Page 8 of Bred

I was going to own him.

My husband.

My forever.

“Then take me.”

I didn’t regret my word choice for even a moment. We had one year to make this thing between us into something tangible. Into the baby my grandfather needed. Into the child I craved. Into the family we’d both been denied.

Loren’s mouth sealed back over mine, his body shoving mine back off the chair until I was pressed tight against the island, the granite pressing into my back. “Loren,” I gasped, just before he kissed me again and again. Until I couldn't breathe. Until I couldn’t think.

My legs rose slowly, his torso holding me in place as I wrapped myself around him. Heavy, powerful hands found their way to my thighs until he was lifting me, placing me at the edge of the counter as he loomed over me even still.

“Wren,” he murmured, slowly kissing his way down my neck. “Say yes.”

“To what?” I said, confusion cutting through the fog of need as it continued to sweep through me.

“To me.”

My eyes fluttered shut as his voice rumbled through my chest, making my skin tight at his words.

I bit down on my lips, wondering if I was doing the right thing. And then his fingers tightened once more on my thighs, tilting my pelvis up until I was against the flat plane of his belly. “I already did,” I finally got out a moment later. Giving into the pleasure of feeling his body press against that secret, untouched part of me that screamed for him, I let my head loll back, and my hair slipped back in a caress all its own, as if he’d turned my very body to teasing me.

One of his hands went to my face, where he tipped it back up to press close to his. Our breath mingled, his was all sweet mint as his gaze darted back to my lips.

“Are you untouched, wife?”

I blinked and then tried to squirm away from the intensity of his gaze on mine. If someone had asked me just ten hours ago if I was embarrassed to be a virgin, I would’ve said not. I’d lived an odd life, sure, but I wasn’t ashamed.

But now, plastered against this man, his muscle and experience clear in every line of his body… I felt the stirrings of shame in my belly.

“Tell me,” Loren demanded, voice somehow even deeper.

“Yes.”

“Completely?” His head cocked, as if surprised by my response.

I swallowed hard and nodded, focusing on the unfamiliar feel of his ring on my hand. I had one year, one year to find a place for myself in this man’s world. One year to build the family I wanted.

I was safe. For now.

But I needed him to want me too.

“I’m sorry…” I said, words cut off as he leaned in to kiss me again. His mouth was softer now, drawing out his touches with gentle slides of his tongue against mine. And I was back to squirming against him again, but this time for a whole other reason.

He pulled away after a moment, his pupils blown black and wide. “It didn’t matter to me whether you were pure as the fucking snow or not. You’re my wife now, Wren. You’re going to carry my baby. I just needed to know how much time you’d need to be ready.”

I stared. “Ready?”

His smile sent a shiver down my spine that was something between arousal and trepidation. “Ready for my cock, princess. Ready for me to fill you to the brim until you’re round with my baby.”

“Oh fuck.” The words slipped from my mouth before I could think better of it.

Loren chuckled, stepping back from where we’d been plastered together. I whimpered at the loss of contact, but a breath later his hand was on my throat again, pressing me back, back, back until I was suddenly lying across that enormous granite island. The countertop bit into my shoulder blades as I attempted to lean up onto an elbow.

“No, no, princess.” His hands pressed me down once more then tugged my ass back to the edge of the island. “You told me that you belong to me now. That means you do what I tell you to. Right?”

I gulped but couldn’t deny that the way this was going, I was pretty okay with whatever he was going to do next. So I slammed my eyes shut and nodded.