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)
“Is it done?”
A muscle clenches in his jaw and he nods curtly. “You don’t ever have to worry about him again. Nobody does.”
I swallow and lick my lips. “Thank you.” I’m glad then that I gave over my need for vengeance. He wanted to seek retribution for me. He wanted to know for certain that I was safe.
“I love you, Harper.” I close my eyes and let the words wash over me, a balm to my soul and exactly what I need to hear. “I love you.”
He kisses my cheek and cages me in, his large, warm body braced over mine, one arm on the bed. “You’ve been through so much. And you deserve so much better.” He kisses me again, this time dragging his fingers through my hair and pulling my head back before he captures my mouth.
I lose myself in the kiss. I feel lighter than I have in years, even as a pall of sadness hovers at the periphery. I’m not whole, not yet. I’ve seen monumental changes in the past few months, and I haven’t even adapted to the new me.
But I will. I will.
When we pull apart, we stare into each other’s eyes.
“I love you, Aleks. We’ve both been through so much. We need normal for a little while. Boring.”
His piercing eyes hold mine and his lips twitch. “I can’t give you either.”
I blow out a breath and sigh. “Fine. I’ll handle intense and high-stakes, then, as long as I get to partake in any shooting festivities.”
He growls, shaking his head as he kneels and begins to strip my fluffy pjs off. “Under certain conditions.”
“What’s that?”
“I’ll let you know when the situation comes up. I’ll take it on a case-by-case scenario.”
My top flops to the floor and I’m bare-chested in front of him, pouting. “What if I want to be the one that decides?”
That only gets me another narrowed-eyed look and a growl while he’s tugging off the fluffy bottoms, so maybe my timing sucks.
“Sure. You get to decide when you hold a gun,” he says in a voice that tells me he is totally giving me shit about this. “And I get to decide when you’re over my lap and when you get to come.”
I frown as he tugs the bottoms off my feet and tosses them to the side. I’m lying naked before him and he’s only dressed in a towel. I don’t think either one of us is getting any sleep any time soon.
“That’s controlling,” I say, as I reach for his towel and give it a yank, baring him to me as much as I am to him. “Come here.”
I tug him down to me and frame his face with my hands. His piercing blue eyes stare into mine with a ferocity that would’ve made the old me quake. The new me eats it up with a spoon and feels energized. Excited.
Alive.
“Perhaps I’ll get free rein with the weapons on condition of sexual favors,” I say in a low purr. “Just don’t tell my husband.”
In one swift move, I push him off balance and straddle him. Pin his wrists beneath my hands and stifle the need to burst out laughing at the look of shock on his face. But it only lasts seconds, and the next thing I know I’m soaring through the air, gasping for breath, and somehow end up face-planted on the bed with my chest down and my ass in the air.
“Aleks!”
“You knew exactly what you were getting into. Don’t you dare play that innocent game with me.”
I brace just as the first smack of his palm cracks against my ass. Heat floods me and I’m momentarily thoughtless, my mind as free and empty as the big blue sky after a storm.
“You’re my wife,” he says in a growl that makes me instantly wet. “My wife. I don’t ever expect you to roll over and be docile. I might as well ask the sun to stop shining or the tide to stop flowing.” He palms my ass so hard I hiss in a breath, his rough hand gripping my ass without apology. I feel his mouth at my ear as he whispers, “But don’t take this from me.”
I think I get it then, at least a little. I can be powerful and strong and fight right alongside him. If he is the king and I am his queen… we rule together.
“Fine, then,” I finally concede. “Then why am I like this? If we’re equals…”
He slaps my ass again, hard.
“In bed, there are no equals, woman,” he growls. “In bed, you’re fucking mine to do with what I will.”
Another hard slap makes me keen with the sting of pain before it morphs into something electric, pure fire.
I go right back to losing the ability to speak, barely coherent words coming out of my mouth as he spanks me again, and again. I push back against him just to feel the way his hand wraps around my waist to hold me in place. I push back against him just to feel him unyielding beside me.