Page 89 of Hell of a Mess

Mal stared at me.

Silence.

Lace spun around, her eyes wide, and the hope in those ocean pools made me want to go put it on a damn billboard for her.

“What the fuck did you just say?” Mal asked, saying each word slowly and precisely.

I ignored him and cupped the side of Lace’s face. “Not words I’ve ever used, sugar. Never imagined I would. But that was before you.”

A sob escaped her, and she covered her mouth as a smile spread across her face. “Really? You…you love me?”

Hearing her ask it as if that was so impossible to believe sent a pang through me. I hated that she didn’t know how easy she was to love.

“Yeah, Ocean Eyes, I do.”

“You,” Mal said, and I lifted my eyes from Lace to look at him, “aren’t capable of loving her. Not properly.”

Lace’s eyes heated, and she started to turn around, but I stopped her, grinning at her immediate need to defend me.

“Easy, Wildcat,” I teased her.

“I never believed in miracles, Mal, but it seems we got ourselves one,” I replied as I looked back at him. “I love her, I’ll kill any fucker who hurts her, and I’ll have to hurt you if you try and take her with you.”

He shook his head, disbelief replacing anger as he looked from me to her. “You’re serious.”

“Yep.”

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered.

“You love me?”

My gaze went back to Lace. “Yeah, sugar.”

Unshed tears glistened in her eyes. “I love you.”

I smirked. “I know.”

She laughed and then sniffled as I wiped a tear from her cheek.

“I need a fucking drink,” Mal said.

“Help yourself to the good stuff,” I told him, taking Lace’s hand and backing her into the bedroom we’d both come out of.

Mal muttered several curses as he stalked away.

“I’m sorry he hit you,” she said, her sweet mouth turned down at the corners.

“Eh, I owed him one shot,” I told her.

“Why?”

I closed the door and laid my shit down on the table beside us, then backed her up, caging her in with my arms. “Because, sugar, I fucked his daughter,” I replied, then pressed a kiss to one corner of her lips. “I took her virginity on his kitchen table,” I added, kissing the other corner. “I ate her sweet pussy.”

She giggled, and I pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose.

“And I’m gonna continue to defile her delectable body until they put me in the ground. So, he deserved one hit. Maybe more, but I’m just giving him the one.”

She let out a shaky breath, and her eyelashes fluttered. “Will you defile me now?” she asked.