Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 110771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
“I knew by agreeing I was also giving myself a deadline. By the time our wedding was to take place, I needed to take charge of my life. That’s the only way that I could allow myself to claim you. That means, by then I needed to make sure my sister was safe and then I could finally fucking make my move. I’ve been working toward that in the background. I’m getting closer, but I’m not there yet, baby. Soon, I’ll make a place of safety for both you and Melina. I’ve been setting that up and I’m close. I can’t lie. It’s going fucking slow, but I’m doing it.”
“How much longer will it take you?” I ask and I know I don’t keep the frustration out of my voice. I think it’s impossible at this point.
He shrugs as if his answer doesn’t dictate my whole future. “However long it takes.”
However long it takes?
What kind of answer is that? He honestly expects me to accept it, too. It’s written on his face. I shake my head no. I don’t know if it’s to deny him, or just to clear my head. His features go tight, and he frowns at me. I bite my lip. I recall how sweet he was to Melina and the way he says he has to protect her and keep her safe. Then, I remember the way he makes me feel alive and has always done that. Yet, along with that, I know in my heart that I can’t live a life where I’m forgotten again. My father is really good at that. He’s not mean to me and in his way I’m sure he loves me. Yet, if Marco treats me like my father, I think it will probably kill me. I would die inside more and more every day.
“I can’t,” I whisper.
I’m talking more to myself than to him. Regret and hurt are curling inside of me and I can taste the bitterness it brings. I spoke so softly that I wasn’t sure Marco could even hear me. In truth, I was speaking mostly to myself. Still, his eyebrows raise and his face shifts so that his features literally harden right before my eyes, I know he did. I can also tell he’s not happy at all.
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t think I could take an indefinite amount of time before getting to know you. We’re engaged. I don’t see why we can’t spend time with one another. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for either. In fact, I think it’s perfectly normal.”
“I’m not a normal man,” he counters. Then, his face gets closer, filling my vision as he bends to me. “I never will be. This is what I need and you’re going to give it to me Helena.”
I shake my head to deny him, and he curves his hand around my neck to stop my denial.
“You are and do you know why?” he literally purrs.
I swallow nervously. “Wh-why?” I stumble, gushing the words out over my suddenly ragged breathing.
“Because you want to please me and to give me what I want.”
My heart thunders in my chest. Each beat is almost painful. My body feels as if it is slowly coming alive, electricity surging through my nerve endings. “What…” I have to stop and catch my breath. “What will you give me?”
His full lips are right in front of me. So close that I can see small lines in them. They spread into a smile. The smile doesn’t look as happy as it does wicked.
Completely and utterly wicked.
“Are you asking me to fuck you, Ena?”
My body does an all over shiver. There’s a sharp thrust of hunger that knifes through me and it seems to center between my legs. I bite my lip to hold back my moan from the pleasure that sends careening through me.
I don’t think I fully succeed.
“W-w-we can’t. I… I’m on my period,” I whisper, embarrassment making my face heat.
I wouldn’t have thought it was possible. I really wouldn’t have. Not until I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Somehow—again impossibly—Marco’s face gets even more wicked. Then, before I can take a breath his lips are on mine.
His hand on my neck becomes forceful as he holds me exactly where he wants me. He tugs on my hair and as I exhale from the sting of pain, his tongue pushes into my mouth. My gasp becomes a moan as his tongue tangles with mine and the taste of his kiss explodes around me. I lose myself. My hands go around him, my nails digging into his back as I try to hold him closer. His tongue forages through my mouth teasing and tasting me.
Nothing could have prepared me for Marco’s kiss. Like this. Nothing. It is unlike anything I could have imagined and it’s so much better than I could have dreamed. It also seems to go on forever and by the time he pulls back, my body feels like I’m holding onto a livewire. My lungs are burning, I’m gasping for breath, and my hips are rocking as I clinch my inner muscles. My nipples are tight and almost painful. I didn’t know it was possible to be this aroused.