Page 104 of Depraved

We sit staring at each other, the room noticeably silent. His face is unreadable, as always, but it doesn’t matter because I know he feels what I do. There is no place I’d rather be than right by his side for eternity.

Dante breaks our connection and looks out at the room.

“Someone go wake up a fucking judge.”

Two hours later, I’m standing in a long oversized white T-shirt that belongs to Dante in the middle of the hotel suite surrounded by my new family.

A barely awake city judge, still in his pajamas, looks between us, pausing before he starts.

“We’ll have to fudge the date on the official paperwork for after you’re declared a widow…” The judge’s eyes shift to Dante’s smiling face.

“Oh, he’s dead, Judge…news just travels slow.”

The judge’s brow shows his discomfort with the admission, but he can’t do anything even if he wanted to. But I’m not sure he would anyway. After I explained his initial worry away, telling him I looked like this by my former husband, it’s amazing how understanding even the most law-abiding man became.

“Okay, well,” the judge says, adjusting the Bible in his hand. “Let’s begin. Sarah, do you…”

My hand shoots out to Dante’s chest. “No,” I blurt out as Dante looks at me with raised brows.

I giggle and shake my head, waving to the room. “That’s not what I meant.” Clearing my throat, I add, “Seraphina. My real first name is Seraphina.”

The room erupts in laughter and claps as I give a tiny shrug to Dante’s amused face. He leans down, kissing my lips softly then pulls back to look at me. “Goddamn, Billy, you keep things interesting.”

We look at the judge as he begins our wedding ceremony.

“Do you Seraphina O’Malley take Dante Sovrano to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward—”

“Yes,” I breathe out excitedly, cutting off the judge, who lets out a small laugh and turns to Dante.

“Dante?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely,” he agrees grabbing my waist and pulling me toward him to plant the deepest kiss against my lips.

Our tongues swirl as my arms raise and wrap around his neck as he bends over me, kissing me senseless amongst the cheers and applause. The judge yells over everyone in order to be heard.

“By the power vested in me by the state of Illinois, I now pronounce you man and wife. You can keep kissing your bride.”

Dante laughs into my mouth and lets his hand walk down my body, then dips his shoulder, hauling me up and over as I squeal.

He stands and the cheers erupt again. “Now get the fuck out. I got work to do.”

I can’t even look up as he walks us into the bedroom because my cheeks are on fire.

The bedroom door closes behind us, and he sets me to my feet, grabbing the ends of my T-shirt and lifting it slowly over my head.

“I’m going to bury myself inside you until neither of us can remember our names.”

“Yes, please.”

Dante’s fingertips skim over my body, starting at my hips and making their way up the dip of my waist. He moves tenderly past my sore but unbroken ribs, brushing over the swells of my breasts to lay flat on my chest, then running up and over my shoulders to cradle my neck. His thumbs come under my chin to tip my head back, locking our eyes.

“You don’t have to be gentle with me, Dante. I won’t break.”

His head drops as his tongue runs across my top lip before caressing and kissing his way to my ear. “I want to take my time, savor every moan, feel your body ignite around my cock. Tonight, I want it slow because I want to memorize every moment the first time I fuck my wife.”

My hands grip his hard biceps as his lips start their torturous assault of my neck, his mouth and tongue against my skin. Sighs push through my partially opened mouth as my head moves with the movement of his kiss on my neck.

“That feels so good it should be illegal.”