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“You are a Falcone now. My brother’s wife. You fall under my rule. That makes you mine to protect.”
A terrifying smile played across Nino’s face. It didn’t reach his eyes. “But I will find the man who did this to you and make him feel the same terror you did that night and pain unlike anything he thought possible. And eventually, when he has been begging for it for a long time and when he’s given up hope, I’ll grant him death.”
“Then why are you furious if it’s not because someone stole what you wanted for yourself?” “Because someone stole what you weren’t willing to give,” he murmured.
“I will find the man who raped you and slaughter him like a pig on these sheets. Do you think that will be enough blood for your family?”
“Your nights are safe. You are safe now, Kiara. Even in the dark, there’s nothing you have to fear, no one, because I am there and they will have to go through me. And no one ever has won against me. I am the most dangerous thing in the dark, but you don’t have to fear me.”
“Don’t you understand? I’m a woman. I’m guilty by default. It’s always like that. They will say I asked for it. A smile means I’m flirting. A nice word means I’m asking for it. Revealing clothes mean I’m inviting touch. That is fact, Nino.”
Clock it
But Kiara, being a traitor’s daughter, probably lived most of her life in the shadows. She was a Falcone now. She’d learn to hold her head high.
I cleared my throat. “Are there any parts off-limits for me?” Nino raised his dark eyebrows. “Like the Dark Arts area?”
the piano. No fear or tension or worry. “Beautiful,” she whispered. “It is,” I agreed, looking directly at her.
I laughed nervously. “How much attention am I supposed to draw to us?” “As much attention as you deserve, Kiara. You are too beautiful to lurk in the shadows. And as my wife, you will have to get used to the spotlight.”
looked back up at his attentive face. “No, but I’m scared because you want me, and because I want you, but I don’t know if I can do it.” “We can set limits, and we can go step by step.” He paused, his expression becoming contemplative. “If my physical strength unsettles you, we could try to have me restrained. I don’t mind.”
“That way you’d be free to explore without having to fear me.”
“It is. I won’t ever push you past your boundaries, but just because I haven’t claimed your body with my cock yet doesn’t mean I haven’t laid claim on you. You are mine. Mine alone. And for as long as I live, no one will touch you but me.”
“And am I being nice to you?” I nodded, but I couldn’t stop looking at him and remembering his suggestion from this morning. “Would you like to go to our bedroom and explore?” he asked calmly.
He raised my hand to his lips very slowly, his eyes never leaving my face, and pressed an open-mouthed kiss to my pulse-point then trailed his tongue over it.
Nino nodded. “Let’s try to change that. Okay?” Good Lord, he sounded so sure of himself, as if he just knew he would make it good for me.
“You haven’t had your first time yet. What you had doesn’t count. What we are going to do has absolutely nothing to do with what you experienced.”
She put her head down on my chest, and my body relaxed at the feel of her warmth.
“Wow. What did they do to you?” I glanced toward Nino, and as if he could feel my eyes on him, he turned, meeting my gaze. My lips pulled into a smile. “He taught me my worth.”
I couldn’t place an emotion on what I was feeling.
A strange warmth settled in my chest, one I couldn’t place.
but Kiara was my wife and I wanted to treat her right, treat her like a wife was supposed to be treated.
Every time her eyes widened or her lips parted, my fucking heart clenched.
“I love you,” she whispered, and we both stiffened at the same time. Her breathing hitched against my throat. Love?
My chest was tight, my stomach hollow, and I wasn’t sure what was going on. Why suddenly every look from Kiara made my insides explode with fire, almost painfully but good too.
“Maybe I don’t have to simulate,” he said in that smooth voice. “Maybe I love you.”
“Before you, there was calm. There was order and logic.” I remembered the beginning of his song, that perfect composition. “And now?” I let out a hoarse exhale. “Now,” he growled and his expression twisted, “now there’s chaos.”
needing her fucking closer because only she filled the hole in my chest. Only she could look down into the black abyss that was my soul and find something lovable in it.
“I do, with my fucking dead heart. With every fucking fiber of my being.”
“For real?” “I love you. For real. No simulated affection or love ever again, because with you, I don’t need to simulate. You dragged that dead part of me out of the past and revived it. I didn’t die fifteen years ago, but I didn’t live either … until you.”
We had both been scarred by our past, but together we fought our demons and came out as the champions. Never had a victory felt better.
