20. Chapter 20
King Damini
I couldn't sit still. For two straight days, the house felt too damn quiet, too warm. I missed my cold, rude, mean Queen. I’d been pacing the floor of the main hall like a caged animal, waiting on the only woman who could quiet the noise in my head.
"King Dame, she just cleared the front gates," one of the guards announced from the foyer.
“Thanks.” I hit the front doors and strode out into the thick night air just as the engine echoed up the driveway.
Her car rolled up to the steps, and the tires grinded against the gravel. Before she could even cut the lights, I was already there, snatching her door open.
Adanna reached over to turn off the ignition, but I wasn't waiting another second. I grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her out of the driver's seat into my arms.
"Dame—the car—" she started
"Leave it," I barked over my shoulder to the guard on the porch. "Turn the shit off and park it."
I carried her inside, kicking the front doors shut behind us. I didn't make it past the entry hall before I backed her hard into the wall. My mouth slammed down on hers, eating up her breath, tasting the metallic, cold edge of the road still lingering on her lips.
Two days without my Queen had me feeling out of my mind.
I dragged my mouth down the side of her face, burying my nose in her neck, biting down hard enough on the tender curve of her jaw to make her hips jump into mine. She gasped, a low, desperate sound vibrating against my throat as her fingers tangled into the back of my shirt.
"Heard you handled business," I growled into her skin, my broad chest pinning her flat against the drywall. "Cleared the whole truck and didn't leave a single loose end."
She tried to frame my face, tried to pull back to regain some kind of upper hand, but I didn't give her time to breathe, let alone think.
My hand was wrapped around her throat, anchoring her until she had no choice but to look right at me. I could feel her pulse racing wildly under my palm.
It didn't take me long to realize how much she loved my aggressive nature.
In a world full of men terrified of her body count and her ice-cold eyes, she needed a mothafucka who wasn't afraid to put his hands on her, someone who could match her edge and tame her adrenaline.
She didn't want gentle handling. The colder she played it with the rest of the world, the rougher she needed me to hold her down.
My mouth dragged back down the side of her face, and my beard scraped her soft cheekbone.
"Who’s the prettiest woman on this island?"
Her brain was shutting down, drowned in the scent of salt spray, sweat, and me.
"Me," she choked out.
"Who runs this shit?"
"Me..." Her hands clawed frantically at my shoulders, trying to push, trying to pull, desperately searching for some leverage, some bit of control to hold onto.
I seized both of her wrists in one hand, slamming them high back against the wall above her head. I hitched her thigh up over my hip and pressed into her, finding the exact spot that made her feel all of me.
Adanna’s back arched, a broken moan tearing from her lips.
I leaned down, resting my forehead against hers. My lips brushed hers as her chest heaved against my chest.
"Let that shit go, Wife," I growled, locking my eyes onto hers. "I got you."
Without breaking eye contact, I reached down with one hand, unbuckling my belt and shoving my bottoms down past my thighs. I grabbed the waistband of her pants with my free hand and yanked them completely off her body, tossing them onto the floor without a second thought.
I hauled her up, locking her legs tightly around my waist so she wouldn't drop, and slammed my hips forward, burying myself all the way inside her in one deep, brutal stroke.
Adanna gasped sharply against my jaw, her nails digging straight into the leather of my jacket as her body clamped around mine. The cold wall at her back was a sharp contrast to the blistering heat radiating off both of us.
I leaned back just enough to look at her.
In the dim light of the hall, her eyes were dark, heavy-lidded, and completely unmasked.
I’d seen her glare down other people without blinking, but right now, looking into her eyes, I was struck by how damn beautiful they really were when she let me see through the smoke.
“Look at these pretty fuckin’ eyes.”
“Stop.”
“I will not. My Queen is so damn pretty.”
I went to work—kissing her hard, biting her lower lip, and taking over her mind.
I could feel every wall she’d built over a lifetime of killing and survival crumbling down piece by piece.
I knew she was doing the exact same shit to me.
She was taking over my mind, making me forget everything outside this hallway, making me slave to every breath she took.
“Fuck,” she moaned as she held my face, kissing me just as hard as I came at her.
"I'm gonna get you pregnant, Queen," I growled low into her ear. My hips stroked up to meet every drop of her hips. "I'm gonna put a whole bunch of crazy-ass babies in you."
She tightened her grip on my shoulders, burying her face in the crook of my neck as she chased her orgasm.
"I love how you run me, baby," I whispered, my hands sliding down her back, feeling the tense muscle and the raised heat of fresh bruises along her ribs. "I love the way you think."
She pulled back just an inch, her breath hitting my lips in hot, ragged bursts. Her dark eyes searched mine, completely open for a rare, fleeting second.
"Really?" she murmured.
"Yes..." I rasped, leaning up to press my mouth against hers, claiming her tongue, claiming every dark corner of her mind. "I love my Queen."
The rhythm turned possessive real quick.
She arched her back, clutching me like I was the only solid thing keeping her grounded in the universe.
I set a relentless pace from below, matching her intensity until I felt her walls convulsing around me.
Adanna let out a muffled cry against my neck, her entire frame trembling as her orgasm ripped through her.
The feeling of her breaking under me pushed me straight over the edge. I buried myself deep inside her, holding her against me as I spilled inside her.
When the storm finally subsided to shallow breaths and the faint ticking of the truck's cooling engine, I kept my hands cupped gently around her face. I wiped a stray bead of sweat from her temple with my thumb, looking straight into her eyes.
"I love you," I said softly, letting the weight of the words sit heavy between us.
Instead of answering, Adanna leaned forward and captured my lips. Our session continued in the living room, going at each other until we both passed out on the couch.
When I finally opened my eyes, the living room was bathed in the cool light of mid-morning.
A heavy blanket was tucked neatly over my chest, but the space beside me was empty. The leather cushion where Adanna had been lying was cold.
I sat up and looked around. "Danni?"
Silence greeted me.
I stood up, wrapping the blanket around my waist, sweeping my gaze across the open floor. The house was dead silent. I walked into the kitchen, and it was empty. I checked the master bathroom, but the tub was dry.
I knew for a fact she didn't have any missions scheduled for today. Idris had cleared her board for the next forty-eight hours specifically so she could recover.
I grabbed my phone off the coffee table and dialed her personal line.
It didn't even ring.
“The cellular caller you are trying to reach is unavailable or has been turned off.”
My stomach dropped into a cold knot. I dialed her secondary comm channel—nothing. Straight to dead air.
I stared down at the dark screen, my jaw setting tight as a deep sense of unease settled over my shoulders.
Where the hell did my wife go?
Before I could call Idris to ping the GPS unit on her truck, the phone in my hand vibrated hard against my palm.
I snapped the screen up, expecting to see Adanna’s name flashing across the glass.
It wasn't her.
I held the phone for a long second, before swiping the screen and bringing it to my ear.
"Yeah?" I answered.
"Son," my father’s voice came through the speaker. "I think it's time we caught up."
I stood in the center of the quiet living room, looking at the empty spot on the couch where my wife had been resting just hours ago.
"Sure," I said lowly.