Chapter 46 THE BLITZ
His eyes never leave mine during the car ride.
“Stop it.” Warmth rushes to my face. I pick at the hem of the black dress I threw on.
“Never.” Elias peels off his gloves and tosses them onto the seat. He laces our fingers together, thumb grazing the simple diamond wedding band.
“What are you staring at?” I try to tug free, but he growls.
“Missing a rock. A big one.”
“I don’t need a fancy engagement ring. I’m already married to you.”
“But I do. In fact,” in one swift motion, he hoists me onto his lap, “I think you should wear rings on all your fingers. So the bastards know you’re taken.”
His words trigger a memory—the dossiers of the men I’d dated, the ones who vanished into the ether.
“You chased them away!”
“Who?” He shrugs nonchalantly, a smug smirk on his face.
“You bastard. I thought there was something wrong with me! It gave me a freakin’ complex.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re perfect.”
“I know that,” I shove him and he chuckles, his green eyes warm and vibrant, “but you made me doubt myself, and for that you have to suffer!”
I straddle his thighs and dive in, fingers going for the kill.
“Shit.” He laughs and squirms, full-body tremors racking his body. “This is your big revenge?”
I dig under his arms, and he lets out a very un-mobster-like squeak.
“Oh my God, the deadly dealer of secrets is ticklish!” I squeal. “You are so screwed.”
Someone snorts.
“Ren, shut up.” Elias bats my arms away, pinning them behind my back.
Ren shakes his head, and seconds later, the partition rises with a soft hum, giving us privacy.
Elias’s breaths puff against my face, a lock of hair falling over his forehead. The air sizzles between us, and it’s then I notice the hard bulge under me, which grows with each second.
Awareness thrums through my blood, my skin sensitized, breasts heavy. I gnaw my lip and his eyes snap to the motion, pupils flaring.
He slides his hands over my backside, digging his fingers into the tender flesh.
“You drive me crazy,” he groans, nose dipping to my neck.
“Elias.” His name escapes in a whisper as I arch to his heated kisses.
“Utterly, fucking crazy. Losing my mind.” Soft suctions, hard nips, then gentle licks. “You barrel past all defenses, smash them like they’re made of air.”
My hips move on instinct, my mind melting in a haze. Wetness seeps out of me as I grind my pussy over his hard cock through the fabric.
“Fuck.” Masculine grunts rip from his throat. He bobs me up and down his length. “I want to fill you up so you’ll drip with every step you take.”
I gasp. My core clenches.
“Shit. You like that. My dirty wife.” He bites my ear. “And then I’m going to do it again tonight. I’ll make you keep your legs up after, so none of my cum leaks out of this perfect cunt.”
Elias’s cock hardens even more as he thrusts against my pussy. I moan and claw at him.
“Elias.” I whimper when he bites my nipple through my dress.
“Then I’ll do it again. And again. And again. Breed you until I get a baby inside you.”
His words push me to the edge, every cell inside me primed to detonate.
“Yes, yes, yes.” I throw my head back and cling to him as my muscles tense.
“You want a baby right, Lana?”
The sudden seriousness of his tone forces my gaze back to him. There’s a hint of vulnerability within the lust.
I’ve always loved children. Always wanted some of my own. And now, I can only see little dark-haired kids with green eyes running around.
“Yes, Elias.” Tears prickle my eyes. “I want them. I want everything with you.”
Eyes flaring, he grips me tighter with one hand, his other hand snaking between my dress and dipping into my panties.
“Soaked,” he growls. “If we weren’t minutes away from—”
Glass explodes. Blinding white light flashes from the side. Tires screech along pavement.
Bullets pelt the car, shattering windows. I scream.
Elias plows into me, pinning me to the seat.
“Down!” Ren shouts. “Incoming SUV. Shit!”
The car swerves. I’m thrown off the seat, but Elias catches me in time.
“Stay down, Lana. I got you,” he rasps. “Whatever you do, don’t get up.”
Fear crashes into me as he cocks his gun and bolts upright.
Eyes crazed with fury, he fires off round after round out the window.
Something explodes outside. Safety glass powders my hair. I cover my ears, a high ringing sound needles my skull.
Burned rubber fills my nose. The car swerves again.
Elias swaps mags without looking, slams it home, and fires again.
I squeeze my eyes shut, afraid to look. This is what I signed up for. But it’s one thing to know and another thing to go through it.
“Go, go, go!” He drops, covering me with his body again.
I clutch him tightly, unable to speak.
Ren maneuvers the car, tires screeching as we speed off.
My heart thunders, the gunshots still ringing in my skull. The car jolts, then silence, except for our ragged breathing.
“You’re safe.” He gathers me up, his hand brushing down my back. “Shhh, Lana. I’m here. You’re safe. Nothing will ever happen to you.”
The rest of the ride home was filled with tension. Elias held me against his lap while he spoke on the phone—calls to the Berishas and to others in The Syndicate.
I fell into an uneasy sleep.
When I woke up, he was carrying me up the stairs toward the bathroom.
And now, he sets me down and turns on the shower.
“Elias? What are you—”
“Shhh,” he murmurs. “Let me take care of you. You’re safe. Always safe.”
He smooths a hand down my back when steam fogs up the room.
Only then do I realize I’m trembling.
Quietly, he undresses us and carries me into the shower, where he washes my hair with my shampoo and conditioner. Then he applies bodywash and massages my tense muscles while the hot water rinses away the bubbles.
I slowly relax. In this small space, with the sweet roses of my products perfuming the air, I feel like I’m in another world. Away from danger. Away from gunshots and deaths.
I’m with the only man I’ve ever loved.
Closing my eyes, I release a heavy exhale.
It’s then I realize Elias has stopped moving.
Heavy breathing reaches my ears as he stills behind me, the weight of his head on my back, like he’s leaning on me.
“Elias?”
I turn around.
He’s dipped down, arms bracketing me against the shower wall, water sluicing over his dark hair and powerful muscles.
I tip his face up.
Reddened eyes meet mine.
“What if I can’t protect you?” His voice is hoarse, full of anguish. “What if, by keeping you with me, I’m sentencing you to death?”
My eyes fill with tears, and I shake my head.
“You can’t think that way.”
“Yes, I can!” He slams his palm on the glass behind me. “You were safe in New York with your family. You had a good life. I took that away from you.”
“Because The Association forced your hand! They would’ve never left me alone.” I cup his cheek, grazing his stubble. “Don’t you see? I’d be in danger either way. But with you, I got a shot at safety.”
His throat works, but he doesn’t reply.
“Because I know you, Elias. You’d protect me.” Slowly getting on my tiptoes, I curl my hands around his neck and kiss him. “I trust you with my life.”
With an anguished groan, he clasps my face and deepens our kiss.
Our teeth duel, our tongues clash. He drinks me in like I’m the only sustenance he needs to survive. My heart pounds as he hoists me onto the bench and spreads my legs wide.
He drags his lips over my eyes, my nose, my mouth. Then to my ears and my neck.
“I worship you.” He presses his mouth over my heart.
“I adore you.” He suckles my nipple before nibbling it.
Wetness slicks out of me and I pull in a strangled gasp as he continues moving down my body.
“I love every fucking part of you.” He presses that talented tongue on my pussy and swipes it from my hole to my clit before inserting two fingers into my tightness.
“Elias,” I moan, my hips already moving to the rhythm of his thrust.
He grunts and when I open my eyes, I see him gripping his thick, dripping cock, pumping it up and down.
An orgasm barrels in from nowhere, but before it can crest, he hauls me up and slams me onto his cock in one thrust.
“Fuck, I’m coming,” I cry when the pleasure detonates into ecstasy. My eyes close as I surrender myself to the intense shockwaves.
“Yes. Let me feel you milking my cock.” Slamming me against the wall, he pistons harder, wilder, his movements holding no finesse but all passion. “Become part of me, Lana. Let me be a part of you.”
Then his dick thickens and throbs, bursts of cum pumping out of him as he roars my name.
The sounds of our lovemaking echo in the shower. My heart and body feel full to the brim.
I cling onto him as his movements slow, our rough, panting exhales joining the water pelting against the glass and marble.
“I’ll protect you if it’s the last thing I do,” he says.
My eyes flutter open, my gaze finally meeting his emerald ones, and my breath catches in my throat.
Because aside from the love I see in his eyes, I also see…
Fear.