Page 105 of Vows of Blood

Slow and sensual, nothing like the frantic couplings we've shared before, she rides me, her hands braced against my chest as I lift her up and down.

I worship her, kissing across her collarbone, tongue tracing around her nipples, thumb stroking her clit now in time with each thrust.

“More,” I growl.

Closer. I need her closer to me.

Sitting up, I band one arm around her and pull her closer, her breasts rubbing against me, our bodies pressing together. After violence, after fear, the body craves connection, and right now, I crave her with every cell.

Lips forming a perfect O, she gasps as I drive up into her harder, faster and more frantic, lost to the all-consuming need to feel alive, to feel her come apart around me, to feel that togetherness that could have so easily been lost if I’d been just another minute later getting home.

“You’re mine, Sienna,” I whisper against her ear as she tenses in my arms, her whimpers becoming louder, and her pussy tightening around me. “I don’t care what I said before, I’m never letting you go.”

“Luca,” she cries out, her eyes wild and cheeks flushed as I drag my teeth over her nipple, driving up harder into her sweet pussy. I feel like a king when she yells my name, her walls fluttering around me as she falls apart.

I follow her over the edge, burying myself deep inside her, pulling her down against me as we both shudder through the aftershocks.

She collapses on top of me, her heart pounding against mine.

I hold her close, stroking her back while pressing kisses to her hair. The room is quiet except for our gradually slowing breaths and contented sighs.

“Are you okay?” I whisper.

She blinks, still hazy, still sprawling over my body, her hair loose around her shoulders. "Luca, what did you mean?"

"This." I gesture vaguely at the bed, at her and at us, and pump my hips where I’m still inside her. "It's not a marriage of convenience anymore. I'm not sure it ever was." I cup her face, running my thumb across her cheekbone. "The deal is off. This is real. You're mine, and I'm yours, and nothing is ever going to change that."

She stares at me for a long moment.

Worried she’s still not following, I make myself a hundred percent clear. “You’re not leaving. Ever.”

Worried that might’ve been a bit much when she’s just had to fight off an assassin because of her association with me, I sigh with relief when a shy smile spreads across her face, small but genuine.

“You might get sick of me,” she ventures, sitting upright, clenching her insides around me.

I moan loudly, my head falling back to hit the wall behind it. “I won’t.”

Her small hands slide lower, over my abs, trailing across the sensitive skin of my hips and groin, apparently, ready for round two.

"I'm going to hold you to that," she warns. “You won’t be able to get rid of me.”

Sighing happily, I tuck a strand of her long hair behind her ear, the gesture settling me as I soak in the sight of her happy smile. She leans forward to press a kiss to my lips.

"I'm counting on it."

33

SIENNA

Luca doesn't let go of my hand the entire drive to the hotel, his protectiveness still on overdrive even though the doctor gave me the all clear.

On the far side of him, Mikhail sits in silence, a field dressing wrapped around his thigh, staring out the window. He hasn't spoken since we left the house, but I can sense his desperate need to see Kate with his own eyes before he'll really believe she's alive.

I should hate him. I'm still afraid of him, but every time I look at him now, I see the way he fell to his knees in front of that screen, and I understand him a little better. I don’t forgive him or want to spend any extended amount of time with him, but I can understand why.

In this world, I suppose it makes sense.

He did terrible things driven by grief and a desire to get justice for the one he loves. Thinking of the scars that cross Luca's back, anger rises up inside me much stronger than the one I feel on my own behalf, because to do that to someone you're supposed to protect, to your child, is unforgivable.