Worry flashes over her features, but I don’t address it. We’ll deal with that bridge when we cross it.
I only spare a minute for the guest rooms, and when we walk into the main bedroom, I wave a hand over the area. “This is ours.”
“Ours?” she gasps, her eyes going wide.
I let go of Laurie’s hand, and gripping her chin, I lean into her and say, “You’re sleeping in my bed.”
She stares at me for a moment before arguing, “No…I can use one of the other rooms.”
There’s no fucking way I’m tolerating that shit.
“You’re my wife, which means you will sleep beside me. It’s not up for discussion.”
She rips her chin out of my hold and takes two steps backward. “What about what I want?!”
I’m amazed by the amount of patience I possess when it comes to my butterfly.
She’s signed the contract. We got married. I’ve made it abundantly clear she belongs to me.
Using the weapon she fears most, I remind her, “That ended the moment you accepted my money.”
I move forward, and when she backs up again, it rouses the predator in me. Smirking, I take another step, and this time when she inches away, I lunge.
Only a peep escapes her as I grab her off her feet. She’s so fucking easy to overpower, which feeds my dark and obsessed side.
Dropping Laurie on the bed, I pounce, crawling over her. I grip her by her chin, noticing her pulse fluttering like a trapped butterfly.
Ever so slowly, I lean down until I can feel her breaths bursting against my lips, then I growl, “You will sleep in this fucking bed with me. No buts.” Her body trembles violently, her frightened baby-blue gaze glued to me. It’s not difficult to guess where her mind’s at, and it has me saying, “We’ll wait with the sex until you’ve adjusted to everything. When I fuck you, it will be because you want it as badly as me.”
Laurie cautiously moves, and just like earlier, she rests her palm against my jaw.
I fucking love it and lean into her touch.
“Promise?” she whispers.
“Everything else is fair game, except for intercourse. I promise.”
“What do you mean by everything else?”
My smirk grows, and unable to resist, I nip at her bottom lip with my teeth. “I have to seduce you, my wife. How else will I win you over?”
Her eyebrows knit together. “That doesn’t answer my question. Whatexactlydoes everything else entail?”
“Holding you.”
Moving to lie down beside Laurie, I pull her into my arms. I’m almost overwhelmed by the urge to hug her so fucking tight that there’s a risk I might crush her. I fight it, and after soaking up how incredible she feels, I brush the tips of my fingers down the column of her pretty little neck.
“Touching you,” I murmur, keeping my tone low and seductive.
As I move my hand across her shoulder and down her arm, I’m filled with reverence.
How’s it possible that one day I have zero interest in dating because every available woman annoys the fuck out of me, then the next, this perfect creature walks into my life and ruins me so completely I hand over my sanity, my heart, my entire goddamn soul?
It’s gotten so bad I can’t stand having her out of my sight for too long before something vicious starts clawing at my chest. The darkest part of me wants to lock her away where no one else can look at her, touch her, or even breathe the same air as her unless I allow it.
It’s like my soul attached itself to Laurie’s the second our eyes met, and now it can’t exist without her.
When my fingers return to her collarbone and neck, I notice goosebumps spreading over her skin.