Chapter 30
MICHAEL
I wanted her to be the one to enact the final blow to the men, but I knew killing both would’ve been too much. She could barely handle the one I made her do. It’s a powerful feeling to end the lives of the ones who hurt you. It’s like coming full circle. She deserved that after what they’d done.
I don’t revel in it, the act of taking another man’s life, but I will do it with a fucking smile on my face when it needs to be done.
After we left, we joined the wedding like nothing happened.
The wives of those two bastards had a lot of questions, but my men informed them that they had to leave after getting an urgent call.
I made sure we planted that fake call on their phones.
It’s untraceable. They’ll never be found.
And the detectives on our payroll will put on a show of looking for them, but in the end, they’ll do nothing.
Sophia’s long been tucked into bed, completely exhausted after the wedding, while Elsie fumbles with the pins in her hair, her dress still on her, the one I promised to strip her from.
“Let me,” I say, walking up behind her, gliding my palms up her soft bare arms, and the hairs there stand up in attention.
My touch makes her nervous or aroused, and I’ll be finding out which one soon enough.
“Are you okay?” My question comes on a whisper as she nods, while my hands climb to her hair, removing each pin with careful precision. “You are the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my life, Elsie Marino.”
Her breath catches, and even her breaths consume me. She consumes me with the enormity of my feelings for her.
With her back to me, I continue to undo her hair that’s pinned to one side until it’s all free, spilling across her back in thick waves I run my hands through.
Leaning into it, I inhale long and deep, her floral scent an aphrodisiac. “Goddamn, you smell good, baby.”
My lips drift down to her shoulder, kissing her softly up her neck.
“Turn around for me. Let me see you. Let me see those eyes.”
Her body shivers as I pull away, and she gradually faces me, her brows knitting.
“What is it?” I cup her cheek. “Tell me.”
There’s worry snaking through her features, and I hate seeing that. As soon as she tells me what’s bothering her, I plan to erase it.
“How…” She swallows harshly. “How do you kill so easily?”
Of course that’s still on her mind. She’s not like me.
I capture the other side of her face with a palm. “I’m sorry I made you do that. Killing for the very first time…it’s hard. Maybe I should’ve done it myself. Maybe—”
“He…” she interrupts, her chest climbing higher on a hitch of her breath. She shuts her eyes. “He’s not the only one I’ve killed.”
A shot of adrenaline hits me. But I don’t react. I want her to tell me who she had to kill. What those fucking bastards made her do.
“It’s okay….” My thumbs stroke her cheeks. “Killing someone shouldn’t be easy, baby. Not for angels like you.…”
Her eyes go downcast, but I tilt her chin up with the back of my hand.
“I’m not a good person, Elsie. But you’ve made me want to be. For you. For Sophia. Even for myself.”
Tears fill her eyes as she tethers her gaze to mine, and I swear my damn heart comes undone. This insurmountable feeling she brings out in me—this sheer passion with which I crave her and want to protect her—it’s permeating my soul.
“I killed a girl,” she says tearfully. “She was young. She didn’t do a thing, but I killed her because if I didn’t…” She breaks with a heavy cry. “They swore they’d kill Kayla and my other friend Jade.”
Her chin quivers, and it breaks me, making me want to avenge her pain.
She avoids my gaze. “It’s not your fault, Elsie. You didn’t have a choice.”
“But I did.” Her voice strains as she peers up, tears tracking down her cheeks. “I chose my friends over her. What does that make me, Michael?”
“A friend. A person. A good person.” I hold the other side of her face and stare deep into her eyes. “That’s what you are, my little dove. You chose your friends. You chose love.”
She cries heavier, but I only continue. She has to know this is all true.
“Never be ashamed of that. Loving someone is the most powerful thing we can do, yet it’s our greatest weakness because people can use that love to destroy us.”
I brush away the moisture from under her eyes, wanting badly to kiss away her pain, make her feel the way she makes me feel. Like the world is right.
“Michael…” she gasps.
But I swallow the rest with my mouth as I kiss her, slicing my tongue between her lips, hand fisting her hair with a fierce growl as her tongue swirls with mine. She tastes like all things forbidden, like sin and salvation. A temptation so powerful that a man is simply no match.
My palm rides up her back, undoing the corset, needing her out of this dress and bare for me, skin to skin, body to body. I want inside her like it’s the last thing I’ll ever get to do in this life.
It's almost undone, the top loosening around her breasts. My lips brush down her neck, nipping her skin, tasting her, while I tip her head up by the pull of her hair, giving me better access. I groan, raking my teeth up to her jaw, sucking on her lower lip.
When I first saw her through that window—when our eyes connected—it was like I could feel her suffering, like it spoke to me.
I had a feeling she was going to try and escape into my car.
I knew the moment she was in the back. Thanks to the motion detectors I have in all of my vehicles, I get an alert on my cell immediately.
I pretended I had no idea. I don’t know why. But I wanted to see what she’d do. And once she tried to save that bastard’s life, I knew she’d be the perfect wife.
Little did I know how perfect she’d actually be.
“We can have everything together.” My mouth coasts down her throat, her pulse thumping wildly against my lips. “You, me, Sophia. A real family.”
“I want that too,” she groans, an emotional pull in her tone.
She feels this. She feels us.
I flex my jaw, kissing up to her lips, looking back into her eyes as I drag myself away.
“We will have it all.” I palm the back of her head. “You’ll never hurt again.” My gaze deepens into hers. “You’ll be cherished. You’ll be mine.”
“I want to be yours more than anything,” she whispers. “I want to stay with you. I really do. I want us to try and be a family.”
“Are you sure?” I lean in, resting my forehead against hers, my heart beating a mile a minute.
“So sure. I don’t have any doubts about any of it anymore, Michael. I want you so badly,” she pants.
“I want you too, little dove. In all ways.”
My hands slide to the back of her dress, undoing the last loop, while her hands cup her gown to her body. Her chest rises and falls in a chaotic rhythm, her breaths getting heavier as I step back.
Her mouth parts as I take her in, standing there before me.
“My goddess. My wife. My everything.”
Her shoulders tremble as she watches me watching her.
“Drop those hands, baby.” My voice is a rough command.
And it’s a beautiful thing to watch her obey.
Slowly, she moves them to her side, and the dress begins to fall, uncovering her a second at a time, teasing the hell out of me.
My cock surges to life once I see her bare breasts, those rosy, taut nipples calling for my mouth. I’m throbbing at the sight of her and wanting more.
My fingers grip the top of the dress, and without taking my eyes off of her, I slip it down past her hips until it pools around her feet. My pulse fills my ears as she stands there with just a thin piece of white fabric covering that place where she’s warm and slick for me.
I drop to my knees, helping her step out of the dress, her strappy silver high heels still on her feet. My hands glide up her smooth, velvety skin, my fingers hooking into the thin straps of her thong.
I stare up at her, finding her already staring right back at me, and I start pulling down her panties, exposing her bare slit.
The thong stretches around her thighs as she rocks on her feet, pressing her inner thighs together. I reach for her core with my index finger, pushing it into her.
“Michael…” she strains with a hiss, her fingers curling in my hair, gripping tight.
A groan rumbles in my chest as I yank her panties all the way down, and she steps out of them. I pick them up, bringing them to my nose and inhaling as I gaze up at her. Her cheeks heat up, and that has me smirking.
“Don’t be shy with me, little dove.” I run two fingers down her pussy. “I love everything about you.”
I stuff her thong into my pocket, and she stares wide-eyed.
“What are you going to do with that?”
“Put it under my pillow.” A lazy grin swells over my mouth, and she bites into that full bottom lip.
I open her up, bringing a leg over my shoulder, and she glistens for me. My mouth waters, needing the taste of her on my tongue.
I look up at her in wonder, aching to take her slow. To savor her. The way she looks at me, hand cupping her breast…fuck. She’s the most beautiful thing.
My palms hit her bare ass, yanking her close so her pussy is only a breath away, even as I continue to hold her gaze.
“I’ve always been the king. But I’ll gladly worship at your feet.”
“Michael.” She chokes on a gasp as I roll my tongue between her wet lips, tasting her.
I swirl the tip of my tongue around her clit just once before I let it drift downward, teasing every inch of it.
“Yesss…” she gasps, her hand roughly clutching on to my hair, her pussy dripping down my tongue.
I groan as she yanks my hair hard, the pads of her fingers massaging my scalp as I swirl and tease. Her body grows tense, thighs trembling while my tongue flattens on her clit and rides up.
“Fuck, baby, you taste like heaven.” My voice tightens with a deep-chested grunt as I wrap my mouth around her pussy and suck her clit into my mouth.
“Yes!” Her fingers bite into my scalp as my tongue sinks into her tight hole.
I peer up at her. “Goddamn, I need inside you.”
“I…” She breathes heavily, her eyes boring into mine. “I want that too. Please…”