Page 63 of Protective Phlox

“Why?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. Did you really think that I’d want to get back together with Shawn and fall into his arms when I saw him?”

Gripping her chin, I brushed my lips against hers. “Don’t ever say his fucking name in our bedroom again, or I will send someone to kill him.”

She licked her lips and then smiled. “That’s actually really tempting,” she said, and no other response could’ve made me smile more.

“You’re so violent, Mrs. Mikhailov.”

“Am I? It must be my husband’s influence. He’s a vicious man.”

“Is he now?”

“He is, and he’d kill you if he knew I was here in your bed,” she said, with a devilish grin tugging at her lips.

“Our bed.” I loved how she kissed me like she was as possessed as I was, even though that was humanly impossible. “Do you like that?”

“Like what?”

“The thought of being with another man, sneaking around behind my back?” I smirked at her as the ‘Are you fucking stupid’ look darkened her eyes. She was quick as she rolled away and marched for the door.

Leaping out of bed, I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her back into my body. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Don’t fucking say that to me, not even as a joke. I would never do that. Hell, I was faithful to you when we weren’t even together. Can you say the same,” she snarled the question at me. Fuck me. I loved her jealous streak. Even though it was wrong, it brought me intense satisfaction that she hadn’t been with anyone else.

Spinning her around, I ate up the anger coming off of her like it was a steak dinner. Everything about her fit with me on a level that I didn’t just want or need but had to have. Savannah fueled my soul.

“I know you wouldn’t.” I tipped her chin up. “I trust you, Savannah. I just like you all fired up. But you must know that I’ll never cheat on you. I can be just as angry that you think I was fucking around on you at my club.” She flicked her eyes away, but I forced her to look at me. “Nah, Kisa, you don’t get to do that.” I slowly wrapped her hair around my fist and forced her head back until she looked at me. Savannah’s hands clenched my shirt, and her eyes were alight with defiance. My cock ached to be inside of her and to wipe that look from her eyes as she begged for more. “Say the fucking words, and you better mean them.”

Her jaw tensed as she pressed her lips together in a hard line. “Say it, Kisa. You know what you need to say.”

Savannah ground her teeth before taking a deep breath, and the anger she was hanging onto was gone a moment later. “I believe you. I trust you, and I promise not to think you’ll cheat on me again,” she said.

“Good girl, but don’t lose this jealousy because fuck, it’s hot,” I said and then sucked her lower lip into my mouth.

“Just so you know, the only way I would ever be with anyone else was if it was by force, and even then, I’d fight with all I had before that happened.”

“I know, and I vow that I’ll kill any motherfucker, including their entire family if someone ever did that.” I crushed my lips to hers, demanding she open for me. She still resisted a little before giving in and letting me taste her mouth. Savannah was trembling in my arms when I broke the kiss, her lips red from the sudden abuse.

“I do have one rule going forward. You never dress me down in front of my men like you did tonight, or I’ll bend you over and fuck you in front of them. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice wavering on the simple word.

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good.” Releasing her, I stepped back and admired my handy work. “I want to show you something.” My fingers quickly undid the buttons on my shirt, and with a shrug, it slipped off my shoulders. Tossing it aside, I turned around to show Savannah my back and smirked as she gasped.

“Oh my god,” she whispered, and I shivered as her fingers traced the new tattoo proudly displaying her name across the entire width of my shoulders. “It’s beautiful.”

“I love you, Savannah. We’re partners in every way.” I turned to my side and lifted my left arm to show her Cutter’s name across my top rib. “For every child that we have, I will line my ribs with their names as they are a part of my soul, just as you are my heart.”

Tears trickled down her cheeks, and I cupped her face, wiping them away with my thumbs.

“You’re right. I am a vicious man who has and will continue to do vile things that most couldn’t stomach because that is who I have to be. But…I give you my word that I will never become my father and desecrate what we share. I’ll rip my beating heart from my chest and hand it to you if I ever hurt you or our family.”

Taking Savannah’s hands in mine, I knelt, and her bottom lip trembled harder. “I don’t like how we got married, as hot as it was to bend you over the consulate desk,” I said, and Savannah smiled, her cheeks flaming red. “Will you honor me and marry me for real, and not because you were forced to? I know that my world is not what you pictured for your life, but I’m asking you to marry me because you choose this life with all the good and bad it comes with, because you choose our family, and because you choose me. In return…I give you all of me.”