Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1
Aria
T he snow falls slowly, drifting in the wind along the once-dark tree line. With the blankets of snow covering every inch that I can see from the large kitchen window, everything shines brightly.
Parting my lips, I close my eyes and down the last bit of sweet red in the stemless wine glass. I’ve never been fond of the cold, but this ache in my chest today… it’s not from the feet of snow that keep us locked inside the house.
“He’s out there,” I whisper, feeling the brooding shadow of the man I call my husband behind me.
“Yes, songbird, our son is out there and just fine.”
With my long hair falling from my shoulder I turn around to face Carter. “When are they going to be home?”
With all of his hard features and dark gaze, Carter still manages a smirk that lights a fire in the pit of my stomach. It rages for him to deny the fact that our son is still young and last night was the first night he spent away from us. And now it’s snowing… feet of snow.
“Chloe said he’s having fun.”
A sigh leaves me and a part of me knows that ache in my chest is because my little baby boy is growing up. He’s on the move and wanting to play.
I miss the late-night cuddles and the way Anthony used to wrap his chubby little fingers around my pointer.
“I just wish I could see him…” I comment, making my way to the large polished counter where, upon inspection, the wine bottle I was going to get is now empty.
“You didn’t want to go. Miss ‘I don’t love the cold.’”
I stare down at my glass as if it’s a traitor and somehow it swallowed up my wine before I was able to drink it.
Two large hands grip my shoulders tenderly. Carter’s thumbs rub soothing circles along the blades of my upper back and then higher, where they dig in deeper, soothing my sore muscles.
With his lips at the shell of my ear, he whispers, “You’re stressed.”
I swallow thickly and admit, “I know.”
“You’re a good mother and he’s in very capable hands.”
“The house is empty…” I stress. Everyone else left to enjoy the snow. This house, typically filled with the sound of so many family members, is now silent.
“Yes,” Carter’s voice deepens. Moving his lips to the crook of my neck, he lets them fall and lays a kiss right there, sending a pulsing wave of desire through me. My back to his chest, he pulls me in closer and I drop the empty glass to the counter, bringing my hand up to run my fingers up the nape of his neck as he kisses me again and then says, not hiding the lust, in the shell of my ear, “We have the house to ourselves. We should take advantage of that.”
Carter
My worrying wife is beautiful. She’s always radiant and poised. When that soft smile hits her lips, life itself seems to melt away into nothing but peace. That’s what this woman gives me: a life I never thought I’d have, let alone deserve. One I want to share with her forever. I’ll give her everything to keep that smile that lingers on her wine stained lips in place, right where it belongs.
“Let’s get you another bottle…” As I take a step back, my songbird places her small hand in mine, letting me lead the way. After three years together, there’s no fight for power, no resentment at the way we came to be. I led her away from a pain and darkness that kept her trapped and she did the same for me. There is only love that remains and from me, a gratitude I’ll forever be in debt to her for giving to me.
In a dark blue, silk to the touch nightgown she glides to the wine cellar door, opening it with a soft creak, but only inches before turning on her heel in her bare feet to look up at me.
“Cross,” her voice turns tempting, with a hint of sin that dances from her tongue. “Are you trying to get me drunk?”
A deep chuckle rises from my chest and the hint of a smile lingers on her lips… “ Mrs. Cross,” I emphasize her name and remember a time when the idea of me responding in that way would have been an impossibility. A time when she called me ‘Cross’ out of pure resentment for who I was. “That goal is a little too easy to achieve for a man like me,” I tease her back, watching the simper on her beautiful face grow as the blush rises from her chest to her cheeks and she shyly looks away.
With a swat of her hand against my broad chest, Aria shakes her head. “Well if he’s not coming home tonight and we’re making the most of this,” she speaks as she peeks up at me through her thick lashes, “I think I’ll have one more glass.”
My hand splays along her back and I pull her in close to me, feeling her warmth and softness curve around me. She gasps when I nip her exposed shoulder, “Well go get it then.”
Aria
The cellar door closes with a click and with only the dim illumination, Carter’s brooding frame takes up too much of the light.
“I can manage to grab a bottle,” I tease him and make my way to the back of the cellar and to the right. The wine cellar is far too much, with four rows of wine lining the aisles from floor to ceiling and a bricked floor made to look worn, hints of brown matching the dark wood and iron accents in the space that’s much larger than most bedrooms. I love it though.
“You could,” Carter starts as I round the back corner, aiming for a section of Cabernet that Addison and I are both fond of. My breathing halts when I see the cream throw blanket laid out on the floor. Two glasses of red are already poured, waiting next to the blanket and chocolate covered strawberries are piled in a balanced stack on a silver tray. “Or we could make the most of tonight.”
Carter’s whispered answer forces me to turn from the scene and stare up at the man I love so dearly.
Taking one step closer to me, he asks, “Do you remember that spot? When you were first here and what you told me, drunkenly as you stared up at me wanting things to change?”
Tears prick my eyes and I shake my head. I try not to remember those times if I’m honest. I don’t tell Carter that, I only shake my head. It’s not often my Beast turns into a Prince. This is so unexpected, so sweet and it takes me by complete surprise.
“I don’t.”
An asymmetric smile picks his lips up, “It doesn’t matter, really, what matters most is that I never wanted you to leave. And now I have you forever.”
Shaking off the wave of emotions, I gaze into his dark eyes watching the flecks of gold that brighten when I smile up at him. “Forever and always,” I whisper as I get on my tiptoes to plant a kiss on his lips.
There’s a groan that escapes when I lean back just slightly. A deep sound of approval but also of want.
“Lay on your back and close your eyes,” he gives the command with his own eyes closed. Restraint showing in the way he lets go of me and his body goes still, waiting for me to obey.
I don’t hesitate, quickly finding my spot on the already smoothed out throw blanket. With a slight chill in the air, my nipples are already hardening. I’m careful not to knock the glasses or tray as I lay down, and wait.
Anticipation rolls through me, from my toes up to my neck and then higher, forcing my breathing to come in faster.
“Dessert tonight is going to be exquisite,” Carter comments as he pulls the button-down shirt over his head, only unbuttoning the first few. He’s eager. In past times he’s made me watch as he’s undone every button, showing off his taught skin and muscles that coil beneath the expensive fabrics of his shirts and suits. Not tonight.
Tossing the shirt behind him carelessly, he comes closer, taking his time to round my body but never taking his eyes off of me, as if I’m his prey. He takes more time undoing his pants and letting them fall along with his boxers. Towering above me, naked and with a deep hunger etched in his expression, my heart picks up its pace, no longer wanting to stay where it should. The thump , thump , thump heats my entire body.
He kneels at first, letting his deft fingers linger on my collar and then slipping down the strap to my nightgown. He exposes one breast, groaning once again that deep primitive sound, before sliding the remainder of my nightgown down to my hips. He pauses then, dipping his head between my breasts and letting his tongue run hot circles along my tender skin. He bites down ever so gently around my nipple and my back arches involuntarily.
“Still, songbird,” he commands, not lifting his head and only pausing in the torturously pleasurable act enough to remind me that I’m to stay still.
I already know, but my body doesn’t obey. It takes focus to ignore the need to writhe under him as he plays with my body. His fingers just barely touching my skin as he glides his hands down my curves and removes the garment completely.
Still on his knees he rakes his gaze along my body, balling the silk fabric and then dropping it to be nothing more than a puddle on the floor behind him. Naked beneath him, I should be cold with the chill of the cellar, but I’m hot and greedy for more.
He takes his time, leaning over me, but not touching a single inch of skin to mine to take the first chocolate covered strawberry.
“One small bite,” he demands, tracing the tip of it along my bottom lip. The chocolate is sweet and decadent as I bite into it and the strawberry even sweeter. It’s heaven on my tongue.
But what Carter does next is even more delightful. Letting the bitten part of the berry travel down my skin to leave a trail of juice in its wake, he licks behind it. Starting at the tender under- side of my chin and working his way down my neck and chest, the cool touch of the berry is quickly followed by his hot tongue. When he gets to my breast, he pauses placing the strawberry at my lips again and once again I take a small bite, but he commands me to take a larger one and so I do. As I swallow, he finishes off the fruit and takes another, repeating the act over and over, half a dozen times, causing every nerve ending in my body to spark.
He works me up, but never finishes me, never touches the one place I ache the most for his mouth to linger.
“Tell me what you want songbird,” he commands, the last strawberry in his hand as he stares down at me.
“I want you,” I beg him and even to my own ears I sound as if I’ll die if he doesn’t enter me right this second. My hands clench at my sides, hating that I can’t simply take from him, but knowing it’s so much better if I’m patient.
“Don’t bite it,” he tells me, sliding the strawberry halfway into my mouth. I keep my gaze on him as his broad shoulders travel lower, his strong hands gripping my inner thighs to part them. He settles between my legs, his shoulders propping up my thighs until the balls of my feet are on the floor. His warm breath trailing along my most sensitive area.
He takes one languid lick of my pussy and my head falls back from the wave of pleasure.
“That sound,” he groans at my heat, “I fucking love it when you make that sound.” With the statement still in the air, my sex-driven mind slowly comprehending his words, Carter sucks on my clit, massaging his tongue against it and I disobey him, biting into the berry and pushing myself into his face.
He grips my ass, pinning me down and continues to suck and lick and dive his tongue inside of me as the waves build and the pressure mounts and then finally, all at once and so much faster than I expect it to, pleasure erupts inside of me. Rolling from the tips of my fingers down my body and back up again.
With my heavy breathing making my chest rise and fall, I stare up at Carter, ready to apologize for biting into the berry. But he doesn’t give me the chance.
My beast of a husband parts my legs wider and thrusts himself inside of me without warning, to the hilt. My palms hit the ground as my back bows and the orgasm I thought had subdued rages inside of me, growing hotter with every pounding thrust of his hips.
“Carter!” I scream out, feeling the overwhelming loss of control as he pistons himself inside of me.
“Yes,” the word falls from his lips as a hiss and he drops his body to lay across mine, although his forearm, braced above my head, supports his weight. “Cry out for me, Aria. Scream my name.”
Losing all sense of control, my heels dig into his ass and my hips tilt, letting him fuck me deeper and harder as I scream out his name like he told me to and like everything inside of me wants to do.
He’s ruthless and relentless as he takes me, fucking me until we find our release together.
Lying beside him, I wince when I turn over, still feeling him inside of me. “I bit the strawberry.” I whisper and the small admission awards me a chuckle from the spent man beside me. Deep and masculine and everything Carter is.
With a wicked smile he stares down at me, “I’ll prepare for your punishment tonight.”
I can only smile back, so aware that it would be impossible not to keep the strawberry where it was while he did what he did to me. He can play these games, he can lead me wherever he deems fit, and I will follow loving every step of the way.
“I love you Carter Cross.”
“And I love you, my songbird.”
To experience Carter and Aria’s story from the beginning, read Merciless today!