Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 181(@200wpm)___ 145(@250wpm)___ 121(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 181(@200wpm)___ 145(@250wpm)___ 121(@300wpm)
I’d taken her to my place in the Iron Tzars compound the next day. Now, we lay in my bed, naked and wrapped around each other. Rose dozed, but I fought sleep. I wanted to enjoy holding her for as long as I could.
“Atlas?”
“Yeah, baby.”
“What happened to the Swede? Did you catch him?”
“We didn’t. But your dad and his team did. As to what happened to him? I don’t know. Though I have a good idea. Whatever they did, you can rest assured that guy will never harm another soul. Ever.”
“What about Dutch?”
I was silent for a moment, looking down at her intently. “Don’t ask unless you want to know, Rose. I won’t lie to you, but that means you’ll have to face some uncomfortable facts sometimes.”
“Like what?”
“Like the fact that your dad and I both have something in common with each other. We’re both killers. You may never see that side of either of us. But it’s there. If ever there was a man who deserved those monsters, it was Dutch. And that whole stinkin’ club.”
“I understand. And yes. I still want to know.”
“I beat him to death.” I knew he told me the truth. I’d seen some of it. I think I knew in my heart that, when I called Atlas to me, it was already too late to prevent him from killing Dutch. It wasn’t that I didn’t want Dutch dead. The bastard needed to be sent straight back to hell where he came from. I just hadn’t wanted it to be Atlas, because I didn’t want that stain on his soul.
“I figured as much. If you’re expecting me to be shocked and faint or some other hokey bullshit, don’t hold your breath. That bastard deserved worse.”
“He got worse. And he died. After a while.”
“Good. I hate it had to be you who did it, but I can’t be sorry you did. He hurt a lot of people.”
“The only person I cared about him hurting was you, Rose. He was a dead man the second he touched you.”
“Good. Then he wasn’t shocked.”
He grinned at me. “I didn’t say that. I don’t think he fully appreciated my abilities. He learned to, for all the good it did him. We also found several dozen more women and young girls. It’s by no means everything, but maybe it stopped the trafficking in the immediate area.”
“So everything you did, all the time you spent with those horrible people paid off.”
“Hum… I don’t know. I mean, I’d have given up on everything to keep you safe. I’m just sorry it took me so long to figure it out.”
“I had to talk you out of calling in your team not two hours after you brought me back. I don’t think that’s a very long time.”
“It was. Because I was honest with you before. You had me with the tire iron. I knew that very instant you were mine. I’d say the timing was piss-poor but maybe it was perfectly timed. If you’d been five minutes later, Dutch and his men would have found you instead of me. Then where would we have been? I should have called in my team the second I had the chance. I think that’s the biggest reason your dad will have a hard time forgiving me or trusting me with your safety. I shouldn’t have let you talk me into waiting.”
“Well, it’s done with now. I’m with you.”
“Yeah. And you’re with me.”
* * *
Bellarose
He rolled us so that I lay beneath his much bigger body and settled himself between my thighs. His lips found mine, and he kissed me gently. Atlas had taken all kinds of time learning my body. Kissing every inch of skin he could get his lips on. He’d spent hours learning my body’s responses. What brought me up slowly and what drove me mad. I had fun exploring him too. And Atlas had a magnificently wonderful body.
When he had me gasping in his arms, Atlas entered me, pushing through my wet folds to fill me.
“Mmmm,” I hummed my pleasure as he continued to kiss me. Would I ever get enough of this man?
“Mmmm,” he hummed back, a slight chuckle in his voice. Then Atlas started to move inside me. Slow, deliberate strokes turned harder and more frantic. Finally, he surged forward into me. Deeper. Harder. Faster. When he slammed into me over and over, we both cried out, our bodies coated in sweat. My heart beat heavily, my exertion liberating.
“You’re amazing, Rose. God, I love you!”
I shuddered against him. The words filled me with pleasure almost as great as the orgasms he’d given me. “I love you too, Atlas.”
Once he’d cleaned me up, he lifted me from the bed and carried me to the closet. “Let’s get dressed. There’s something I have to do this morning, and I want you to be there before it starts.”