Then he looks at me like he’s seeing me for the first time.
“You’re serious?” he murmurs.
“Yeah.”
Something shifts in him. The tension drains from his features, replaced by something feral as he steps forward, takes my face in both hands, and kisses me.
Not carefully.
Not polite.
Just real.
The fabric of my crop top rises as he pulls it over my head and moves to grab my breasts. His thumbs graze over both nipples at the same time, causing a needy moan to rumble from my throat.
“You have no idea what this means to me, princess.” Then he kisses me again and hooks his fingers underneath the waistband of my shorts, yanking them down over my butt and tossing them onto the floor.
“Ben… I’m scared.”
He pulls back a bit. “Is it because I’m the father, or because of everything else?”
“Both.”
He exhales noisily. “I’ll never hurt you. You and that baby are mine to protect. That’s not control; that’s loyalty.”
His words tighten my chest. I want to believe him, but my brain is short-circuiting between what he’s saying and what he’s doing.
“You’re shaking.”
I inhale. “I’m processing.”
His lips find my neck, slow at first, then hungrier. He leaves a trail down my throat, and my hands instinctively grab his shoulders to steady myself. “I don’t want you to be scared of me. I want you to trust me.”
“I’m trying.”
“Try harder.” His tone dips into something darker but not cruel, just honest. “You think I wanted this life? To fight my father, my brother, and the whole damn world just to keep what’s mine?”
“No.”
“Good, then we’re on the same page.” He presses another kiss to my rapid pulse and then says, “I’m falling in love with you, princess. Put that on your list of things to overthink about.”
For a moment, I think I imagined it, but then he says it again, firmer, like he’s daring me to argue.
“I love you, Sienna.”
My stomach flips in excitement and a bit of dread. “You don’t get to say that now.”
“Why not?”
“Because that makes it real.”
He presses his mouth to mine again. “Itisreal.” And the way he says it, a little certain, almost makes me believe him. “And you’re going to show me it’s real, princess.”
“H-how?”
One of his hands drops between my legs and cups my pussy when he mutters, “You’re going to mark me. You’re going to come on my cock. You’re going to moan my name when I thrust into you because you love how I fuck you. And I’m going to give you and our baby the world.”
12
