Page 40 of Greed: The Savage (Seven Deadly Sins #7)

T he lack of sound was what stirred Addien from her slumber. Not noise, but the peaceful silence that wrapped her in a cocoon of warmth. She longed to remain there forever.

Just a little longer.

A place of magic, where only she and Malric existed—where he had given up everything because she mattered more.

Then a pair of lips brushed her temple. “Good morning, my love.”

My love.

Here, she’d been so very certain there could be no endearment greater from this man’s lips than “love” until he’d tacked on that possessive claim.

Suddenly, leaving her dream world didn’t seem so hard, not when reality was far more exquisite.

Addien all too happily forced her heavy lashes open.

Malric’s obsidian stare met hers—the hardness etched there by his past, as much a part of him as hers was to her. Yet within those depths now dwelled a warmth he gave only to her, and it never failed to awe.

The curl of his hard, beautiful mouth told her he’d caught her thoughts and reveled in the power he held.

Once, she’d have raged at such weakness. A wistful smile toyed at her lips.

That was before.

Before Malric.

Before his love.

Pride meant nothing without love.

So lost in the gentle massage he stroked over the small of her back, it was a moment before she registered the sliver of sunlight flickering through a crack in the black satin curtains, and Malric’s morning greeting.

Addien grunted. “I slept through the bloody night.” She did not, however, make a move herself from his big body. Had she truly ever given two damns about oversleeping?

“In fairness, you did not do much sleeping.” A purely masculine, all-knowing, and triumphant grin graced his lips. “I should have said ‘good afternoon.’ Morning came and went some hours ago,” he purred, all male satisfaction.

How easy his smile now came.

Each broken from their pasts, she and Malric worked as one towards a healing from the darkest parts of their lives…

Malric cupped her by the nape and angled her face the way he wanted her. She was already turning and lifting her mouth for the exquisite meeting of his skilled lips.

This contained a reverent gentleness that stirred her all the more. Folded in his arms, she felt all the things he’d vowed: protected, joyous, safe…loved.

“Fourteen hours.”

Addien choked. “Fourteen hours?” She’d slept more than half a day away.

“I wore you out.” His low, sonorous baritone oozed satisfaction. “You slept through every one of the ten change stops,” he said between each claim of her mouth. “Fifteen villages.” Malric grazed his lips along her neck. “Five counties.”

They’d made love on first one bench, then the other.

She’d climbed astride his narrow hips and rode him in time to the carriage’s sway.

Then, at the very end, after endless hours of loving left Addien replete, he’d knelt before her like a faithful knight presented to his powerful queen and proceeded to worship her with his mouth.

Her breath hitched in remembrance of his every masterful stroke.

“And yet, given you were awake the whole time, I’m left to believe I did not please you nowhere nearly enough as you did me, my king.”

Her words had the intended effect.

Malric’s eyes blazed bright with a potent blend of lust, love, and tenderness.

This time, he cupped her face in an achingly gentle hold.

“I did not, because after hours making love to you, my heart, I spent those fourteen unable to take my eyes from you. Whether sleeping or waking, you command me, Addien, mind, heart, body, and soul.”

Her heart quickened. “Oh, Malr—ohhh,” The rest of that cut off on a gasp as he scooped Addien under her arse and squeezed hard.

“You, my heart .” She shook from the fierceness with which that rasped from his throat. “You pleased me in ways I never believed possible,” he rasped harshly against her mouth; his rough tones hinted at his struggle at the newness of this softening of him.

This time, their mouths found one another in a kiss as soul-touch deep as it was loving. Addien sank her fingers into his hair.

Addien clung to him like ivy. She wanted to crawl inside him and live in this paradise just the two of them forever.

The wicked yearning he roused within her always grew sharp between her legs. Moaning, Addien dug her fingernails into his nape and shifted into place, getting herself astride him.

Malric obliged her with his fingers, caressing her as she so enjoyed.

“I want you now , Malric,” she pleaded, panting against his mouth.

“Do you?” he taunted, working his long fingers deep inside her slick heat.

Incapable of speech, Addien bit her lower lip and nodded.

“You want my cock inside you?”

His strokes quickened, stronger, harder, driving her higher.

“Yes!” she rasped.

“You want to ride me to completion?” he breathed against her ear.

“My God, yes!”

His tongue flicked over the delicate shell of her ear. “You’ll settle for these if you can’t have me?”

His fingers pumped faster, ruthless now, and she teetered on the edge.

“Yes,” she sobbed. She’d take whatever part of him he was able and willing to grant her.

“You may have them, Addien.” Then, softer, breaking through the lust, “You may have me. Every second. Every minute. Every day.”

Through the haze, her lashes lifted. His gaze burned into hers; dark, fierce, yet achingly bare.

Her heart caught. Surely he was not saying—

“Marry me, Addien. My heart. My queen. My very reason for this life.”

His vow broke her apart. “Yes!” she screamed as her released rocked her. “Yes. Yes. Yes.” The word tumbled from her lips, a vow and a surrender, as she shattered in his arms.

When he’d rung every last drip of pleasure from her shaking body, Addien collapsed against him; her chest dipped and rose fast and she clung to him.

Ever so tender, Malric eased his long fingers from her wet channel. As was his way, he raised the slick, glistening digits to his mouth and licked her essence from them.

Addien sighed. The sight of that tender yet naughty act would never not inflame her.

“It is too late, you know, Addien,” he said quietly, almost matter-of-fact. “That ‘yes’ may have been wrung from my touch—”

She giggled. “It wasn’t.”

“But I’ll claim it,” he murmured, “in the way I want it most.”

Her breath caught. In the way he wanted it most…

“You are binding yourself to me—in every way, for all of time.”

The words broke from him raw, stripped of their usual armor of hardness. Vulnerable. Fierce. For her alone.

Her heart surged, fierce as her love for this man. She met his wary eyes without flinching. “I love you, Malric. I want to marry you. To be your wife, your marchioness, your queen. Not because you claim me—but because I claim you. I am yours, Malric. In every way there is to belong.”

A muscle ticked in Malric’s jaw before he bowed his head, pressing his brow reverently to hers.

“We shall commit ourselves to one another on this day then,” he murmured, gently smoothing her skirts into place.

He lifted her into his arms and, with his elbow, pressed the door latch.

Sunlight streamed in, briefly blinding.

Malric set Addien down on her feet. She blinked, dazed, thrown off-balance, poised at the top of the world.

The earth unfurled in every direction; the stretch of green, rolling hills and pastures as vast as only the blue dome of sky overhead.

Its silence so complete, so full, that the errant dusting of wind served as life’s only sound.

A beauty so great Addien couldn’t bring herself to breathe for fear the fairy tale land before her was made of sugar and would be taken away on even the slightest exhale.

“It is your place, Addien,” Malric said, from behind her. “It is for you.”

With the sun high in the afternoon sky, a figure in a black ankle-length cassock moved to the edge of the hill.

Then it occurred to her…

Her breath hitched. “We are marrying.”

“Yes.”

He was determined to keep her awed. Malric could have a man of the cloth, a license, and a wedding planned in less than a day in England.

Reverently, Malric took Addien’s hands in each of his and raised them to his mouth. She trembled from his touch. He bestowed a kiss upon each knuckle. The top of each hand. And then her palms. Each kiss a gift. Each left her breathless.

“Are you ready to spend the rest of your days with me, Addien?” he whispered against her skin, still hot from the press of his lips.

Overwhelmed by the depth of her love, Addien nodded unevenly. “I am, Malric.”

His return grin oozed the same masculine pride he wore with the same ease he did his own skin.

“Then let us go join lives as one, my heart.”

And there, at this edge of heaven, where there was no war or world on fire with darkness and evil, Addien and Malric came together in love and promised themselves to one another forever.

The End

Power. Lust. Betrayal. In the shadows of Regency London, sins are bartered like coin, and love is the most perilous wager. The Seven Deadly Sins series dares you to surrender to them all.

One sin is never enough…

Indulge in the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins series:

Wrath—The Devil Duke

A fallen duke. A vengeful rival. Love is the deadliest gamble of all.

Lust—The Bad Earl

England’s most ruthless weapon. The lady too dangerous to resist.

Pride—The Rogue

A self-made empire. A defiant beauty. Some sins burn too hot to walk away from.

Sloth—The Fallen Earl

One scandalous night. One reckless choice. Desire will not be denied.

Obsession—The Unspoken Sin

His best friend’s sister. His greatest temptation. Some secrets refuse to stay buried.

Greed—The Savage

An orphan of the streets. A marquess in ruin. When survival and desire collide, nothing stays hidden.

Dive deeper into sin. Collect them all.