her in my arms, it’s impossible to stay ridged.
She makes me soft in all the right ways and hard in all the others.
“I did lose her. That’s why I moved here. She loved this house and left it to me, though I don’t deserve it.”
Bella cups my cheek in her small palm. “Why is that, Ronan?”
“Because she was dying, and I didn’t come see her in time. She died, and I was off in France, not at her bedside. My priorities...” I run a hand through my hair, ashamed of the man I’ve been. “My priorities were fucked up, and I never got to tell her how much I loved her.”
“She must have known, Ronan.”
I smirk, not believing her. “Why do you think that?”
“Because she left you this house. This gorgeous home that has her fingerprints all over it. She could have given it to her husband, but she gave it to you. She wanted you with her, even in death.”
“Does it work like that, you think? That my wrongs can be made right with simple words? By forgiving myself?”
“I think it works however you like, but beating yourself up for a past mistake isn’t going to help you move on. Forget the past. What sort of man do you want to be now?”
“Yesterday you called me a beast. Maybe I’m not a man at all.”
A flicker of a smile crosses her face. “Maybe you’re not. But you know, being a beast isn’t the worst thing in the world.”
“No?”
She shakes her head. “In fact, you are a beast, wild and untamed, and it makes you very appealing, if I do say so myself.”
“That’s not who I am, though, entirely,” I tell her, shaking my head.
“What do you mean?”
“You have tamed me, Bella.”
“Truly?” She looks at me with so much wonder, so much sincerity, it hurts. I could never lie to this woman and I would never want to.
“Heart and soul.”
“What is left then, to keep you as a beast? Surely something?” she asks with the most tender smile I’ve ever seen.
My smile is no longer tender. It is hungry.
I pull her closer, so she can straddle me properly. So, my rock-hard cock can grind against her cunt.
“You’re right, Bella. In the bedroom, my beauty, that is where I ravish my prey.”
“But we aren’t in the bedroom, beast. We’re in the library.”
“In that case, I will sweep you off your feet, just like it’s described in the books you read.”
“Good,” she says with sex-crazed eyes that may be both ready and willing. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”
Chapter Twelve
Bella
He has me in his arms, my legs on either side of him, and his hungry cock pushes against my entrance. I want this so badly, even though I feel like I hardly deserve this utter devotion.
But Ronan offers it and I take what is given.
“Oh yes,” I groan as his cock moves deeper inside me. The idea that a few days ago I was a virgin, never having felt the movement of a man inside of me is so hard to grasp because now it’s as if I’ve memorized Ronan in his entirety.
He smells like pine trees and sandalwood. It’s like he’s from the earth and I’m a new sapling he’s planted right by his side.
I am his.
“Bella, you’re everything I need,” he growls in my ear, pulling me closer. I’m nervous that I’m hurting him since his wounds are just beginning to heal, but he swears I am the best medicine. The perfect cure. The only antidote.
I choose to believe him.
“Don’t stop,” I beg as he thrusts himself deep inside me. My core awakens as if a thousand bursts of light have been turned on all at once.
I cling to him, my breasts pressed against his chest. He takes them in his hand, sucking them, then biting my neck and pushing back my hair as he licks my skin. He finds my mouth and our tongues entwine. Our bodies rocking as one as he comes hard against me.
I never want him to stop. The way his massive cock pushes inside me forces an orgasm to flood my body with more emotion than I ever expected to feel in my entire life.
“I love you, Ronan,” I moan, the words escaping without a filter.
“Oh, god,” he cries, coming hard. “I love you too, beauty, with all that I am.”
He steadies me against himself, and with my arms wrapped around his neck, our foreheads meet, and our eyes are transfixed on one another.
“I mean it,”