Chapter 34 Raven
THIRTY-FOUR
RAVEN
There was too much happening too fast.
The unread pregnancy test that still sat back in my apartment. My friends were MIA, or maybe I was, I couldn’t decide. My thoughts were racing, and I was struggling to keep up. I needed a quiet moment to breathe and figure out where the hell I stood in all of this.
The weight of our shared past hung heavy, and no matter how much I tried to shake it off, I couldn’t forget my promise to my mom. But then there was last night. A significant amount of resistance had been purged, or should I say fucked, out of me.
I had no idea where to go from here.
I felt like I’d been dropped into some alternate universe where the rules didn’t apply and feelings held rank.
“Now what?” I whispered.
I could tell there was more going on in his head. “We have our wedding breakfast and a honeymoon.”
I blinked. “Don’t you think that ship has sailed?”
He shrugged as if he’d just shared the news that the sky was blue. “It’s never too late, and I’m steering the ship. Take it as a gesture of my goodwill. A fresh start.”
Never too late? A fresh start? He must be nuts.
“Aiden, you blackmailed me and forced me here. Again. There’s nothing fresh about this.”
“It’s whatever we make it out to be,” he insisted. “We could keep looking at the past and get lost in it. Or we can choose to look forward.”
“There’s too much baggage weighing us both down to just forget the past,” I said quietly.
He shook his head.
“I don’t think so. We both stayed faithful. You, thinking you’d never see me again, and me, believing you were dead. Our beginning was rough, maybe even forced, but we made the best of it. Didn’t we?”
“Maybe,” I answered vaguely, unable to move on from my mom’s death and the explosion that killed her. It started and ended with the Callahans, who led my cruel father to us. I didn’t think this could be one of those things to forgive and forget, yet my silly heart wanted to forgive him. Have him.
My mind fought to catch up, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt like I was drowning in contradictions.
How could I accept this when the last time things between us ended, my mother was taken from me?
And then there was the fact that he was threatening my friends and me.
Yeah, this didn’t feel like a fresh start but a repeat of the old one.
I shifted on his lap so I could face him.
“Aiden…” I trailed off, not knowing what to say without risking more chaos. I didn’t want to accuse him of pushing me in the direction he wanted me to go.
“We’ve been here before. We’ve done this dance, and it didn’t work out. Don’t you think we should just—”
I froze as his body tensed beneath me, the shift in his energy so sudden it felt like a deadly current between us.
“Don’t you dare say ‘end it,’ Raven,” he growled, his voice low and dangerous, the intensity in his gaze turning my blood to ice. There was no mistaking the warning in his eyes. “I swear to God, I won’t be responsible for what happens after that.”
His words hung in the air, but it wasn’t just his voice that unsettled me. It was the rawness in his tone, the edge of something dark that made my heart skip and my body burn.
And dammit, I reverted to the only thing I knew would ensure he forgot what I’d just said.
I slammed my mouth against his, bracing myself for rejection, but it was what followed that had me unraveling.
Aiden kissed me like he’d been dying and I was the only thing that could keep him alive. I wrapped my arms around his neck, but he quickly took control.
He deepened the kiss, coaxing me into slowly sliding my tongue against his, and my body melted against him.
His arm around my waist tightened, gathering me against him, and I felt how hard he was. The memory of how good his cock felt made me greedy. Or maybe crazy. Because… I wanted him to fuck me.
I rode his thigh and he groaned in response, nipping at my bottom lip, the long line of my body fitting against his broad, muscled one.
Aiden was hard everywhere, and while his strong, broad hands could bring so much pleasure, I also knew they could kill. Would he ever reach the point of wanting to kill me? I didn’t want to find out.
This was a violent man, raised in a violent environment, and I was at his mercy.
Aiden must have sensed my anxiety because he gripped my chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted my head, angling me so our kiss turned sensual, romantic, and maybe even emotional.
Carefully, I shifted, my legs wrapping around him as I straddled him, leaving me spread wide open and pushing against his erection.
It felt like he was attempting a slow seduction, taking this to the next level, which was a ludicrous thought since I was his wife. Nonetheless, the effort was getting to me, penetrating my walls, and a warning bell chimed in the back of my mind.
I grabbed his arms and dug my nails into his biceps. Maybe to punish, possibly to mark.
Aiden’s lips moved down my neck as he ripped his shirt off me.
“Hey,” I protested weakly.
“It’s mine,” he grunted, bending his head farther and reaching my breasts. “I have plenty others.”
Everywhere his mouth touched, my skin burned. I moved my hands up, running my fingers through his thick hair, as his lips brushed over the curve of my breast.
“I want you to fuck me,” I rasped. Was it smart? Probably not. Would it solve any of our problems? Again, no. But in this moment, I didn’t care.
I was shuddering with a need that only he could extinguish, and today, I decided to turn the tables.
“I want my husband’s cock inside me,” I moaned.
It had to be the right thing to say, because Aiden grinned. “I’m more than happy to oblige my wife.”
He stood me up, then dragged my panties down my legs, letting them pool around my bare feet. I stepped out of them, kicking them away. But then Aiden surprised me. He sat me down on the chair while he lowered to his knees.
He draped one leg over his shoulder and nosed at my folds, inhaling deeply.
“You’re soaked for me.”
“All for you,” I murmured.
I gasped as his warm tongue swiped at my already sensitive clit, and then he slid two fingers into me as he licked at my clit again.
“Oh my… Aiden,” I moaned, my voice descending into a whimper. I loved his roughness and the way he was stretching me with his fingers, pushing inside me.
He pumped his fingers in and out as his tongue traced patterns on my clit that had me seeing stars. Tension built in my spine and my legs trembled, pleasure threatening to explode at any moment.
My vision went blurry as he curled his fingers, finding just the right angle to make me cry out. I gripped his hair as I felt myself hurtling toward a climax.
But just as I was about to get there, he pulled his fingers and mouth away from me.
“No,” I whined. “I was so close.”
He smiled darkly. “You’ll come with my cock inside of you.”
He undid his pants, and my mouth watered at seeing his thick, hard shaft. He scooped me up, positioning me so I straddled him again.
He pushed inside me in one hard thrust.
“Now, wife, scream my name.”
And God help me, I did.