Scarlett Limerence

by K. A Knight

  Groaning, I glare at myself in the mirror, telling myself to pull it together. I sigh as I feel the ring box in my left front pocket and slip it free, opening the red velvet marked Cartier. It’s one of a kind. I had hunted for a while until I actually passed the shop and saw this in the display. It’s a rose gold band with a sapphire in the middle, and two yellow diamonds nestled on either side, woven together into the ring in a twisting pattern. It’s so big, it sparkles in the light. As I stare at it, wishing she was wearing it, wishing I knew her answer, it hits me.

  Why can’t I?

  It’s my birthday...and a party. She won’t expect it, that’s for sure.

  Everyone we love…or like, is here.

  It’s perfect, it might not be a restaurant scattered in rose petals with a view over the city, but it’s home. It’s where we fell in love again. Surely that’s enough?

  Blowing out a nervous breath, the ring catches the light as I turn it, and it’s decided, I’ll do it tonight. One way or another, I’ll know. My future, our future, rests in the tiny, glistening ring in my hand.

  I place it carefully back in the box, frowning at my clumsy fingers, and pocket it again. I flush the toilet and head back out with a new determination in my step. I won’t do it yet, later, after everyone is relaxed.

  I open presents, I get along, I dance and drink with my girl and blow out the candles on the cake she made me…with Milo’s help, of course, explaining why there is a bite out of one corner.

  Afterwards, when everyone is sitting down, laughing and drinking, becoming merrier as the night goes on, I clear my throat and lower the music. All eyes go to me and look at a confused Scarlett.

  The first woman I ever loved.

  The only woman I’ll ever love.

  My own angel.

  I’m going to ask Scarlett to be my wife.

  Right now.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Scarlett

  “Max?” I ask, confused, looking around at everyone for help, but they’re just as puzzled as I am, which is strange in a room filled with spies and hitmen. Donald’s eyes gleam as he comes to some sort of conclusion and he leans back to watch, all eyes flickering between us, waiting, watching.

  He steps towards me then, looking nervous, his eyes only for me. He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing, and goes to press his hands into his pockets before he stops and breathes out. “I had the perfect night planned to ask this, but life got in the way, and I don’t want that to happen again. I just want to be with you, so I hope it’s okay that I’m asking now. Scarlett Richards, I have been obsessed with you for years. After all, isn’t love just obsession?”

  I laugh and he grins, and then drops to his knee in front of me and everything freezes inside me. Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine this. I don’t know what to do, what to say…but he does.

  “I have been in love with you for years, I’m not a good man, but you make me want to be more than I ever was. I let you go once, and I’m never making that mistake again so…Will you stay? Will you love me forever? Scarlett, will you marry me?”

  What they say is true, the rest of the world falls away. It doesn’t matter where we are, whether at a fancy restaurant or at home in sweats, all that matters is what he’s offering. Not the ring, but the meaning, a family, a home, and a future.

  Together forever.

  He’s offering me a promise, one I want with everything in me.

  I don’t care if it’s not what other girls would want, to me it’s perfect because it’s right, it’s Max and me. Our love was random, sudden, and all-consuming, so it makes sense that his proposal would be as well.

  We will never be the posh, fancy couple type. That visage wouldn’t fit us here, in the place he bought for me to be safe, with the freedom he offered me with Milo, my friends, and Lydia. This…it’s perfect. He kills people and I love a man who does.

  “Scarlett?” he prompts, getting nervous.

  “Yes, of course, yes!” I reply.

  He smiles, slow and bright, and slips the ring on my finger before grabbing me up and kissing me as everyone else cheers. He spins me in circles, looking into my eyes. I’ve never seen him so happy and relieved. Did he really think I wouldn’t say yes?

  Silly man.

  Guess I’ll have to just prove to him how much he means to me every day for the rest of my life.

  Scarlett Hunt.

  It has a nice ring to it.

  When he puts me down, Nadia squeals and we hug, both gushing over the perfect ring he bought me as Donald and Keanu congratulate him.

  “I think this calls for a celebration!” Nadia calls, and grabs a bottle of champagne. She opens it and we all clap as she pours us a glass, looking at each other.

  I can’t stop smiling, my cheeks hurt from it, but I’ve never been so happy before. Surrounded by the people I love, in my own home, right now, everything is so perfect.

  “To the happy couple!” Nadia cheers, raising her glass. “Never did being a stalker end so well!”

  I snort out a laugh as Max groans.

  “To the asshole and the angel he somehow trapped!” Keanu adds, making Max reach over and smack him.

  “Only I call her angel, asswad.” He rolls his eyes and we share a grin, a private one, filled with our excitement and hope for the future.

  This man is my everything, my past, present, and future.

  “To us!” I yell, and everyone cheers, clinking our glasses together.

  Max meets my eyes over the laughter and, making me melt, mouths to me, “I love you.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Maximus

  After everyone leaves that night, I corner her, loving the dazed, flushed look on her face from the alcohol and happiness. Knowing I helped put it there makes me feel good. The ring on her finger caught in the light all night, reminding me that she’s mine, making me hard as hell for the entire night as I counted down the moments until I could have her. I even kicked the others out, not nicely either, but it was either that or I throw my girl down in front of them and claim her in another way.

  “Now, Miss Richards, you offered to let me do bad things to you if I was a good boy, did you not?”

  “Were you good?” she purrs, laying her hand on my chest, the one with the ring, and tracing her nails down it, making me groan.

  “With you? Never, for you? Always.” I grin, unable to help myself.

  She stands on her tiptoes and kisses both cheeks before licking my lips. “Do you want your birthday present, fiancé?” she whispers, and I grunt, grabbing at her, but she dances out of my grasp.

  “Present?”

  She grins, starting to walk backwards towards the bedroom. “Give me five minutes then come and see. I promise the wait will be worth it.” She winks and then she’s gone.

  I stand there, watching the closed door, listening to her moving around. The clock ticks down in my head, and when I can’t wait anymore, I stride down the hallway and slam the door open, groaning at the sight before me.

  She’s in leather.

  Fucking leather.

  I stand and stare, unable to move or speak. Every time I think I’ve seen it all, I spot something new.

  Fucking hell.

  Straps band across her stomach with a metal ring over her belly button. They cross over her pussy, baring most of her, before wrapping around her ass and up her back. Two thin strips stretch across her nipples, pushing her breasts up ridiculously high until they are almost spilling out of the leather bindings. A leather tie hangs from one wrist...a hand cuff of sorts. Her feet are covered in high, lacy spike heels.

  She grins at me, fucking grins, and pulls out a black, silk blindfold from behind her back then saunters up to me, pressing it to my chest. “I’m your present, do whatever you want,” she purrs.

  Then my dirty little angel waits for my instructions, grinning at me slyly.

  “On the bed, on your knees,” I order, my voice rough and choked.

  She
does as she’s told, swaying her hips as she heads to the bed. The leather between her cheeks makes me want to bite them, they are that plump. She climbs on the mattress and crawls to the middle, her pert arse in the air. I watch, biting my fist to hold in my groan as she glances over her shoulder at me and waits for my next order.

  Stepping up to the bed, I grab her hands and press them behind her back, making her gasp from the bite of pain. I yank her up, her back to my front, and trap her hands between our bodies. “I’m going to fuck this sweet fucking pussy again and again, every time you think you’re going to come, I won’t let you. I’m not going to stop until you’re begging and crying for my cock and your release. I’m going to tie you up and blindfold you,” I warn her, my hand dipping down her front and tracing her curves. “Do whatever I want with you.”

  “Yes,” she groans, her head leaning back onto my shoulder as I cup her pussy, feeling how wet she is for me.

  “My dirty girl likes that idea, likes the thought of me watching her as I fuck her. Unable to move or see,” I whisper, nipping at her shoulder before trailing open-mouthed kisses along her skin, tasting her orangey soap. “This body is all mine, for the rest of our lives. This pussy is mine.” I cup it harder as she starts to rock against my palm, her cream dripping down her thighs and my hand. “This mouth is mine to fuck, this ass mine to spank and fuck,” I tell her, and she groans, rocking faster now and pressing down into my hand, her breathing picking up. Her breasts nearly tumble from the leather, teasing me with the tops of her rosy nipples.

  “All mine, dirty girl,” I growl, licking her shoulder as I kiss along her neck, making her shiver against me. Her hips pick up speed and I know she’s close already, so at the last moment, I pull my hand away, making her whine as I grin.

  I push her down using her hands, and then tie them together at the base of her spine while she’s still confused and groaning from the lack of pressure. Pushing my hands between her thighs, I part them farther and she presses her face into the quilt as I step back and just take her in.

  She shivers under my gaze while I slowly undress, my eyes catching on the ripe pinkness of her wet pussy, begging for my tongue and cock. I slip one of the knives from my boots and lay it on the bottom of the bed for later, and when I’m fully naked, I step back up behind her, rubbing over her ass and down her thighs, feeling the tremor in her muscles as she waits for whatever I’ll do.

  I lean down and lay a kiss on each cheek, before taking the forgotten blindfold and stepping around to her head. “Head up, baby.”

  She does as she’s told, and I wrap it tightly, securing it at the back of her head. “Can you see?”

  “No,” she whispers.

  “Good.” I trace my finger down her spine and across her ass, swatting it a few times, making her gasp and flinch from surprise. Her cheeks turns pink, but she moans, letting me know she loves it. I do this time and time again, teasing her, letting the edge of my fingers catch on her pussy with each swat until her ass is red and she’s breathlessly begging, moving her hips because she needs to come that badly.

  “Please, Max, God, please,” she almost screams, pushing back as I trace my finger down her wet pussy and bring it to my mouth, tasting her delicious cream. I dip back inside of her, not offering her enough to come as she tries to fuck herself on it, only to whine in frustration.

  Her body shakes slightly as her hands twist at the bindings at the base of her spine. I take in the sight of her, with her knees spread and ass bare for my viewing. Her chest is pressed to the bed, her eyes covered in the black silk blindfold. She can’t move, can’t see, and I groan at the sight.

  “Scarlett,” I purr, licking down her spine, tasting her sweat as I lick down her ass to her pussy before straightening. “Best birthday present ever,” I tell her.

  “Fuck you,” she snaps, so I slap her ass hard, making her gasp in pain. “Max, God, please, please, fuck me.”

  “That’s not very nice, angel. I think you need a punishment for your dirty mouth.”

  She groans and shakes her head as I round the bed, her head turning to follow the sound as I tap her mouth with my cock. “Open up, baby, get me nice and wet.”

  She does as she’s told, swallowing me down. As her teeth catch on me, I groan, and my eyes shut in bliss at the effect she has on me. I already feel my control stripping away, she’s the only person who’s ever made that happen. “Good girl,” I praise, as she sucks me deeper, her hand reaching out blindly and circling the base of my cock. She squeezes as she pulls back and laps at the tip before sucking me back down again.

  Jesus, she looks so fucking sexy right now.

  I run my gaze down her body. There are so many things I want to do to her, but with her mouth around my cock, I’m starting to get desperate, needing to be buried inside of her when I come. Pulling out of her mouth, we both groan, and then I head back to her waiting pussy and ass. Fuck punishment and teasing, I can’t wait any longer and neither can she.

  Grabbing the knife, I cut the two strips away, baring her pussy to me as she pushes back into thin air, moaning again. Her toned thighs glisten with her cream, her pussy pink and begging for me. “You’re so fucking beautiful, baby, it hurts.”

  She groans again, my name on her lips like a prayer, as I trace the flat edge of the blade along her pussy, strangely turned on as I watch the steel get wet from her. “Is that cold against your pussy, baby?”

  “Yes, what is it?” she asks, staying still as I run it along her nub.

  “My knife.” I grin and she gasps, freezing. “I would never cut you, trust me.”

  She slowly relaxes and I tap her clit with it, making her moan loudly and her pussy clamp down on nothing. “Max!” she begs, so I do it again and again, and then she screams, coming so hard she falls forward, the duvet muffling the sound.

  Pulling the blade away, I lick it clean, groaning at the taste of her on the metal, before I toss it on the floor. While she’s still out of it, I line up at her pussy and slam inside in one rough move. She screams again, clawing at the bedding as I grip her hips and ram inside of her over and over, forcing her pussy to accept me as it flutters in aftershocks.

  “Max!” she yells, pushing back to meet my thrusts, her hands twisting in their bindings since she can only accept what I give her.

  “Again,” I snarl, rubbing furiously at her sensitive clit, and she gasps into the bed, her pussy clamping down on me as she comes again. A gush of wetness eases my way as I carry on fucking her.

  “I want to touch you,” she pleads, her voice cracked. I arch over her to see tears trailing down her face and freeze, and she must realise. “Tears of pleasure!” she quickly states, pushing back to urge me to move.

  Grabbing the bindings, I rip them off her hands before pulling out and flipping her over. Her chest is heaving, and one nipple slips free of her leather, so I lean down and suck it into my mouth as she wraps her legs around me, trying to get me back inside her. I tear those leather straps away as well, baring her to my gaze as her high heels dig into my ass, the pain making me groan and slam back inside her.

  “So fucking perfect,” I pant, my thrusts stuttering as I start to drive into her wildly. “Mine, all fucking mine.”

  “Yours!” she agrees, her head arching back, still covered by the blindfold as I grab her leg and throw it over my shoulder. I push in at a different angle, which has her screaming with each thrust. My balls draw up and I know I’m close, but I want to feel her come again while she’s wrapped around me, so I lean down and suck her other nipple into my mouth, biting down on it, and she screams, coming around me.

  I groan into her flesh, stilling as I empty inside of her. Panting, I pull back from her nipple and kiss it better before dropping a kiss on her lips. “I love you,” I tell her in wonder.

  “I love you, Maximus Hunt,” she replies, a smile curling those lips.

  I’ll spend the rest of my life teasing her, spoiling her, learning how to love. I might not know how to do some of t
he things she needs, but I’ll learn. I learned how to love, how to forgive, I can learn anything…with her.

  Scarlett Hunt. The idea of her with my name has me waking her as she sleeps. I want to see her hand around my cock, the ring on her finger sparkling in the night as I reassure myself that she’s mine.

  Forever.

  Who would have thought such beauty and love could come from tragedy?

  My Scarlett limerence.

  Epilogue

  Scarlett

  TWO YEARS LATER...

  Staring down at the painting I’m finishing, I sigh and stretch before relaxing back into the leather chair I’m curled up in. These last two years have been a whirlwind. Who knew a girl like me could have a life like this? Not me.

  I glance around at my home office. I applied for plenty of jobs when leaving university, but no one wanted anyone without experience, so I decided to throw myself into my own business and it took off even more than before—my loyal clients still with me. Max never doubted me and supported me the whole time. For my graduation present, he showed me this house and a penthouse in the city. As soon as I walked in here, I knew it was home, and before I knew it, we were the lucky owners.

  Our very own paradise.

  A sound draws me from my thoughts.

  “Hello, Mr. Hunt,” I call with a smile when I sense him. He laughs then steps up behind me, dropping a kiss on my head before wrapping his arms around me.

  “Hello Mrs. Hunt, how do you always know?” he grumbles.