His thrusts become firmer. He enters me over and over and over again. I’m powerless to stop the pleasure growing inside of me until it finally overtakes me.
“Gabriel,” I moan as I come.
He growls into my neck and follows quickly after. Neither one of us moves. The strength in his arms to keep me upright on the wall is impressive. It reminds me of how much of a man he is. How powerful he is. How sexy and strong.
He lifts his head and looks into my eyes. “You are mine.”
“Yes. And you are mine.”
“I’ve never belonged to anyone before.”
“There’s a first time for everything. And you are mine too. This marriage will work both ways. Me at your side. Not me as your prisoner.”
“I don’t want you as my prisoner any longer,” he admits. “You were never really my prisoner to begin with. All of my past prisoners have been people I discarded. Killed without a thought. But with you, I haven’t been able to get you off my mind. Not when we first met and not now. Not even after I’ve had you.”
“You’ve never loved a woman, have you?”
“I’ve been with women in the past but yes, I’ve never loved anyone.”
I don’t ask him if he loves me. I don’t want to ruin this moment just yet.
“It’s you and me now,” I whisper, clutching his face. “Don’t forget that.”
“How could I?” His eyes search mine. “God, what are you doing to me, Susanna? No one has ever made me feel this way before.”
“Why me?”
“Because I’ve always seen parts of me in you. Your darkness. How misunderstood you can be. But I see you for you. And I still want you.”
I blink back the tears that hit me. No one has ever said anything so nice to me in my entire life. Well… not since my dad died.
He sets me on my feet. We both fix our clothes but our eyes keep finding each other’s. We don’t want this moment to end.
But the second the doorbell rings, we both know it’s over.
“Who is it?” I ask.
“Probably Isaac. I asked him to come over.” He checks the peephole and then quickly backs away from the door. “It’s Luca. Fuck. He did follow you here. He’s never known where I lived before.”
“Let me talk to him,” I blurt out.
“No. He’s shown that he’ll hurt you to get to me. Go hide. I’ll deal with him.”
“No.” I grab Gabriel’s arm. “Don’t do this. Let me talk to him. Let me explain that I’m happy here. That he doesn’t have to do this. That you two can make peace.”
“He tried to kill you to get to me, Susanna. His own sister-in-law. He’ll never make peace.”
Before I can say anything else, the door bursts open and Luca storms into the house, his gun raised and pointed right at Gabriel.
I don’t even know what I’m doing as I put myself in front of Gabriel. But it’s too late. Luca is pulling the trigger without even thinking.
And the next thing I know is pain radiating up my stomach. I cry out as I fall to the ground. Luca’s eyes widen when he realizes what he has done.
Gabriel catches me in his arms and lowers me down.
I look at my stomach and all I can see is blood before a darkness starts to overtake my vision.
Chapter Eighteen
