Chapter 23
I’d never held a woman, unless it was to hold her up as I continued to break her.
What Aurora was asking was quite the opposite.
She wanted me to hold her as she tried to meld the shattered pieces inside of her back together.
Still, I lifted her off me momentarily as I leaned back against the back of the sectional and drew my legs up onto the cushion.
Once in the position I wanted to be, I opened my legs enough to allow her room between them. As soon as she settled into place, I pulled her back against my chest, then wrapped my arms around her. “At running the risk of you slapping me again, I noticed that you didn’t mention Drake.”
“He didn’t deserve mention,” she replied absently. Her voice had changed, although her body stayed lax against mine.
I stroked her arm up and down before having to know. “Why didn’t he deserve mention? Did he not hurt you?”
The very idea of her having any forgiveness in her heart for that loser made me wish I did own her completely so I could wipe all traces of him from it.
One day, I’d own those pieces she still kept under lock and key, but until I did, I could get rid of him another way.
I might not be able to fully erase him from her heart and head, but I could wipe him from the face of the earth.
“Because I realize now that he never mattered. He isn't worth a moment more of my time,” she elaborated.
A warmth filled me as a smile tipped my lips. “That he is not.”
“There is one other thing,” she finally said as she dropped her head back and tipped her chin toward me.
“Should I cover my face now?”
She smiled, and again, I was drawn to her lips. So full... soft... fuckable...
Hard was a constant state around her, but as I pictured my cock sliding between them as I fucked her mouth, it swelled painfully. If she realized it, she said nothing, but did speak. “I want to know more about you. Since you know so much about me, can’t you let me in a little, too.”
“You don’t need to know about me,” I told her as I leaned down and trailed a few kisses along her forehead.
She pulled her head away from me. “It’s only fair.”
“I’ve told you before that there’s nothing fair about this situation. You were born from the blood of the wrong man, and as such, you’re now going to help my family advance its agenda.”
“You make it sound so cold,” she retorted.
“Then maybe I should just tell it like it is.”
“Which is?” she asked while moistening her lip once more.
God, I want to sink between them.
“That you were put on my radar to serve a purpose, and no other reason. What we have here is going to end soon. You’ll be with the man who’ll claim you as his own, and your life will completely and truly belong to him in every way.”
Tears pricked her eyelids, but she closed her eyes to push them back and was successful for the most part. “You once said we’re alike in more ways than one, and that your mother made the ultimate sacrifice much like mine did. What did you mean by that?”
A brief recollection of the first night came rushing back. She was right. I had said something, but I didn’t want to talk about it any more now than I did back then. A quick glance downward at her gaze proved to be my downfall because I finally sighed.
“My mother was just a teenager when I was born and had tried to provide for me, but she realized that she couldn’t.
When I was a year old, she reached out to my great-grandfather.
She thought she was providing me a better life by handing me off to someone who had the resources to raise a child that she didn’t. ”
“And your father. What did he think about all of that?”
“My father died before I was born. He never even knew of my existence.”
She reached up and stroked my cheek with her soft hand. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want your pity.”
“It’s not pity. It’s called empathy, Zarren.”
“I don’t like it,” I said to her.
“Was your life with your great-grandfather a good one?” she asked several seconds later.
I chuckled at that. “It was great,” I lied.
“You’re full of shit, Zarren. Quit blowing smoke up my ass. I—”
“I’d rather stick my cock up your ass, Bellezza.”
“Of course you would, but we’re talking about your great-grandfather.”
“No, we’re not,” I said, and before I could try to flip her over, she turned in my arms and was now straddling me.
“I want to hear about him.”
“Why?”
“Because he raised you. Isn’t that enough of a reason?”
What my great- grandfather did could more aptly be described as torture, but she didn’t need to know that. As I wrapped one hand around the back of her neck, I drew her close. When just a hairsbreadth away from me, I thrust my tongue out to trace her quivering lips.
“Just so you know, you can’t distract me by kissing me,” she pointed out.
“Wanna bet,” I said as I continued to lazily trail my tongue across her mouth. Pulling her even closer, my lips were now nearly plastered to hers. Before I could close the distance, she pushed at my chest and managed to widen the gap.
Her hand came down on my cheek once more, and I nearly groaned. “Those hands of yours belong tied to my headboard.”
“You told me that if I hit you, I could get something off of my chest,” she reminded me.
“Then by all means...”
“Why do you hate me so much?”
If you only knew, Bellezza. I should hate you, but I don’t. I can’t.
Not wanting to answer that question, I decided to go back to her earlier one.
“Ronan Brannington was an abusive bastard who treated his grandsons and great-grandson like soldiers. We were forced to prove our loyalty over and over again, oftentimes via torture and abuse. It was physical... psychological...”
“That sounds terrible. I’m sorry, I—”
“I said I don’t want your pity, or goddamned fucking empathy. The bastard is dead in Hell. I’m only sorry I wasn’t the one to put him there. Or at the very least, I wasn’t able to watch his last breath leave him before he began his descent downward.”
“For what it’s worth, he should be proud of you. Whether it was my father’s men, his methods, or even my abuse of you tonight, you’ve taken it all.”
My hand encircled her throat and she sucked a small breath in. “Being truthful, you kinda hit like a girl,” I teased.
She slapped playfully at my chest. “That’s because I am a girl.”
You’re my girl!
I pushed that thought away. She might belong to me right now, but that’d change one day. Once she was in Russia, Mikhail would finish breaking her, and I’d given the bastard a head start by cracking her.
“Actually, you’re a woman, Bellezza.”
My woman!
“Then let me be yours,” she said to me, and my hand slipped from her throat.
“What are you talking about?” I had an idea, which was why I slowly lifted her off me, then slipped out from under her. Once on my feet, I stared down at her.
Aurora was on her knees and the perfect height for me to remove my pants and thrust into her mouth. Her tongue darted out in invitation, and while I could deep throat her right now, I couldn’t give her what she needed. What she wanted.
“The plan is already in place, Aurora. You’ve been promised to Mikhail Bocharov, and there’s no getting out of it. In this world, our word is bond, and we’ve given the Bratva our assurance that you’ll be delivered to them.”
“This is America, Zarren. I should have a choice about who I want to be with. Why does everyone think I can’t make my own decisions about my future?”
“You did want to give your future to Drake Smythe, so that alone—”
Her head snapped back as she released a sob. “You asshole.”
“Finally, something we can agree on. Now, if you want to open that mouth, let me stuff it full as I put it to better use.”
She clamped her lips shut so tightly that they formed a flat line, and it was not a sight I liked at all.
Her eyes began to blaze, her searing gaze nearly singing me as I stood in front of her with my hands at my waistband.
She scrambled off the couch and I followed her.
Before I could anticipate her next action, she swung on me, this time with her fist, which I felt a lot more than her palm.