When She Falls (The Fallen, #3)

by Gabrielle Sands

As soon as I removed my hand, she sank her surprisingly sharp teeth into my forearm. I remember staring into those stormy-gray eyes as she drew blood and thinking, “Fuck, this woman is beautiful.”

Gentlemen don’t look at engaged women the way I look at Gemma Garzolo.

“Is that how you talk around your father?” “You’re not my father.” “No, but I’ve been called daddy on occasion.”

I can tell Dem’s getting pissed off. “Watch your tone around my wife,” he warns Garzolo.

Because the truth is, he nailed something on the head. I don’t know if the fire is real. All I know is that it only really started to come out after I met him.

“Since you seem so fucking good at bending to your parents’ will, let’s see how well you bend to mine.”

“If your fiancé knew how feral you are, he’d demand a refund,” he growls. His face is so close, I can make out a tiny scar on his right cheek. “He thinks he bought himself an obedient wife, when what he’s really getting is a brat.”

He leans even closer, forcing my back against the sofa, and cradles my chin between his fingers. “What. Did. He. Do.” His minty breath brushes over my cheeks.

Instead, his eyes darken. “You’re exquisite. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

If she was engaged to me, I wouldn’t squander a single second. She’d be glued to my side. If she wanted to eat, I’d feed her. If she wanted to sit, it would be on my lap. If she wanted to shower, I’d wash every inch of that perfect skin and then dirty her up again.

He drops his palms to squeeze my ass and then pushes me up his body, getting me where he wants me in no time. “Lower,” he growls as I hover above him. My breathing is ragged. “What if you can’t breathe?” “That’s the idea.” He grips my upper thighs and tugs me down in one fell swoop.

“I don’t want to be your first, Peaches. I want to be your last. And I don’t want your fucking virginity. I just want you.”

He doesn’t finish taking off his pants, just leans back on his palms, spreads his legs, and dips his chin toward his erection. “Get on your hands and knees and crawl to me.”

“That’s my fucking girl.”

“Then here’s the honest truth. Those things you said to me after I kissed you at Mari’s wedding? You were right about me, Gem. I’m not a man of honor. I don’t give a fuck that you’re engaged. I want you, and I’m taking you. It’s not a question. It’s a fucking statement. There’s no scenario where I’m taking you back to the assholes that have mistreated and manipulated you. You deserve better than them. Your papa deserves to rot in that fucking jail. Let them scramble. Let them try to sort out this fucking mess. But we’re not going to stick around for it. We’re leaving. Now. Do you understand?”

“And you still don’t know shit,” he snarls. “But I do. I know that I chose you. Despite everything stacked against us, I chose you. I love you. I spent a decade forgetting how to love someone, and yet a few weeks with you is all it took for me to learn it all again.” His laugh is humorless. “You are the air I breathe. You are the ground that keeps me standing. Without you, I’m nothing, Gemma.”

I’ve gotten so good at minimizing my own needs to make everyone else’s lives easier.

I can’t keep putting myself last and pretending like my sacrifices are fulfilling enough for me.