Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“Good. Now listen to me,” he says. “You’ve brought your brothers and sister to my home. We brought them here for protection. There were misunderstandings, and we’ve much to sort out. But they like it here, and we like having them here. And if you think I’ll let you waltz into my life, then take those children and yourself and waltz right back out again? Then you deserve this.”
That’s when the spanking he gives me begins in earnest. I can’t breathe or speak, as his hand falls. He slows down, adjusts me, and lets me have it.
It hurts, but nothing worse than I’ve had before. There’s more to it than that, though. I thought he broke down my walls before, but this… this is something else altogether.
He cares about me. He cares about us. Against all odds, he’s forgiven my transgressions against his family, and won’t let me run.
I’ve run all my life. It’s what I do. I run from anything that hurts, and letting someone care about me… goddamn it, letting someone love me… it could bring the very worst pain of all.
I’m sniffing and resigned, draped over his knee, when he finally stops and lifts me to his lap. My spanked bottom burns against the rough fabric of his trousers as he holds me, drags me to his chest, and kisses me so fiercely I can’t breathe. The salty taste of my tears invades the kiss, as he holds the back of my head. Then we’re up and I’m in his arms, and we’re heading to the bed.
He lays me down on my back, and watches my eyes.
“Will you run, Sheena?”
I shake my head from side to side. “No, sir. No, I won’t.”
“Good lass,” he says with approval, his words like salve to my wounded soul.
He’s taking off his clothes, but his eyes don’t leave mine.
“Will you hold yourself back from me?”
A part of me wants to run and hide, to bury the parts of me I show no one. But I can be brave. I can.
I shake my head. “No, sir. I won’t, I promise, even if it kills me.”
He bends and tangles his fingers through my hair. “Lass, I won’t ever lie to you. You’re a hard woman to love, Sheena Hurston. You need someone willing to break down the fortress you keep yourself in. This is no rescue, doll.” He strips while he talks, and I watch him grip my hips as he lines his thick, swollen cock at my entrance. “This is plundering. Ravaging. Taking home the spoils of war.”
It’s a battle of hearts in which there are two victors.
Without preamble, he thrusts into me. I moan. I love that he knows I need him right now, to fill me, to take me, to unite us together. He builds a rhythm that sends spasms of pleasure rippling through me, my heart pounding harder with every perfect, powerful thrust.
“And you, Sheena, are worth it.” He thrusts again, as he claims me, takes me. “I’ll fight for you. I’ll take you on. I’ll make you mine.”
That does it, goddamn it. I’m no more able to stop my heart from joining his than I am to stop the tide. I’m swept under, swallowed by waves of longing.
“I love you,” he says with a grin, like he needs to say this as badly as I need to hear it. “You’re impossible and headstrong and you’ve got a smart mouth to boot.”
I do, I don’t deny any of it.
“Is that right?” I ask on a moan. “And you, sir, are bossy as fuck and sexy as hell.”
He thrusts so hard I might split in two. “And that’s exactly what you need,” he counters.
“Aye,” I say, my voice cracking from the need that suffuses me as my heart threatens to burst. “’Tis. I’ll give my everything to you, Nolan McCarthy. There’s no other man in the world who knows me like you do.” He bends and his forehead meets mine. My voice wavers but I don’t stop. Now that I’ve started, I can’t. “There’s no other man who’s seen the ugliest side of me and still… and still…” I can’t finish. I close my eyes and moan, as he comes inside me, and I explode with pleasure. I’m at his mercy as spasms of ecstasy wash over me.
We join our release as one. I entwine my arms around him as our movements slow.
“Finish the sentence, Sheena,” he pants. “And still…”
I close my eyes because it’s too much. I can’t hold him and surrender to him, and look him in the eyes all at once.
At least I don’t think I can, not at first.
But I’m tired of hiding behind my anger and vengeance. With effort, I open my eyes and look at him. “And still loves me,” I finish.
He grins, that heart-stopping, panty-soaking grin that melts me, every time. “Aye, doll,” he says. “And still loves you.”