Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 77(@250wpm)___ 64(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 77(@250wpm)___ 64(@300wpm)
And so begins the slow creeping in of my past self. Only instead of channeling my violence into my profession, it’s going toward guarding Mila. Keeping her all to myself. The jig is going to be up someday soon. People will notice the change in me and start to ask questions.
Questions that will lead to me being found.
Am I putting Mila in danger by claiming her?
As if the mere thought of danger has called it forth, I feel a prickle on the back of my neck. With one foot inside the courthouse, I turn and glance back toward the road, narrowing my eyes at a passing vehicle. Late model, black sedan. Tinted windows. Not common around these parts. Has danger found me already?
The notion causes me to misstep as I advance into the lobby and Mila looks up at me, adorable in her concern. “Are you okay, Joseph?” She rolls her lips together. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”
“God, no, Mila.” I find an open bench and sit down, cradling her close, laying kisses on her forehead. “I love you. I’ve never loved anyone in my life but you,” I murmur against her ear, inhaling her sunflower scent. “Being together is still new, but you’ll realize very soon that I’d crush any obstacle that stood between us. I’d crush any person, for that matter.” I shake my head. “I’ve spent so long worrying I might scare you off. It’s hard to believe you’re worried about the same.”
“Why did you think you’d scare me off?” She says quietly, reaching up to twist a piece of my hair around her finger. “Because you’re not who I thought you are?”
“Yes,” I rasp, pressing my mouth to her wrist so I can feel her pulse. “But there’s more, Mila. Something took shape inside me the first time I looked at you. I want your body like hell. So much that I can barely concentrate. But there’s more to it than that. I can’t stop thinking about to bringing you home and spoiling you.” I study her face closely to gauge her reaction. “The way a little girl deserves.”
Her swollen lips pop open on a gasp and time suspends as I wait for her to speak. After a few seconds, she crooks a finger at me, beckoning me closer so she can whisper in my ear. “I call you Daddy when I’m by myself in the dark, preacher. Is…a-are you telling me that isn’t bad?”
My cock turns into a fountain, gurgling come from its tip and I moan, twisting my fist in her dark hair. “No, Mila. It’s very good.” I tilt her head back and kiss her fluttering pulse. “It means you’re a very good girl.”
“I want to go home now,” she breathes, squirming in my lap with glazed eyes and peaked tits, driving me to distraction. “Please?”
The flesh pressing against my zipper throbs with such fullness, it hurts to stand, but I do it nonetheless, carrying Mila toward the marriage license counter. “I’m going to make you my queen first, Mila. And when we get home, I’ll make you my little princess.”
The woman behind the marriage license desk gives us a curious once over but I merely stare back until she flinches and hurries to do her job. I set Mila down, keeping her tucked into my side while I fill out the paperwork and slide it back across the counter. “We’d like to be married immediately.”
“S-sir, there’s a forty-eight hour waiting period.”
My smile is icy. “I said, immediately.”
A hush falls in the office. Fingers stop typing on keyboards and the woman holding our application backs away. “Let me just make sure the justice is available.”
Surprise, surprise. He’s available.
I take Mila’s hand and guide her into the sparsely furnished chamber, hating that she isn’t having a huge, extravagant wedding like she deserves. I appease myself by vowing that someday I’ll give her every damn thing she wants.
“Where is the one place you want to go?” I ask, as we take our places in front of the justice. “Anywhere in the world.”
Her eyes light up. “The ocean.”
Goddamn, she’s such a sweetheart. I’m the luckiest bastard alive. These hands have strangled the life out of men and yet they’re being given the privilege of touching this angel. I’m never going to look upon her with anything but wonder.
Keeping my eyes locked on hers, I take two gold bands out of my pocket and hold them out. “I bought these the day you turned eighteen. I couldn’t help it. You’ve been my dream since you walked into the church. I’ll take you to the ocean, Mila. I’ll love you the whole way there and every damn day afterward. That’s my promise.”
She takes a single step forward, opening her mouth to say something—before simply throwing herself into my arms. “You’re even better than I dreamed, Joseph Stark and I love you more than all the stars in the sky.”