Page 21 of Bloody Wedding (The Order of the Owed #1)

TWELVE

ONE WAY

LONI

D amien who?

“No,” I answer. “Am I supposed to?”

“Considering you were last in Bridgewater and that’s this little sweet town instead of a big, grimy city, probably not.”

Hang on?—

“How did you know?—”

“So, Damien Libellula… he’s this head of a mafia family in Springfield. It’s a couple of hours away from Harmony Heights. A real criminal hotspot.”

“So nothing like here, huh?” I say wryly, more than a little peeved that he ignored my question.

“Sure. But anyway, I have some… clients who are based in that city. I’ve heard about some of the stuff that goes down there.

And this guy, Damien? He got married a year or two ago.

It was a shock to his boys because they didn’t even know he was dating anyone, but the kicker is that he wasn’t.

This gorgeous woman was stalking him, trying to kill him for some reason or another…

he’s a mob leader, remember, so that happens…

and she ended up stabbing him in the side with his own knife.

He didn’t die, though, and he didn’t retaliate. ”

“He didn’t?” I would’ve.

“Nope. In fact, he married her. She’s the Dragonfly’s wife now. Now,” and Adrian rises up from his lean, slowly removing his shirt, all while saying, “I bet you’re wondering why I mention him.”

I’m too distracted by the ripple of his muscles as he takes off his shirt, dropping it to the floor to do little more than shrug again.

His hands drop to the waistband of his pants. “Just a reminder, Loni. Find a knife. Stab me if you want, but don’t screw up like Damien’s wife. Because if I survive it, a little blood won’t be enough to make me stop wanting you. You’ll be my wife, forever, no matter what.”

Forever.

Forever.

Forever —

“What are you doing?”

Sue me. I’m looking for a reason to stop the repeated refrain of the word ‘forever’ in my brain, and, oh… I found one when Adrian makes quick work of his pants. While he was talking, he unbuttoned them, unzipped them, and now he’s stepping out of them.

When he reached for his boxer briefs next, the material doing absolutely nothing to hide the erection behind it, I panic.

He grins. “What do you think? I’m getting undressed.”

“ Don’t .”

“Sorry, princess, but no can do. I sleep naked.”

It’s out before I can stop myself: “No, you don’t.”

He lifts his eyebrows at me. “And why exactly do you think that?”

Shit. I’m caught. There’s nothing else to do but confess… kinda. “I was looking for a bathroom my first night here. I… I must’ve made a wrong turn. I passed your room?—”

A slow, seductive chuckle. “And you peeked in, watching me sleep?”

“No,” I lie. “But I might’ve seen you in bed because, I’m telling you, you weren’t naked.”

I would’ve remembered that .

“It was your first night here. In case you changed your mind, came looking for me, I didn’t want you to feel any pressure. So I wore pants to bed that night.”

And now?

“What made you change your mind tonight?”

“I’ve just about rubbed my cock raw since you returned to Harmony Heights.

I let you get used to the idea that you’re mine.

I didn’t push you because I know better.

But you are my wife, Loni. And if you don’t want me to fuck you yet, I won’t.

That doesn’t mean I’m not going to hide how much I want you to let me. ”

With that, Adrian yanks down his briefs. His erection springs out, even more magnificent as I remember. He kicks the underwear away, stalking toward the bad, a daring look on his sinfully, wicked face.

“Remember our first time? I do. Sometimes, when nothing else gets me hot, I remember pushing you back on my bed, kissing my way down your body, and fumbling to make my cock fit in your tight, little body.”

“Adrian,” I breathe out.

Crap. I wanted to sound firm.

I did not sound firm.

I try again. “Adrian?—”

In response, he takes his cock in hand, stroking it slowly.

“I could seduce you.” He twists his hand, and I’m helpless to do anything but watch the practiced motion. “I did once before. Come on, princess. I know you remember.”

I do, but I won’t admit it. Not now. Not while I’m crossing my legs under his comforter to hide how arousing his little display is…

Still, he’s waiting for an answer, and for some reason, I feel like I want to engage with him. Almost as though, if I walk to him, we’re having a conversation instead of just me gawking at him while he plays with himself.

“I was so worried that it wouldn’t fit,” I tell him.

He chuckles. “I didn’t think I would last.”

My turn.

“I thought someone would see us.”

His eyes gleam in the lamplight. “I wanted someone to see us. Maybe not the first time because we were at my house and my parents walking in… fuck no. But at school? God, there were times that I got a thrill, thinking someone could walk in at any moment.”

Really?

“You weren’t ashamed of being with me?” I ask. Old insecurities die hard, I guess, and I know I should drop it, but I don’t. “I thought I was your dirty little secret.”

Another chuckle, darker this time. “That’s because you wanted to be.”

No. I didn’t.

Did I?

Adrian lets go of his cock just long enough to climb on top of the comfort, lying on his side so that he can look me dead in the face as he goes back to stroking himself provocatively.

I lick the corner of my mouth.

He rumbles out a groan.

And then, his voice low, his hand quick, he asks, “If I had asked you out like Desmond did, would you have said yes? After the shitty way I treated you? Or did you only crawl into my bed because you liked me being your dirty little secret?”

I shudder. I don’t know if it’s the rough way he sounds or how I just watched him crawl into his bed, naked and sexy and so goddamn irresistible, but instead of telling him to get lost, I whimper.

He releases his cock. “Oh, princess… that’s a needy sound you just made. I think that answers my question for me.” Reaching out, he slowly peels the comforter away from me.

I let him. I even do the unthinkable and uncross my clenched thighs as I shimmy down a little, letting him see the way my breath is rising, falling, faster and faster as his hand lands on my lower belly.

“I never got to be your boyfriend, Loni, but that’s okay. I’m more than satisfied with being your husband.”

I shake my head, the hair spilled on the pillow beneath me rustling softly.

“But I am your husband. And you’re my wife. Aren’t you, Loni? I Claimed you. Won’t you Claim in return?”

Through gritted teeth, I answer his sultry question with a snap. “I married you, didn’t I?”

“Yes. You did. And you’ve spent an entire week as my wife. But this is the first time I have you in our bed, and while I planned on sleeping… how can I do that when my wife makes needy sounds like that for her husband?”

Sleep… how the fuck am I supposed to sleep like this?

Adrian thumbs the waistband of my sleep pants. When I lift my hips, wordlessly giving him permission because I must’ve fucking lost my mind, he slides his hand beneath them, patting the top of my aroused pussy.

It’s all I can do not to squeal.

He rubs my mound, a curious look on his features. It’s made all the more devilish by the way his lips quirk upward, his fingers playing along the edge of lace on my underwear.

“Tell me… if I slipped my hand inside your panties right now, would you be wet right now? Your body getting ready for the one man who ever knew how to make it scream for him?”

Two minutes ago, I would’ve slapped his hand, turned my back, and tried desperately to fall asleep with the pulse of my need running through my super sensitized body. But that was two minutes ago.

Now?

I suck in a breath, let it out, then glance up at Adrian. “There’s only one way to find out.”

It’s a dare. I know it. He knows it.

He doesn’t care one bit.

It’s permission, and I think that’s all Adrian was waiting for.

Next thing I know, his hand is inside my panties, my back arched, and my body coming completely to life for him.

“God, you’re so fucking hot. And slick . This… your body made this for me.” He swirls his finger in the moisture before shifting his hand, bumping against my clit. “You want me, Loni. Don’t deny it.”

How can I? I’ve never been able to. My attraction to Adrian Heller’s never been in doubt. Even though I shouldn’t, I want him, and I guess that hasn’t changed one bit.

When I don’t, he eases a finger inside of me. It’s been so long since I’ve had a lover—a year, maybe, or longer, I didn’t keep track—and my pussy immediately clenches around the intrusion. I want it. I need it.

I crave it.

“Yes…”

“Told you,” he says, the sound so smug, it erases some of my lust-fueled desire. “You were made for me.”

I start to squirm, ready to get up and shove his hand out of my pants. I just manage to pull myself into a semi-seated position when Adrian follows me, pushing up from his lean.

He’s still stroking me, playing with me, but now he has one hand in my panties, slowly fingerfucking me, while his other goes to my hair.

Before I can say anything else, he blows a minty cool breath of fresh air in front of my nostrils.

“I made it a whole week without a cigarette,” he says, a hint of pride in his throaty voice. “Sure, I went through fifteen packs of gum to stave off the cravings, and I still get a slight headache every now and then, but it’s one week down, princess. That means you owe me a kiss.”

I open my mouth to remind him that I never agreed to that, but it’s useless. I’ve kissed Adrian so many times this last week, all because he’s working so hard to quit smoking cold turkey, that I’ve come to crave the way he conquers my mouth like this.

Only this time… it’s a little different. Having his tongue plundering mine as he continues to pump his finger in and out of me, developing a rhythm… it’s a complete onslaught, and I’m not naive enough to realize that.

I might have given in tonight, but I don’t want Adrian to think that he’s won the war between us. If anything, it’s just a single battle. A setback.

A mistake.

One I’m sure I’ll make again before this… whatever Adrian and I have now… is over. But because I know it can’t last, despite his certainty otherwise, I need to remember that there’s a very good chance that he’s fucking with me by, well, fucking me.

“I hate you,” I say, groaning into his mouth.

In response, he inserts a second finger inside of me while scraping his canine against my bottom lip. “No, princess. You only wish you did.”

I do. Fuck it, I do . It would be so much easier to keep my distance if I hated Adrian.

If the way he’s panting softly, breath warm against my skin, fingers twisting, probing, stretching me…

if I hated him, this would just stoke the fire of that hatred instead of having me seconds away from coming all over his hand.

Seconds… Instead of answering Adrian with words, he flicks my clit with his thumb and that’s just what I needed to explode. Clutching his arm, digging my fingernails into his muscle as I see stars behind my eyelids, I climax.

It was so fucking beautiful, I almost want to take back the way I told him I hated him. But then, as the blood stops pounding in my ears, all I hear is his voice telling me, “That’s my girl. I knew you couldn’t resist me.”

Oh.

Oh .

Is that what that was about? He needed to prove something to himself? He wanted to see if he could still make me lose complete control with just one touch.

Ugh!

My hands are wrapped around his arm. Feeling a sense of spiteful pride when I see the divots my nails dug out of his arm, I tug and I yank, and Adrian slides his sticky fingers out of my pants.

Once he has, I shimmy to the edge of the bed, climbing right out of it.

Adrian props himself on his elbow, completely ignoring the straining erection lying against his hip. He has a lazy look of satisfaction in his face, almost as though making me come was all he needed.

It fades a little as he realizes that I’m adjusting my pajama pants as I head for the door.

“Where are you going, Loni? You’re supposed to be sleeping in this bed tonight.”

I know. Damn it, I know . But after the way I just let him fingerfuck me to an orgasm without once trying to resist him… and the way that, after all these years, he still has so much power over me…

Damn it!

Where am I going?

Where I always go.

“I’m taking a shower.”