Page 63 of The Forbidden Bodyguard

To protect her.

“What was that? You want to marry him? You like the man, do you?” I lift my brows. “Can’t wait to fuck him?”

She turns away, not liking where this is going.

Neither do I, but I see it working, so I go even deeper.

I take her chin. “Tell me, Stella. Say it. Speak the words. Tell me you want to put those panties he sent you on under your wedding dress. That you want Tony to spread your legs and shove his tongue inside your pussy. To taste you.”

Fury at the images my words are producing races through me so violently, if I was armed, I’d probably pull the weapon out and shoot the fucking TV.

“Stop it!” Stella shoves me and launches across the room.

I stand, planting my hands on my hips.

I’m mad at her, at Marino, at life, at my fucking father for dying, at my mother for her own subtle coercion and making me think I have to prove myself outside of the Navy.

So what if I fail?

So what if I do end up working in a bar on an island? But what I won’t do is let this woman die.

Mom needs to get over my father and live her life as he’d want her to. The Navy has honored his life every year since his death and still will. If she still wants to stay part of the community, that’s on her. Life has seasons. I’m moving on.

I’m proud as fuck of what I did as a SEAL, and if my country needed me, I’d put my boots back on. But not because I feel like I’m having to fill my father’s shoes to keep mom happy.

How the hell I’ve done it this long I don’t know. But watching Stella paralyzed by her own situation has snapped me out of my own inactivity. That and whatever the consequences of me protecting her are, I don’t give a fuck. She’s my priority now.

She feels like my everything.

“How dare you speak like that to me?”

“Do you? Do you want his cock inside you? More than mine?” I continue pushing her to the edge until she confesses it all.

“No! Stop. Don’t confuse me!”

I lift a brow and take a step. “Confuse you? Confuse you? You don’t know whose cock you want more?”

She’s breathing hard, and I realize I am, too.

Stella shakes her head rapidly. “No, no, no.”

“Who have they got?”

“No one.”

My phone beeps, and I’ll bet my last dollar it is Josh. “Who are they threatening? Is this about your mother? Your father?”

Color drains from her face.

Bingo.

“Is that it? Is your father forcing you to marry Marino?”

“STOP! Declan. Don’t do this. Stop, stop, stop, stop! I can’t—”

I grab her arms, slightly shaking her. “Stella. This man is dangerous. You cannot destroy your life. I won’t let you.”

She stills, and wet, terrified, and desperate eyes lift to mine. Then, quietly, almost deathly quiet, in a tone that sends shivers through me, she says, “It’s not up to you. The decision is made.”