Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 147891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
She shifts beneath me, adjusting herself enough for me to wedge between her legs. I thrust against her, and all that anger, fear, and pain morphs into something else entirely. It is true when they say love is the most powerful thing—more powerful than any emotion your body can conjure.
She is my safe haven. She is love.
I pull off my shirt and lower my joggers, mounting the bed as she takes off her panties. I cage her head between my arms and lower my chest to hers, and as I thrust inside her, I expel a trapped breath. She’s so warm and wet. I don’t want to be anywhere else but here.
“I can leave if you want me to,” she breathes.
“No.” I draw my hips back and propel them forward again. Her lips part, and I lower my hands, entangling our fingers.
“Should I stay?” she whispers.
“Yes,” I groan into the crook of her neck. “I want you forever and ever. You make me whole. You center me. I’m scared, but I can’t let this go. I love you.”
She wraps her legs around my waist, guiding me deeper, and I kiss the crook of her neck, working my way up until my lips are on hers. All that anger I felt before tapers off. The pain still lingers, but here she is, taking some of it away. My mate. My beautiful, perfect mate.
I clutch her hands and unfurl a groan, my dick throbbing inside her as I come. She sighs when my head falls on her chest, then buries her fingers in my hair, stroking my scalp.
We lie here for some time, the moon beaming through a slit in the curtains and shining down on us. I pull out and look down at my glistening dick now coated with both of us and blow out a satisfied breath as I lie beside her. I bring her closer, nuzzling my nose on one of her breasts and inhaling her feminine scent.
She’s mine. All mine.
Chapter 64
WILLOW
“Perhaps it’s karma. Isn’t that a universal thing?” Caz wonders.
I lie on his chest, staring through the small gap of the balcony doors that reveals a sliver of the ocean.
It’s been well over twenty minutes (I think) since we made love. For the most part, we laid in the dark and crossed thoughts here and there. Only a few times. Caz mostly kept his wall up when he wanted to keep some things to himself.
“Yeah. We believe in karma on Earth too,” I tell him, attempting to push away the feral thoughts. Even his voice is doing it for me right now. The rumble of it sneaks through me and stays between my legs. Good Lord, what’s wrong with me. Focus, Willow. Focus. I’m glad Caz either disregards my thoughts or is too lost in his to react to them.
“Perhaps that’s what all this is then,” he says. “Losing Della. Decius trying to hunt us. Losing my mother. It’s all karma, and I’m playing in its wicked game.”
“Karma can be good and bad,” I offer.
“I think I only end up with the bad.” He’s quiet a moment, and I listen to his steady heartbeat. “I told you before that I’ve done a lot of bad things. Do you remember?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“Well, it’s true. I have. It was only a matter of time before karma came back to deliver a dose of herself. She took Della from me, and that woman…” I hear him swallow, his body tensing. “She was like an aunt to me, just like Maeve. She may not have raised me from childhood, but the moment I met her, I knew I could trust her. And when she came to me and asked me to help find the people responsible for murdering her son, I didn’t hesitate. There was something about her eyes, you know? She had this way of looking at you. This innate ability to look at people like they belong to her. She looked at me like I was hers—like she’d do anything for me. She made anyone feel like family…made them feel special.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “In the short time I knew her, I did like her. She was very nice to me. And honest. Plus, her cooking was great.”
“Ah, yes. The cooking. She was a great chef. Believe it or not, she owned a popular restaurant when Magnus was monarch. It was a hot spot, everyone loved it. She’d serve the best seared duck, and her desserts were literally sin. I had some of her blackfruit cake once, and it was the greatest thing I’d ever tasted.”
“That sounds good,” I laugh.
“It was.” He pauses. “She stopped as soon as she found out her son was missing. Sold the restaurant to someone else so she could pay bounties to track him down. This was shocking to many because Della had been poor once, she and her husband. They didn’t have the rubies to afford youthwater, so when her husband fell sick, he couldn’t properly heal from it, and the only reason she had the restaurant in the first place is because the previous owner committed suicide and handed it over to her. He just gave it to her. I suppose he was fond of her too. Anyway, after she’d come to me with the knowledge that the Rippies had killed her son, I couldn’t stand to know she was alone, so I had Juniper bring her to Blackwater Manor. I showed Della the wing she would use and let her know it was hers now—that she could have it and do whatever she wanted with it. She thought I was fooling her,” he laughs. “She had no idea why the monarch would want her living in his castle. And I couldn’t quite explain why I wanted it either, I just did. But with Della being Della, she didn’t take it at first. She liked to work for what she had. So, a day later, she comes to me while I’m at the tavern and says, ‘Fine. I’ll take the position.’ And I go, ‘What position?’ She says, ‘The position to be your house maiden. I’ll cook, clean, stitch up your clothes, wash them. I’ll do whatever needs to be done for Blackwater Manor.’”