Chapter 27
ELSIE
The past few days have flown by, and every day, it’s as though I’ve rooted myself further into their lives, like I’m part of their family already. Day after day, we’ve laughed, we’ve played.
My God, it feels real. Like I belong in the arms of this man. Like the rest of my life isn’t crumbling. Like he didn’t force me into this marriage with no way out. But we’ve come so far since then, and I don’t want to go back.
He groans beside me, an arm slung around my hip, his cock hard as he rocks his hips against my behind. “Good morning, wife. How’d you sleep?”
“Like a baby.” A smile slips over my mouth as I turn over, throwing my arm around his neck and pulling him for a kiss.
It was meant to be quick, but nothing with this man is ever fast. He flips over me, pinning me to the bed with the heaviness of his body, kissing me slow, arching his erection into me as I let a little moan slip out.
“I could get used to waking up this way,” he groans, his lips flirting over the skin of my neck while a slew of gasps swims out of me.
“Me too.” I bury my fingers in his hair, panting with heavy breaths as he brings my body to life, the way he’s promised to do every night we’re together.
He’s taken me every way he’s wanted, and I’ve submitted to it all, wanting it all. He’s made me love my body, and I almost forgot that it was mine until he reminded me. His words, his praise, the way he makes me come for him…I’ve never had that. Never wanted it the way I do with him.
“I have a surprise for you. A little pre-wedding gift.” He stares at me beneath a set of thick brows, a smirk twining up his mouth.
I can’t believe the wedding is tomorrow here at the house.
“Will I like this surprise?” I tilt my head sideways, biting down on the smile appearing.
I can’t even recall the last time someone surprised me with something, and I’m looking forward to whatever he has planned.
“You’re going to love it.” There’s a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“When will you show me?”
“Now…” His lips mark the slope of my neck, mouth sucking and kissing my skin. “If I can manage to get out of this bed without fucking you.” His voice swells with masculine husk, and the growling sounds vibrate around my mouth as he rakes his teeth over my bottom lip.
“You can fuck me after you show me.” My cheeks heat up at the same time I say that.
He bows his pelvis into my core, and I throb there, needing him right now and not wanting to wait another moment to feel him inside me.
“I like the way you think, Mrs. Marino.”
My heart flips. He’s never called me that, and he shouldn’t. Being together may feel good, but it’s temporary, and so is that title.
“Don’t…” I say, my gaze wanders away from his. “I’m not your wife.”
My chest tightens.
“None of this is real, Michael. We’re not really married.”
“According to our marriage certificate, we are, my little dove.”
There goes my heart again, beating in a frantic pace.
He chuckles, all deep and low.
“You know what I mean.” I huff out a breath, daring a look at him.
His features soften and he cups my cheek. “Does this feel fake?”
He brushes his lips over mine, and I release a gasping sigh.
No, it doesn’t.
But it is. My breaths grow shallow, my body weak. Too weak to deny what he does both to my body and my heart.
“Because when we’re together like this…” He drags his knuckles across my jaw. “I forget how we got here.”
I do too.
But I can’t seem to say that to him. Not yet.
Can we truly make something of this? Can I really look away from what he does to others, enough to stay? But if I were to ever consider staying, I’d need a real relationship. I want him to meet my friends, my parents. I don’t want to hide.
Oh, God. My parents.
What if they somehow find out about the wedding and think I’m living a life without them? Or worse, what if they report it to the police, and the Bianchis kill Kayla and the others to cover up what they’ve been doing?
“Can we talk about something?” My tone skitters with nerves, and he instantly lifts up on his elbows.
“What’s wrong?”
“I want to call my parents.” I pause. “To let them know I’ve made it out and that I’m okay. They may call the cops if they somehow find out about us. Please, Michael.” My brows furrow. “I won’t tell them a thing about you or our arrangement. I promise.”
He releases a deep breath, his eyes searching mine intently, and I can tell he’s wrestling with the idea.
“I’ll keep our deal,” I plead. “I’ll be yours for a year until you don’t need me anymore, but they’ve suffered long enough.” I grab his forearm. “I was their only child. I meant the world to them. As a father, you have to understand their pain.”
“Baby…” Affection flickers in his eyes.
“Don’t you say no.” I shake my head, my frenzied pulse filling my ears. “Don’t you da—”
He places a finger against my lips, silencing me. “I wasn’t going to say no.”
My throat swells from his words.
He’s really going to let me call them?
He kisses me gently against my lips, and my panting echoes.
“Are you serious?” I’m ready to burst into tears.
“Of course I am. I’ll give you one of my burners, and you can call them today. Sound good?”
Tears well in my eyes, and I can no longer fight them. I throw my arms around him and practically suffocate him against my chest as his laughter vibrates against me.
“When can I go see them?”
He moves his head back a little. “Soon. Sometime after the wedding.”
“Okay.” I nod. “I can live with that. But please don’t make me wait too long. I really miss them, Michael.”
Tears trip down my face, and he gathers them with his thumbs, lips lowering to each cheek.
“I know you do, baby. And you’ll be able to see them as much as you want.
” He kisses the tip of my nose next. “They’re only two hundred miles away.
I can arrange for you to be flown there whenever you wish.
” He inhales roughly. “I’d never purposely keep you away from your family. I know how important that is.”
“Thank you.” I sniffle, warmth radiating through my body.
“For what?” he scoffs. “I’ve done nothing for you to thank me for.”
“You care.” I shrug, emotions clouding my voice. “For a girl like me, that’s everything.”
“Fuck, Elsie, you deserve so much more than that.” His eyes penetrate mine with longing anguish. “I’m not a good man. I never will be.” He sighs dejectedly. “I wish I could be the man to give you everything, but I don’t know how to do that.”
There’s so much vulnerability pulsating in between his words that all I want to do is be honest with him, the way he’s being with me.
“But you already do that,” I say, slipping my palms to the back of his head. “I know what I feel when we’re together, and it’s something I’ve never felt before.”
His chest expands on a rough breath.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to accept your life, but I want to,” I admit, emotions wafting through my voice. “So what if we try, Michael? What if we say fuck it and we give each other what we both deserve? Because you deserve love too.”
I slant my lips to his and kiss him tenderly. He sucks in a shallow inhale, dragging his eyes to a close as I continue.
“I know you’ve spent your life protecting Sophia and wanting a mom for her, but you deserve someone too,” I whisper, brushing my mouth over his.
“I don’t deserve you.” He lowers his forehead against my chest, his breathing warm and heavy.
“You’re right.” A small laugh bubbles out of me. “You probably don’t.”
“I am right.” He looks up and there’s no humor there. “You, Elsie, are perfection, while I carry more flaws than are worth a damn.” His sigh is full of pain. “I don’t know what you see in me.”
“Oh, Michael…” A mournful smile tethers to my lips as I tilt my head to the side, and he returns a hard stare at me, as though waiting for me to prove him wrong. “I see a man who loves with his whole heart.”
My fingertips feather over his scar, and he drops his brows with a vulnerability tethered to his features.
“I see a man who took in a complete stranger and became her father, who’d do anything for the people he cares for.”
I brush my hand through his hair, and his eyes flutter to a brief close. “I see a man who spends days feeling like he’s not enough when he is, when he does everything he can for everyone else but himself.”
I raise my shoulders up to kiss his forehead, and his eyes dance across my face, breathing hard like the entire world is riding on his shoulders.
“You’d really stay? With me?” His gaze searches mine for the truth. “Are you sure? Because once you’re truly mine, there’s no way I’ll ever let you go. No way I’ll be able to.”
“I want to stay. But…”
“But what?” He asks it like he fears the answer.
“But I want a real relationship, Michael. One where you get to know the people in my life while I get to know yours. One where we get to know each other too.”
He gives me a devilish smirk. “You’ll still have to be my wife while we…” He thrusts his hips into me. “…do all this getting to know each other.”
“I’ll manage to survive the torture of it.” I roll my eyes on a moan.
Hungered kisses mark my jaw, his warm breath swirling up my neck while he continues to roll his rigid cock into me.
“Whenever I think about you leaving me…” His voice is a broken rasp, and his body stills.
“I’m right here.” I take his hand and place it against my beating heart. “Not going anywhere but out of this bed so you can give me that surprise.” I pop a playful brow.
His laughter is full and hearty as he captures my lips with his, tongue rolling around mine. And suddenly, he’s on his knees, throwing me over his shoulder.
“Hey!” I yelp, but I’m laughing too now as he slaps my ass, carrying me out the door.
“Keep quiet up there. I need to fuck you at least twice before Sophia wakes up.”
The clock in our room reads seven, and luckily for us, she’s still fast asleep as we make it down the stairs.
“Just twice, husband? Are we losing our stamina in our old age?”
He chuckles and smacks my ass nice and hard. “You’re gonna really get it now, baby.”