped you? Would you be so lenient on him then? What if the last thing you saw was his greasy mug above yours? What if your last moments were spent in humiliation and pain?”
“S-Stop…” she sobs. “Stop it. Don’t do this.”
I grip her hands tighter, forcing them to the trigger. She’s shaking against me and crying, and I can’t take it. With a little shove away from her, I release my hold.
She stumbles forward, still holding the gun. Then as if realizing it, she flings out, trying to dislodge it. Kai gets to her first, catching the weapon, and deposits it safely on the table.
I turn to face her, grabbing her shoulders so she can look at me. “This is part of our world. If I can’t trust him to keep you safe, then I can’t trust him to do anything.”
She sniffles hard, her cheeks red now. “But he’s your friend.”
“My friend wouldn’t have let my wife be attacked.” I glare over her shoulder as I say it. “My friend would have caught the bastard and presented him to me wrapped in a bow ready for me to take my vengeance on him.”
“This is my choice, right?” she asks, her voice stronger now, her tears gone, only the dampness on her cheeks remaining.
When I don’t answer, she cups my cheeks and guides my eyes to hers. “It’s my choice? Since I was the one who was attacked, it should be. And I don’t want him to die.”
Fucking hell, I can deny her nothing. Not when she looks at me with those soft eyes and halo of curls for good measure. I stare at the gun and then at her. “His life is yours then to do with what you will. Kai is no longer my second but yours. But if he gets you killed, I swear to you, every single person involved will die.”
She nods once and turns to face Kai, who wears a stunned expression, his face bleached of color. “She can’t…what…?”
He cups the back of the chair with both hands and leans in like he needs the extra support. And maybe he does. It hurts to lose the one man I thought would get me through anything. The one man I could count on above all others. But, by the same token, I know if something else happens to her, he’ll die to prevent it. His code of honor would allow nothing less.
“Any news on his whereabouts?” I demand.
He stares back and forth between Valentina and me, now unsure of who he should address. “No, nothing yet. But we did get a message from her father.”
She gasps, and I pull her against me, wrapping my arms around her shoulders. “My father? How does…? Oh, someone from the party would have told him they saw me.”
“That was the point. He would have learned of our marriage eventually,” I tell her. Then to him. “Send word it’s not going to happen, and get the others back here so we can discuss strategy.”
He nods and fishes his phone out. The skin on his face is already swelling from hitting him, and my knuckles are a jagged mess. I’m still angry enough to beat him to death on my command room floor. The only thing standing between me and his death is five feet of too much fucking compassion.
She scans us both and rushes out of the room. When she’s gone, I take a step toward him. “If something like this happens again, I don’t care what I told her, I will put a knife to your throat myself. Are we clear?”
He rubs at his bloody nose with his shirtsleeve. “We’re clear. It won’t. I’ll protect her with my life.”
I shove at him. “You should have done that last night.”
“Hey!” she shouts. “You said he’s mine, and I don’t want him hurt anymore.”
She crosses between us and presses a plastic bag of ice to his cheek. The sight of her touching him makes me want to rip his arms off and beat the shit out of him with them. It’s stupidly irrational, but I can’t help myself. The only person who should touch her is me.
“Don’t fucking touch him,” I grit out, forcing everything in me to focus on something else. She enters my field of vision and takes my hand in her own, then presses another ice pack to my skinned knuckles. “I won’t touch him again. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
I grab her around the throat, only hard enough so that she understands how serious I am. “If you touch another man, any man at all, I will kill him.”
She gives me a shaky nod, and I can feel her gulp under my palm. When I release her, she clucks over my knuckles, and Kai starts to leave.
I grab him by the arm before he can go. When she starts to interfere, I glare down at her, warning her off. “The other thing I asked you to take care of?”
He points at a box on the table I hadn’t even noticed. I let him slip out the door and grab the box.
She’s curious and peers around my shoulder. “What is it?”
I tug her to my front and lift her easily to sit on the edge of the glass table. “A gift for you.”
The light that enters her eyes at such a small statement clears the rest of the anger still seething inside me. Gods, no one could be angry at that look, nor the soft, warm feeling she puts inside me just with a look.
I open the box and pull out a cell phone, then turn it to face her. “It’s for you. All our numbers are programmed inside. This way, you can call for help if you need it or order stuff online. Whatever you need.”
“You…this is for me?” She blinks down at it, almost shocked.
I tuck a thatch of stray hair behind her ear, but of course, it doesn’t stay. “It’s just a phone, Angel. You’re not a prisoner here. You belong to me, yes, and right now, I don’t want you to go anywhere until we take care of Sal, but I still want you to live your life.”
Tears coat her lashes again, and I brush them away. “Don’t cry, please.”
“It’s just. I don’t want to know what to do. I mean…my whole life was spent inside that house as a punching bag for my father, then worse when Sal showed up. My only plans were the ones he made and the ones I made to try to free us. Now, I’m not sure what to do with myself. I mean, I can’t just stay here and live in your bed.”
“Our bed,” I correct her. “And if that’s what you want to do, especially when you get nice and round with our baby, then that’s what you’ll do.”
Her eyes go wide again, the same panicked look she gave me last night. She might not be keen on the idea of having a child now, but soon, she’ll be pregnant with my baby. I can’t wait to spoil them both and give them everything I didn’t get as a child.
“Can we…talk about something else?”
I nudge her thighs apart and step between them to remove the tie of her robe. “Like what?” I ask, then bend down to nuzzle the curve of her neck. She squirms against me, and I love the breathy sigh that follows.
She threads her fingers into my hair and leans back on the table. “On second thought, maybe we should talk after.”
28
Valentina
It’s been one month since we first had sex. In the real world, it’s probably not a milestone people celebrate. But to me, giving my body in that way, feeling safe in it, comfortable with it, feels like something to celebrate.
When I wake and find the bed empty, I know he’s already workin
g, so I get dressed and hatch my plan. It starts by texting Kai. He arrives a few minutes later but refuses to enter my bedroom, so I drag him down the hallway to the room I started turning into a library.
Once inside, I close the door, and he looks ready to bolt. How can a grown man who worked as my husband’s right hand for years be so skittish when I get him alone? I know Adrian can be jealous, but I’d never touch him. They both know that by now.
He inches toward the door as I study my progress in the room. “I need your help with something. I want to make Adrian a special meal tonight to celebrate. Do you happen to know anything about his mother?”
While turning the door handle, he freezes.
I stare at him, hands on my hips, and wait for him to face me, confusion all over his face. “Why do you ask about his mother?”
“He doesn’t talk about her much, but I know they had a special relationship. Do you know if she ever cooked him anything special? Something that might bring back happy memories.”
“I’m sure he will enjoy anything you make for him.”
I’m missing something in his tone, I can tell. It’s too light, too breezy as if he doesn’t want me asking questions. But does he want me to stop questioning him or ensure I don’t ask Adrian these things?
“Why are you so spooked? It’s a simple request. I can go ask someone else if you don’t know.”
He blocks the door with his big frame. “No. That won’t be necessary. Just give me a second to think about it.”
I give him my sweetest smile. “Great. You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”
Damn. The men around here are jumpy. As if I would ask Adrian about his mother directly, knowing how much talking about her hurts him. Andrea is a little easier to deal with, but she’s often out on jobs with the team, so I don’t see her as often as Kai. Who I think resents his new job. Not sure what he expected? Running my errands with me and lifting boxes might not be as exciting as whatever Adrian had him doing, but the other option was death, so in my mind, I think he should be a tad more grateful. Or maybe just a tad less squirrelly about me asking simple questions.