Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 79211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
My parents weren’t willing to give up anything for me. Not their pride. Not their time. Nothing. Parents like to lie to their children and tell them they love them, but so many people only like the idea of loving. So many want to be adored and loved back, but is that self-serving? Is that really what love is?
How would I know?
I want to know.
“Does it have to be complicated?” he asks. “We don’t even know each other but there’s chemistry here. Does marriage have to be complicated?”
“Not at all. I obey your every command and you buy me nice things. Sounds simple enough.”
He tugs my hair again.
“That sounds like a fair deal.”
We sit in silence, the weight of what we’ve revealed between the two of us demanding reverence for a little while. It wasn’t just the revelation that I have a child but so much more. We’ve both said out loud what probably neither of us has ever had the ability to say to another human being before.
I want to raise children with you.
I can be a good parent.
I can be a good spouse.
I can choose to give what I was never given.
Finally, I lean over and brush my lips across his stubbled jaw. I close my eyes when he returns the kiss with a kiss of his own. Deeper. Darker. Dominant.
And then his hands are in my hair as if anchoring himself to me. I bared a huge part of myself to him tonight. I gave him what I’ve never given any other human being before.
And he didn’t trounce on my truth but cherished it. Took us a while to get here, but that only makes it that much sweeter.
He’ll bring my daughter to me.
He said she could come here with us.
I need to thank him in a way words can’t.
I caress his face, his jaw, the broad swell of his shoulders. I run my hands along his biceps, appreciating how perfect and strong he is. When his mouth parts, my tongue darts into it. I relish the low, utterly male sound he makes, half groan, half growl, and nip his lip with my teeth.
It’s just enough of a show of dominance to poke him, and the next thing I know I’m flat on my back and he’s on top of me, his full weight pressing me into the bed.
He doesn’t ask me what’s come over me or demand a discussion. He only slowly and deliberately strips me until I’m bared to him, the depth of his blue eyes boring into me with the power of a laser.
I fumble with his belt, and he unzips his pants. Shoves his clothes off and drops them to meet mine in a tumbled heap as we rejoin each other, naked and bared. He palms my ass and lifts one of my legs to straddle him before he glides into me. My head hits the pillow when I’m filled by him, a glimmer of perfect brilliance shining in his eyes with the sudden need to claim me.
I ride the waves of sensation brought on by being vulnerable and exposed, in so many more ways than he’s done to me physically. There’s a silent thanks, a silent plea for mercy, an understanding that passes between us.
My eyes widen in surprise when he holds my gaze and brings his heavy hand to the base of my neck. Thick, rough fingers close around me. I gasp for breath.
“Good girl,” he whispers when I don’t struggle. My pulse spikes and the first wave of pleasure washes over me, a prelude. The rumble of approval undoes the last knot in my chest. My heart races when another spasm of pleasure ricochets through me. I whimper and toss my head back. He comes on the heels of my own pleasure. “That’s my girl,” he whispers as we ride the high of our joined ecstasy. His fingers ghost over the skin at my neck, and he glides his hand down the length of my body until he cups my ass.
Another thrust sends the last spasms of pleasure through me.
While I lie there on the bed, his hot seed still leaking from me, his fingers travel upward to grasp my chin. His gaze burns into mine with an intensity that would scorch the earth.
“You’re my wife,” he says in a low growl. “Your daughter belongs with her mother. Your child will live here with us.”
I nod, unsure as to why he needs to state this again. Wordlessly, my arms encircle his neck. The tiniest trickle of sweat drips from his temple down the length of his chiseled jaw.
“And while she’s here, we’ll protect her. Both of us. I’m going to teach you everything I know, Harper. Because make no mistake. There will be vengeance for what’s happened to you.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Aleks
I answer the phone on the first ring. Mikhail.