of you. I will cut anyone who even tries to get you again.”
His voice dark.
His promise darker.
A single second stretched, then he crushed his lips against mine and gripped the back of my neck, ripping a groan from my throat.
“Fuck me,” I begged. “Please.”
I didn’t care we were outside, I could fuck him right here on the beach. He held my lip captive, eyes burning. Without responding he slammed his lips back into mine.
He was on the edge.
So close.
I knew what he wanted, what would push him over.
Holding on to his arms for stability, I fell to my knees. He caught my arm, trying to keep me from falling.
“Please.”
Cradling my head in his hands. “Little wife.”
“I don’t want sweet, Grayson,” I whispered. “I don’t need sweet.”
I saw the defeat waffling in his eyes. The clench of his jaw, the flare of his nostrils.
He dragged his knuckle down the side of my face. “I’ll take care of you, little wife, but let me take you home first.”
I looked over his shoulder, at the black spires of Crowne Hall.
Home?
Was it finally home?
He gently grasped my chin, pulling my gaze back to his. I let him lift me off the sand, and with his bloody hand entwined in mine, we walked hand in hand to Crowne Hall.
Fifty-Five
GRAY
Story kept giving me fuck-me eyes. Wide, begging eyes, her stony hazels aglow like the sunset, telling me she’d let me do anything to her.
Dangerous.
I don’t want sweet, Grayson. I don’t need sweet.
I adjusted my cock and her eyes dropped to the action, licking her lips.
I couldn’t make her bleed while she was pregnant with my child—but there was something dark and twisted about her begging me to hurt her while she carried my child, and it was twisting something inside me that was wrong.
But so fucking right.
We were back in my wing, she was in my bed, and I still couldn’t shake the feeling it wasn’t over. My blood zinged with it, like a wire left in a puddle.
Every time we got close to happiness, something ripped it away.
“Let me clean you up.” Story’s raspy voice brought me back to her walnut eyes. “I’ll go get a wet towel.”
“Nah. Then I’d have to let you go.” I lifted our entwined hands.
She dragged her bottom lip between her teeth, cheeks heating.
“Oh fuck, Snitch, I missed that.”
I thumbed her tear-stained cheeks. I wanted to wash away all those stains. To eradicate anyone who had ever put them there.
“Tell me all your words,” Story murmured, lips brushing my chest. “The ones you’re keeping on your shoulders. What happened to Lottie, to the du Lacs? What happened while I was waiting?”
“I reminded them of the prenup Lottie signed. I get everything. I said I might be willing to overlook it, if they got the fuck out before the sun goes down.”
Story lay her head on my chest, one arm wrapped around my torso.
Perfect.
I exhaled, all the tension releasing from my limbs for the first time in months. This was fucking perfect—my wife where she belonged, in my bed.
“How are you, Atlas?” she murmured. She lifted her head, eyes finding mine.
I looked away from her probing eyes, to the clearing sky. Stars were appearing between the fading clouds, lonesome bright spots.
“If she’d just told me the truth, none of this would have happened. You never would have…” I clenched my fists, digging my nails into my palm. “We could have left. All of these months…we could have left. We’d be happy.”
“Would we?” she asked.
My eyes found hers, already staring at me.
“You lied to me that night. I didn’t know you were going to destroy your family, and I never would have been happy if you’d done that, Grayson, because you wouldn’t have been happy. I’ve been wondering if this was really all just destiny. And that night—”
I looked away, swallowing thick and cottony. “That was still my fault. Her fault.”
I ground my teeth, focusing on the pain in my jaw, trying to see past the red in my eyes.
Story crawled up my chest, palms on either side of my face. “I am mad at Lottie, not because she kept us apart, because…well nothing keeps us apart, not really. I’m mad at how much pain this has put you through. I see the struggle, the fear that you’ve become your father. So I’m mad at her for that.”
“That’s funny…” I dragged my thumb across her bottom lip. “I’m not mad at her for that. At least now I know without a shadow