Page 173 of Sins of the Orchid

When I heard her whisper those three little words attached to my name as gunfire blazed and glass shattered all around us, a strange kind of peace came over me. In the midst of gunfire.How appropriate.

I was her darkness and she was my light.

Eight years ago, a red-haired girl with wide, shimmering emeralds met my gaze. I still remembered the intense feeling that shook through me… the urge to protect her at all costs. Make her smile, see her eyes shine with happiness, not with tears. And she trusted me! Blindly. Completely.

Even as she got a glimpse of my ruthlessness, she never shied away. As she grew up, she became stronger despite her softness. Ambitious and fair. Protective of the people she loved. So much that she would burn down the world to protect the ones she loves. She was my match in every way.

I had never known this kind of peace. And to know that my kind of love and obsession didn’t terrify her left me speechless.Shebrought me back to life.

Maybe my black, selfish heart recognized her all those years ago and waited for her to become a woman. I had been hers from that moment on.

My chest grew all warm. For fuck’s sake, I thought it might actually glow like a damn lightning bug. I wanted to give her everything she deserved and more. Make her happy so she’d always laugh, and I could hear those soft sounds every day. Have babies with her, little girls with her emerald eyes and smile that could light up the city.

Though not sure how well that would bode for my heart and sanity. My possessiveness and obsession was already in turbo mode. It would go into insanity if we had little girls. We’d make sure we had lots of boys too.I’ll need a lot of help to keep everyone away from them, I thought wryly.

“How much longer?” Amore asked in a soft voice. We had been running and walking for an hour. I was fairly sure we’d lost the men coming after us and she had to be exhausted.

Now, I just had to get us to the spot where Renzo and I kept an emergency escape vehicle and get us to my cabin.

“You good?” I questioned Amore. She hadn’t complained once.

“Yes.” Her hand was still in mine. I had no intention of letting it go. Ever! “One thing’s for sure,” she remarked in a dry tone.

“What’s that?” I asked her curiously.

“We’ll sleep well tonight after this hiking adventure.” She glanced my way, her green eyes shimmering, and my lips tugged up into a smile. Her dress was stained with my blood, her feet probably bruised, and yet, she still found humor.

“You might be right,” I retorted, smiling. “Though next time, we’ll do a better job being prepared.”

“Ah, Santi,” she fanned herself with her other hand. “So many promises. I can’t wait.”

I gently tugged her hair, just the way I used to do it before the marriage contract came about. She took her lip between her teeth and nervously chewed on it, making my cock stir to life.

“I’m thinking you know who those men are.” I changed the topic to something more serious. It was time we started to come clean about some things.

She rolled her eyes. “Well, duh. It is either someone that wants you dead or someone that wants me dead.”

“Smarty pants.” I tugged on her hair again. “Now, tell me,” I ordered. When her head snapped to me, I added with a smile, “Please, baby. It’s about time we compare notes; don’t you think?”

Amore might be young, but she was strong and smart. It was time we joined forces and worked against this threat together.

She took a deep breath. “I guess you should know since you were shot at because of me,” she muttered. She tilted her head up to the sky. “You are going to think I’m crazy.”

“I don’t think you are crazy,” I murmured. “After all, you are going to marry me.”

“We haven’t settled that yet,” she retorted dryly. “But now is not the time for that.”

“We’ll see about that,” I told her. “Now tell me what is so crazy.”

“I think my stepfather, George Anderson, is alive.”

“Did you see something in Venezuela?” I asked her and her head whipped my way. Before she could ask anything, I added, “Yes, I know you went to Venezuela with DeAngelo. And you tried to slice my throat.”

Her lips parted. “H-how did you know? Did DeAngelo—”

I shook my head. “No, that man will never betray your trust. I’d recognize your ass anywhere, Amore. I know how every inch of you feels.” She chewed on her bottom lip in that way that drove me nuts. “I could never mistake you for someone else, my sex monster. And you called Gabriel, Ink. Nobody else calls him that.”

She rolled her eyes trying to play it off, but she knew she had made a mistake.