Chapter 12
E mmeline
For the whole of the walk up to my apartment, little spirals of panic danced through me, as if the evidence of my stalking would be apparent the moment Malachi stepped through the door.
He prowled down the corridor at my side, so big and threatening. To anyone but me. I wanted others to see me with him. I was proud of my catch.
Ahead, a door opened and a man emerged—my bad-parking neighbour. Though he hadn’t done it recently, I was certain he’d slip back into his ways. My indignation rose. I’d never told him off about it, but right now, I felt like I could take on the world.
Probably because I had no underwear on, too.
“Mr Rancide?” I called.
He spotted us, and his eyes widened, jumping from me to the hulking man at my back, then he lifted his phone and pointed at it as if he had a call, vanishing back into his place.
I scowled at the closed door then unlocked mine. “Strange.”
Malachi smirked and followed me in.
I watched him carefully on his prowl around the place. Unlike me at his home last night, he didn’t seem overly blown away by my apartment. I saw it through his eyes. Clean but colourless. No clutter and no real identity. I’d done very little with the place after moving in. It came furnished. I had clothes in the wardrobe and a scattering of personal possessions, but not much else.
In my bedroom, he picked up one of the few pictures I had on my dresser. “Your folks?”
I ducked my head and took down a bag, stuffing clothes into it haphazardly. “They’re both dead. A car accident. I don’t remember them very well. My aunt, Frederica, raised me from the age of nine. She’s a surgeon as well. I mean, she was. She died a year ago. Sudden heart attack.”
He moved on to the next photo, me and Annie in our caps and gowns, then the last, Aunt Frederica with her dog, a stocky French Bulldog named Bess.
“I loved that dog,” I said. “Obviously, I loved Aunt Frederica as well, but Bess and I spent a lot of time together. My aunt might have even bought her for me, I don’t remember.”
A familiar sense of sadness hit me. All my nearest relatives were deceased. Our family dog gone. My best friend leading a different life. It hadn’t troubled me in the past, probably because I threw myself into work, but the yawning gap of a whole month off gave a new and startling perspective.
As if he sensed my little pity party, Malachi came over. He took the bag from my hand and tossed it to the bed then hugged me. I buried my face in his chest, suddenly embarrassed at my wave of emotion. So rarely did I ever get held, that being in his big arms unravelled something I kept tightly held.
“You have kids, don’t you?” I said.
He nodded, though I felt it rather than saw the action. “Two girls. Does that bother you?”
“Of course not. I saw their pictures in your bedroom. How old are they?”
“Fourteen and twelve. Maisie, the elder, is a lot like me. She is fierce and comes across as aggressive, but she’s fearless, too. She’ll be easy to win over if you just tell her your job. She is heavily into women’s rights and indignant about the lack of representation in top careers.”
He continued hugging me. I liked it too much to pull away.
“The younger girl is Petra. She’ll adore you on sight because she is an absolute sweetheart. You’ll see when you meet them.”
I smiled, breathing easier. “They sound wonderful.”
“They are. Maisie came about by accident. I was a new fighter on the circuit, and her ma was a groupie. I don’t mean that to be offensive. My ex would happily call herself the same. She enjoyed her nights working through the different fighters, and no fucker dared judge her when we were all doing the same. I was twenty-one and had nothing in my head but testosterone. When she told me she was pregnant, I asked her to marry me. She laughed me out of town. But we did try to stay together for the sake of the baby, even having a second. We split when Petra was two months old as Lucille told me she’d fallen for someone else. I found myself happy for her which goes to show how deep my feelings went.”
He went quiet for a moment. “Do you want kids?”
“No. Do you want more?” It felt like a bad time to be discussing this after we’d just made a huge commitment by entering the game.
He exhaled, disturbing my hair. “I’d get you pregnant in a heartbeat if you wanted me to, but I’m content with what I have.”
Malachi’s palms slid down me. I’d borrowed one of his hoodies to cover the t-shirt and skirt I’d packed in my handbag, taking Shade’s advice that I’d likely be stripped naked and the implication that my clothes would be destroyed.
“Up,” he said gruffly.
I raised my hands so the hoodie could go over my head. He discarded it to the floor and palmed my cheek to bring me in for a kiss. I pushed up on my toes to meet him better. I hadn’t joked when I told him I never did anything spontaneous. Yet falling into him like this was as easy as breathing.
Malachi’s wicked mouth turned a soft kiss into a bruising demand. One of his big hands snaked into my t-shirt to take a rough squeeze of my breast, then he backed to the bed.
Releasing me, he sat on the mattress and lifted his chin. “Show me them.”
Heat painted my cheeks. Closing my eyes, I plucked my hem with trembling fingers and lifted the t-shirt above my bare breasts.
Cool air pebbled my nipples. Or maybe it was the sexy-as-hell growl from Malachi.
“Eyes on me, angel.”
I peeked at him. He regarded me with unhidden admiration.
“You’re so fucking beautiful. Your body is banging.”
I dismissed him with a laugh, dropping the material. “Says the man who has been around beautiful women his whole career.”
He drew his eyebrows in question.
“I saw you in an interview with a stunning reporter,” I confessed.
Malachi’s eyes gleamed. “When was this?”
Oh damn. I stared at the floor. “I don’t want to say.”
Abruptly, he lurched up and was in my space, walking me backwards to the window. Like in the living room, I had floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the river with the city beyond.
Malachi picked me up, and I automatically wound my legs around his waist. My skirt rode up, and I tried to tug it down, but he grabbed my wrists in one big hand and constrained me.
He ran the tip of his nose up my neck. “Seems to me someone here doesn’t know her worth. Which is impossible because you, Emmeline Watts, are the smartest, hottest woman I’ve ever met.”
I made a sound of distress. He kissed me to stop it.
“So that only means one thing: that I need to prove it to you. The whole world should know just how goddamned sexy you are.”
Malachi wrestled my t-shirt over my head in a breathtaking move. I squeaked and huddled against him, but his own shirt went the same way.
He kissed me, and the cool glass touched my back. Anyone in this estate of young couples and singles would see me clearly. I was only on the third floor.
“Now are you going to slip this skirt off or do I need to tear it from you?” he growled.
“Tear it,” I breathed.
The material shredded in his hands and fell away, leaving me completely bare. Then he wrestled with his jeans and freed his dick, sheathing himself in me in one smooth thrust.
“Fucking hell, woman. Always ready for me, aren’t you?”
I whimpered by way of an answer, sinking down onto his big cock. At this angle, he was in so deep it made me instantly mindless.
Malachi kissed me and thrust in and out, supporting my behind and holding my face to keep my focus on him.
“You’re beautiful.” Then he slammed his palm on the glass beside my head. “Hey, Deadwater, see how beautiful my woman is? She’s mine.”
I moaned and tucked my head into his neck.
Malachi gave a dark laugh. “This window open? Never mind, I’ve got it.”
The window catch clicked, and he pushed it open. “Rancide, I see you sneaking by. Like with my last warning, one more step out of line from you, and I’ll throw you in Deadwater River. If you don’t believe me, search up how many times I’ve been sued for assaulting assholes who cross me.”
Dimly, I registered the sound of hurrying footsteps, but I was too caught up in the moment. My words came in a breathy exhale. “Why does it turn me on that you’re so violent?”
“Because you know I’ll never hurt you. I’ve never laid a hand on a woman and never will. But any fucker who dares come near you will regret it. I’d protect any lass, but for my woman, I’d break any number of bones and crack anyone’s skull. I’d kill for you, Emmeline. You have my word.”
I didn’t need to hear more. Only for him to fuck me until I came with a cry the whole city could hear.
Malachi followed me quickly as if my orgasm had triggered his. He emptied into me then breathed with his forehead to my collarbone, his huge shoulders heaving. We gently came down from the dizzying heights.
“I love you.”
I lifted my head. He connected his gaze to mine.
I knew it was the spirit of the game that drove his words, but it was all too easy to repeat them back.
“I love you, too.”
We cleaned up, and I finished packing, collecting more clothes than I probably needed. I eyed the pile on my bed, a little embarrassed at seeming overly enthusiastic.
Malachi’s eyebrows merged. “What about the rest of it?”
I glanced back at my formal work suits still hanging in my wardrobe. “I don’t need them right now.”
“But you will eventually.”
“I have a whole month off. It’s fine.”
He scowled but let me be.
Outside, we returned to his car, Malachi carrying all of my bags.
“What did you mean when you shouted at my neighbour about the warning you gave him?” I asked.
He scrunched up his nose. It was such an unexpectedly cute action that I stared.
“Any chance you can forget I said that?”
I went to refuse but paused. “If you can forget that I watched your interview.”
His shrewd gaze held mine. He pressed the button for his car’s boot to automatically open and tipped me a wink. “For now. We can live in the moment. Past and future are off the table until we agree to bring them back.”
Phew. “One other thing. You said that I’d meet your kids.”
“Aye. I can take time out from my job, but I can’t bin off dad time. I wouldn’t want to. More the point is that I want you to meet them. It’s important to me. They’re coming on Saturday, so long as you agree.”
Oh, shit.