Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Micah
Scarlett James is my goddess.
The goddess of my salvation or my damnation; I'm not sure which yet.
Maybe a bit of both.
I feel saved and damned at the same time as I watch her sucking my dick like she’s worshipping me.
I like watching her like this. Naked and beautiful and all mine.
She reminds me of a Greek statue with her timeless beauty.
She tilts her head to the side to take me deeper, and her luscious mane of dark hair falls around her like a wild velvet cape, flirting with her dewy skin. It glistens everywhere the sun kisses, making her rose-dipped nipples look paler,
As she continues to work me, bobbing up and down, I trace the silky skin across her shoulders, savoring the smoothness beneath my fingertips.
Scarlett shivers at my touch. That’s not because I’m cold or she is. It’s that thing between us. That powerful, crazy thing that seizes control of my will every time I’m with her.
“Beautiful,” I murmur, the word falling from my lips before I can catch it.
Her beautiful eyes flash to mine, full of heat and longing, and I wonder if she can see straight through me.
Can she see there's nothing contractual about the way my heart thunders when I’m with her and that even the fucking marriage contract next to us is mocking me?
I hope she can’t because I don’t allow anyone to see those parts of me.
She sucks harder and my balls tighten. I want to finish inside her again, so I pull out of her mouth and lift her to stand.
“Bend over the table.” I catch her throat and caress her elegant neck.
Her cheeks flush a violent shade of red, but she turns and bends over, obeying my command.
The sight of her lush ass sends a rush of blood to my dick, and I fear I may blow my load right here just from looking at her.
I grab her hips and guide my dick to her sweet cunt, relishing the way the tip glides over her slick opening. Then I thrust inside her, plunging into her warm body.
Being inside her is like nothing else. She is like nothing else.
My relentless pounds send her dark hair spilling over her shoulders like an inky waterfall.
I’m fucking transfixed by everything about her, and I keep craving more even when she gives me everything.
My thrusts become more intense, raw, and unforgiving. She comes, her pussy walls clamping around my dick like a vice as she cries out my name.
Hearing her moan my name ignites the pleasure coursing through me, pushing me deeper into that desperate state of addiction for her.
Then I can’t stop. I lose control.
We move from the dining room and head back up to bed where I take her again and again.
I have a perpetual need to claim her, and I feel like if I stop touching her, this bond we have will disappear. And I’ll never have her again.
I was supposed to check into work at some point, but day turned into night, and I couldn’t leave her.
One more time became two, then another until I lost count. Then I realized I had no plan to stop. The more I tasted her, the more she sunk beneath my skin, becoming part of me.
I’m not like this. Neither am I the type of man who can be easily influenced. I always have control. That’s what makes me who I am.
Scarlett James, my wife-to-be, has become the exception to all the rules in the book.
Like a dangerous poison, she slipped under my skin and engraved herself in my bones.
If I’m like this now, how am I going to be in a year’s time when I have to let her go?
The thought plagues my mind through the night as I continue taking from her.
Eventually, we end up in the shower under the cascade of cool water.
Steam curls around her, her dark hair turning obsidian as it clings to her shoulders.
She has her back to me, so I trace the curve of her spine, memorizing every dip and hollow as the light spray of water trickles down her skin.
Her pulse flutters beneath my fingers. I've mapped every inch of her body, but somehow, she still manages to entrance me, to make everything feel new.
The water trails down her back like tears and I follow their path, knowing I'll never tire of touching her and watching her come undone.
She likes the attention I give her body, but suddenly, she tenses, as if catching herself. Stopping herself from wanting me.
Unlike me, who’s fallen down the fucking rabbit hole, Scarlett is still resisting whatever she feels for me. It’s sensible. Resisting means she still has hope. I’m not sure I do, but I don’t want her to resist me. I want her to give herself to me.
I know she has other reasons outside of the contract to hold back. Namely Anton. I have no control over those reservations. She thinks I’m like him, so only time can show her that we have significant differences. Which means despite all I’ve done to help her, she’s not going to trust me over night.
I know Anton did some fucked-up shit to her that pushed her into rehab, but I don’t know the full story. Whatever it is makes me want to kill him.
I rest my hand on the small of her back and stroke the curve of her waist. She bites her bottom lip, trying so, so hard not to like what I’m doing to her.
"Stop it," I whisper against her ear and plant a kiss on the top of her shoulder.
She turns to face me and leans against the granite walls, staring back at me. “Stop what?”
“Holding back.”
“How do you know I’m holding back?” She narrows her eyes.
I grin at her and rest my hand on the space over her head. “I just know, bellezza. You don’t have to do that with me. Newsflash, you can like me all you want now. Don’t tell me you’re still trying to deny that you do.”
She smiles, and it’s a beautiful sight. “I’m not. I do like you.”
“And I like you, too. Why don’t we start with that and forget everything else?”
“You make it sound so easy.”
“Because it is. We’re already doing it. Aren’t we?”
“Yes. I’m just…” The smile recedes with her voice.
“Being careful,” I fill in for the second time today.
“Yeah. I’m being careful.”
I search the storm of conflict brewing in her eyes. The intensity compels me to reach out and take it away from her. Since I can’t do that, I do the next best thing. “I’m not like him—Anton.”
Her stare becomes fractured and desolate. It grips my insides. “I know.”
“We may look like we’re cut from the same cloth, but we aren’t. Some monsters are more fucked up than others. And some are just the right amount of fucked up.”
She tries to smile at my analogy, but it doesn’t quite reach her lips. “He did a lot to me. I wasn’t always like this. Not so… fearful and likely to get in trouble.”
“Things are different now. You can trust me. I’d die before I hurt you.”
She anchors her gaze to mine like a lifeline in a storm, and my heart forgets how to beat. Then I realize I’m never going to be free of her.
“Micah.” She reaches out and presses her hand to my chest, against my heart, as if she wants to feel it. “That means a lot to me.”
“Come here.”
When she smiles this time, it’s different. She comes close and I close the space between us but linger before her lips so she can kiss me. I want her to make the first move this time. She does.
The kiss is tentative and testing at first, then something snaps between us, and we get sucked right back into delirium. Within seconds, I’m buried inside her and have her pressed up against the shower wall.
That’s how we spend the next few hours. I fuck her until the sun comes up and she falls asleep after that last release.
I’m still wide awake, so I watch her sleep in the soft glow of the rising sun.
She’s curled up on her side, tangled in the sheets. Her breathing is steady and soft.
My phone vibrates against the nightstand, Brahm's name flashing across the screen. I grab it and pull on my boxers, then head outside the room so the noise doesn’t wake Scarlett.
Something must be going on for Brahm to call me at this hour. I answer the phone as soon as I’m on the landing. "Hey, man, what's up?"
"It’s not good." Brahm's voice is tight. That's never good. He never sounds like that unless shit's about to hit the fan. "Anton's heading back to the States.”
“Fuck.”
“And he knows Scarlett is here in New York with you."
I bite down on my bottom lip and fist my hand at my side. “How?”
“I don’t know. Looks like he has eyes on us. It’s not her father. None of his men have been to her father’s place, and there’s been no correspondence between them. I’m tracking his calls and messages.”
“What’s he said about Scarlett?”
“A lot. He definitely wants her back, Micah. But we knew that. I guess now we know just how much.”
That bastard has another thing coming if he thinks he can waltz back into her life after what he did. “Has there been any mention of him heading to New York?”
“Not yet, but he’s gearing up to it. He’s talking about getting her back. I doubt he’ll go over specific plans over the phone. Guys like him know we’ll find a way to listen in, and he’ll opt for the element of surprise.”
“I’ll be ready for that motherfucker.”
"Micah—"
"Don’t." I walk to the window and gaze at the brightening sun. "If he wants a war, I’ll give it to him. She’s mine now.”
"Alright. What do you want me to do?”
“Make sure we know everything that’s happening in Denver.” I left a small team there for this very reason.
"Already done."
“We need to keep an eye on Scarlett’s father, too. He’s the only person Anton has to speak to. Him and Johnny.”
“There’s no sign of Johnny yet. The men are still looking. I have a few things I need to check out so I’ll report back later.”
“Thanks. And thanks for the heads-up.”
“No worries. That’s what I do.”
We hang up, and I rest my hand on the wall, seething. That bastard Anton. I knew I’d have trouble with him. I’m ready for it, but I know he’ll come up with something big to try and attack me. That’s the part I’m not looking forward to.
I lift my head and stare at my hazy reflection in the window. There's something in my eyes that wasn't there before I met Scarlett.
I’m different. I know I’m different. Because of her.
The man I was before she walked into my life with her haunted eyes and fiery soul changed the moment she first smiled at me.
The difference in me would burn the world to keep her safe. To keep her mine.
So, let Anton come. Let him try to take her from me.
I've killed for less and I'll do much worse to keep her.
I'm the worst kind of monster he could meet.
I’m the kind who loves.