I nodded slowly. “Tiffany. The first woman I ever really loved. I met her at a bar one night. Supposed to be just a one-night stand. But when I found out that she was the girlfriend of one of the prominent gang leaders in our area, shit sort of hit the fan.”
“I can only imagine.”
I took her hand in mine. “He was abusive, her boyfriend at the time. And when I figured that out, all I wanted to do was kill him. All I wanted was to help her get out of that life so that we could have a life of our own. And I tried. I really did. But when her boyfriend found out—”
A knot crept into my throat and it took a while for me to swallow it down.
“West, if you don’t—”
I brought her hand to my lips to kiss. “He killed her, Chloe. I was running down the hallway, taking out men left and right. She was right there, in the kitchen, tied to a chair. The next thing I knew, I rounded the corner and he just… shot her. In the head. Right there, like she meant nothing.”
“Oh, West,” she whispered as she crawled out from beneath the covers.
I blinked back tears. “I couldn’t relive that again. I couldn’t lose you the way I lost her. It almost killed me, Chlo. It almost killed me holding her lifeless body while her brain matter seeped out onto the floor.”
“Come here,” she said softly as she wrapped herself around me, “I gotcha. It’s okay. I’m right here, handsome.”
My lower lip quivered as I clung tightly to her. “I almost had her, Chlo. And I couldn’t lose you. I can’t lose you. I just can’t. It was all my fault that she died. Completely my fault. And I just—”
She peppered my face with kisses. “It wasn’t your fault, West. It was never your fault. You’re not the one that put the gun to her head, do you hear me? You’re not the one that killed her. That was his fault, West. Look at me.”
I forced my watery gaze to hers. “It’s my fault you’re hurt.”
She looked deeply into my eyes. “You’re not the one that hit me. You’re not the one that beat on me. And you’re never going to lose me because I’m not leaving your side again. Where I go, you go, and vice versa. Got it?”
And before I could even think about pulling her body against my own, she did it for me.
Crashing our lips together as I quickly placed her onto her back.
Twenty-Two
Chloe
Our tongues melded together as he laid me down against the bed. Our bodies tangled themselves up with clothes dropping to the floor in the span of mere heartbeats. His lips slid down my neck, nibbling along my pulse point and puckering my tits as my legs spread for him. His girth fell between my pussy lips, the heat of his body overwhelming me.
And as he effortlessly slid into my body, my back arched.
“Fucking hell, West. I love it when you’re this close,” I groaned.
I wrapped my arms and legs around him as he slowly slid in and out of my body. My walls wet themselves for him, ushering him inside every time he thrusted forward. I gasped against his ear. I nibbled along the shell of it as we scrambled to get to the middle of the bed. He held onto me so tightly that I wasn’t sure where my body ended as he began.
I wanted to make love to him until I passed out from sheer exhaustion.
“Oh, Chloe,” he growled.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Fucking hell,” he grumbled.
I raked my nails down his back. “Oh, fuck. Right there. Right there. Just like that. Don’t do anything else.”
He steadied his movements, even as his entire body shivered with a need for release. My eyes rolled back as my juices dripped down my ass crack. I’d never felt such electricity jolt me awake in all my life. I’d never wanted to make love to anyone more than him in my entire life.
“I love you. I love you. Oh, good God. I’m coming. West. Holy fuck. I love you so much.”
I spit out the words effortlessly and endlessly, and I didn’t care if they got me into trouble. I didn’t care if I lost him over them. Somehow, some way, I had fallen in love with the man, and I wanted to proclaim it out to the rest of the world. I unraveled against him, shaking and trembling while my pussy milked his cock for all it had. And as he bit into the excess of my breasts, he exploded within me.
Marking me as his own.
