Chapter 44
AOIFE
Istare into those deep dark eyes, put my drink down and then climb onto his lap to straddle him.
Silence stretches between us as we stare into each other’s souls.
His huge hands settle on my hips as his pupils dart to my lips, then back to meet my eyes. I rest my hands on his powerful shoulders and exhale slowly.
‘I love you too.’ Our lips meet, slowly, tenderly. There’s no urgency, no claiming, no conquering, no powerplay—just slow, sensual strokes of his tongue against mine. I wrap a hand around the nape of his neck and thread my fingers through his hair.
His hot hands slide slowly from my hips over my stomach to palm my breasts.
I moan softly into his mouth and grind against his crotch.
His hard length digs between my legs, and I need to feel him inside of me.
We’ve consummated this marriage a hundred times over, but this feels different—he sees me. Really sees me. And he loves me.
His fingers skim around my back, and he tugs the string of my bikini, then gently tosses it to the ground beside us. ‘That’s better,’ he murmurs, breaking our kiss. His fingers skim over my tight, needy nipples. ‘You’re so beautiful, baby.’ He nuzzles my neck, inhaling my skin.
‘So are you.’ I run my fingers over his tattoo, tracing the outline of the raven first, then the skull. ‘What does it represent?’
He tips his head to the side, still palming my breasts slowly, watching as my skin prickles with his every touch. ‘I’m the raven, rising over the bodies of those who killed my sister.’
‘And did you kill them?’ I whisper. It’s the first time I’ve directly asked if he’s killed.
If he admits it, will it change the way I feel about him?
No. Deep down, I already know the answer. If our marriage is going to last, I have no choice but to accept his darkness. Accept what he is. What he’s done. Make my peace with it.
‘Some of them.’ He wets his lips, staring me straight in the eye. ‘Does that terrify you?’
My fingers still on his chest. ‘It should do.’
‘But?’
‘But killing for love…’ I meet his eyes steadily ‘…is the difference between cruelty and devotion.’ I trace the raven again. ‘And I am utterly devoted to you.’
‘As I am to you.’ His black eyes blaze into mine as he lowers his face to my nipple and licks. Lust crackles through my entire body.
His eyes flare as he takes me in his mouth and sucks, slowly. I watch my husband, the man who is capable of such terror and such tenderness, certain in the knowledge that whatever he’s done he’ll never hurt me.
‘I need you,’ I tell him, dragging my fingers over his shoulders.
‘Now?’ He latches onto my other breast and sucks slowly.
‘Yes.’ I pull my bikini bottoms to the side.
He scans the decking, like he’s looking for some way to make this kinkier. I don’t want kinky today. I want raw, honest. I want stripped back, the way he just stripped back his soul to me and mine to him
‘No cuffs, no control games. No kinky fuckery. Just you and me—right here, right now.’
He nods, seeming to feel the shift. This is so much more than sex—it’s making love. It’s seeing each other’s truths and embracing them.
I shuffle on his lap. He frees himself from his shorts and rests his tip at my entrance, and I lower myself onto him, one life-affirming inch at a time. His eyes roll back in his head as I sink down further. ‘Eyes on me,’ I tease.
His nostrils flare as his eyes meet mine again. ‘This is a first.’
‘You’ve never not been in control?’ I grind against him in a slow and steady rhythm.
‘The truth is…’ his lips brush over mine ‘…I haven’t been fully in control from the minute I met you. I’ll take you anyway you choose to give yourself to me, because I choose you over everything.’ His words set my soul on fire.
‘And I choose you.’ I ride him slowly, alternating between kissing him and staring into his onyx eyes, watching as they dilate and darken, revelling in the fact that I’m responsible for his pleasure.
It’s utterly empowering. He reaches for my breasts again.
Our mouths meet, tongues dance as we swallow each other’s moans.
Every nerve ending I own is on fire as that familiar hedonistic heat builds between my legs.
My core contracts, fluttering around his long hard length.
His fingers skim over my stomach, then lower until he finds that sweet spot that sends me over the edge.
My orgasm consumes me as I shatter on top of him.
He thrusts up, meeting every movement with his own, chasing his own release.
‘Fuck,’ he spits as he spills himself inside me.
I slump on top of his chest as I struggle to regulate my heart rate. ‘Was that okay?’ I whisper when I manage to catch my breath.
‘No,’ he kisses my forehead. ‘It was fucking sensational.’
My lips tip up in a grin. ‘Don’t get too used to it. I love it when you tie me up. And I still want you to take me back to the club.’
‘First stop when we get home,’ he promises.
I snuggle closer on his slick, sweat-sheened torso and close my eyes. ‘I could sleep.’
‘Do it.’ He smooths my hair from my face.
‘I should get cleaned up. My bikini bottoms are ruined.’
‘Take them off, I’ll add them to my collection.’ He smirks, tugging them down.
‘Kinky fucker,’ I tut.
‘You love this kinky fucker,’ he reminds me.
‘That I do.’ I reach for his t-shirt on the ground beside me and pull it over my head. He watches as I breathe in the scent of his cologne around the neckline. ‘A fair exchange is no robbery.’ I shrug, settling back onto his chest.
‘You’re going to fit right in with the rest of the Kincaids.’ He wraps his arms around me and holds me until I fall asleep beneath the Italian summer sun.