Page 26 of His to Keep (Reluctant Vows #6)

E ilidh

Pinned to the bed by some unseen force, I can’t move any part of my body.

The room around me is white, sterile, like a hospital room.

There’s someone in here with me, but I can’t see his face.

It’s hidden behind a mask. Terror courses through my veins as he approaches me, taking slow, measured steps.

There’s a knife with a serrated edge in his left hand.

It’s a vicious weapon, intended to inflict horrific damage.

Maniacal laughter suddenly fills the air as red rivulets of blood run down the walls until the room is drenched with it.

Blood drips from the ceiling like torrential rain, to soak my hair.

It blinds me as it hits my face, getting in my eyes.

The man is beside me now. My heart stops beating.

This is it. He raises the knife and then pauses.

He starts to take off his mask, wanting me to see the face of the man who’ll end my life. The mask lifts from his face and…

I wake with a start, sitting bolt upright in the bed next to Gio.

“Fuck, Eilidh!” Gio switches on the lamp on the nightstand beside him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” I glance over my shoulder at him as he reaches up to rub my back. “It was just a stupid dream. It didn’t mean anything.”

That’s a boldfaced lie. It meant something.

The symbolism was obvious, but I don’t want to analyze it.

In fact, with the blood thundering through my veins, talking is the last thing I want to do right now.

There’s a pent-up energy inside me demanding to be released.

I can think of only one way to let out my frustrations.

Moving quickly so I take him by surprise, I turn and push Gio down onto his back.

I straddle his hips and grab his wrists, pinning his hands to the bed as I brush my pussy back and forth over his cock.

It quickly wakes up. Gio flexes his hands and pulls his wrists out of my grasp.

He takes hold of my waist and forces me to stay still.

“Gio,” I whine.

He shakes his head. “Kitten, I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Since when do we care about good ideas?” I scoff.

“All we’ve had since we first laid eyes on each other are bad ideas that somehow worked out okay.

We’ve dodged hardened criminals with half-baked plans and a shitload of luck.

In the grand scheme of things, I don’t think riding my husband is the worst decision I’ll ever make. ”

“Okay, but…”

I bend to kiss him, cutting off whatever he was about to say. He wants to fuck me, but he’s trying to be considerate. As much as I love him for that, it’s not what I need right now.

“I want this.” I rock my hips, slicking his rigid cock with my juices to prove the point. “So seal those pretty lips, settle that fine ass down, and let me have my way with you.”

Gio’s mouth falls open as if I’ve shocked him. He hesitates for only a moment before throwing his arms wide.

“Very well, wife, take what you want. Use me.”

I get the biggest thrill when Gio acts all dominant and takes charge, but him letting me take the reins is incredibly sexy because I know this goes against his nature.

Kissing him hard on the lips, I sit back and strip off the t-shirt I wore to sleep in.

I toss it aside and start to lower my panties, a cute lace pair I bought a dozen of when Gio took me shopping in Florence.

They received Lorenzo’s seal of approval, which, believe me, neither I nor Gio needed.

In fact, my husband did not hold back in telling his cousin where to shove his unsolicited opinion.

“Rip them off me,” I command.

Gio doesn’t hesitate. Barbarian that he is, he relishes the prospect of tearing off my underwear. He grips the sides of my panties and pulls until they come away in shreds. I feel the wetness between my legs increasing and my pussy clenches.

I wrap a hand around the base of Gio’s cock and pump a couple of times. His eyes roll back.

“Uh-uh,” I scold. “Eyes on me.”

Positioning myself over him, I ease down onto his cock. The fullness is incredible. At this angle, he’s so deep inside me I feel it right at my core. Slowly at first, experimenting to find what works, I move up and down. I swivel my hips, finding a rhythm I like.

As I ride him harder and faster, I rake my nails down his chest. Gio hisses as if in pain, but his eyes are glazed over with desire. The sense of power that gives me is incredible.

Gio takes hold of my hips and bucks up into me.

He sits up and wraps his arm around my back.

Kissing me hard, he takes control, increasing the rhythm until I’m close.

An orgasm lies tantalizingly out of reach until Gio senses my need and slides a hand between us.

The circular motion of his finger on my clit drives me to the brink.

“Gio, please,” I beg.

I expect him to work my clit harder, but what he does has the same explosive effect.

He dips his head, takes my nipple into his mouth and bites.

My scream rends the air as I come more violently than I ever have before.

I slump forward, my head on Gio’s shoulder as he fucks me through this insane climax.

“I’m close,” he tells me.

“No.” I push his chest, and he immediately pauses. His brow furrows as he tries to work out what he’s done wrong. I flash him a wicked grin as I carefully disentangle myself from him and lie back on the bed. “I want you to fuck my tits. I want you to come all over them.”

Gio doesn’t let his obvious surprise at my request stop him. He positions himself over me, resting his cock between my breasts.

“Push them together.” His voice is hoarse. “Squeeze tight.”

I do as he asks, creating a snug passage for his cock to slide in and out of.

The sensation as he fucks me this way is odd.

For some reason it feels even dirtier than when he claimed my ass.

He thrusts a few times then pulls back, groaning as if he’s in agony.

His seed splatters across my chest. Gio takes a moment to recover from his exertions and then, for good measure, rubs his cum into my skin.

“From now on, we’ll refer to that as ladies’ choice,” he says as he kisses my forehead.

We both crawl back into bed and he opens his arm wide so I can snuggle close. I shut my eyes, but I know sleep is too far off. Something about the stillness of the night gives me the courage to speak.

“You asked me about Tommy McCain,” I say.

I feel, rather than see, Gio’s nod. “Was he the man you slept with?”

“No.” That disgusting thought makes me shudder. “Tommy is Jason’s enforcer, his brutal right hand.”

“Okay,” Gio says carefully. “Tell me about him.”

I take a deep breath. “He enjoyed hurting me. I don’t mean beatings or anything like that, but whenever he escorted me somewhere for Jason he’d grab me too hard, drag me around. He left a lot of bruises.”

Gio goes rigid beneath me, and I don’t need to look at him to know his face will be a mask of fury.

“He bruised you?” Gio’s voice is tight with tension.

“Yeah. He also did this thing where he used his knuckles to rap the top of my head. You know, like he was knocking on a door. He’d yell at me, asking if I had a brain in my head.

” I let out a nervous laugh. “You know, when I say it out loud, it doesn’t sound like I suffered much.

I mean, Jason and Jasmine were also mean to me, but nobody beat me. ”

“They tortured you in other ways.”

“Yeah, they did.”

I tell Gio all about the isolation of being locked in my room almost all the time, of being fed the bare minimum and having lukewarm showers because I wasn’t good enough to use the hot water Jason paid for.

I share the pain I felt when they mocked me over the murder of my family.

Every awful thing anyone said or did to me in the Henry household comes flooding out.

Once I start speaking I can’t stop until I’m done.

As I confide in Gio, a pressure is lifted from my chest.

“You withstood it all, kitten.” Gio hugs me a little tighter. “They tried to break you, but you were too strong for them.”

“I get that from my mum.” My breath catches at the back of my throat. “I miss her the most.”

It kills me that she won’t be around to share all the major events in my life. I’d have loved to have her at my wedding and if I ever have kids, I know she’d have been the greatest grandmother.

“Of course you miss her.” Gio strokes my cheek. “You know, if you need to cry, go ahead. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable in front of me. I’ll never take advantage of your moments of weakness.”

His words are unnecessary since his actions have already shown me what kind of man he is. I shake my head. “I don’t need to cry. Now I’ve told you about it, I feel… liberated, I guess. It’s like a weight’s been lifted.”

“I get that. When I told you I dreamed about being shot, I definitely felt lighter afterward.”

Wriggling out of his grasp, I prop myself up on my elbow and look down at him. “Gio, you barely said a word about the shooting.”

“I said enough.”

There’s no point in arguing. This silly stoic man will tell me more when he’s ready. Of course, I may be old and gray when that happens. Until then, I’ll mop his brow when he has nightmares and soothe him back to sleep.

“So, Tommy McCain’s the one you want to suffer?” Gio’s question deftly switches the focus back to me once more.

“Well, I want to see him, Jason, and Jasmine bleed, but I reckon Sandy should be the one to deal with them. He’ll need to make Jason suffer since he was the one who actually murdered my family. Tommy wasn’t there that night…”

“So, it’s only you he harmed?”

I nod. “Sandy’s vengeance will be for our parents, for Jamie, Erin, and Lorna. You’ll exact revenge on the man who hurt your wife.”

“Yes, I will,” Gio says decisively. “Do you realize you’ve started calling your brother Sandy? He was surprised by it.”

“Well, it’s what everyone else called him. I never thought it suited him, but now it reminds me of when we were a family.”

Gio caresses my arm soothingly. “You can be a family again.”

“I hope so. Once Jason and his crew are wiped out and Tommy McCain is gone.”

Gio’s expression darkens. “I’ll make him bleed for you, kitten. I’ll cut his dick off and shove it down his throat. Then I’ll rip his heart from his chest.”

To any other woman, his words would probably sound horrific, but to me they’re a declaration of love. Safe in the knowledge he’ll protect me, I cuddle into Gio and go back to sleep.