Just as I’d always be Lucian Morelli, my beautiful sweetheart would always be Elaine Constantine, and I wanted her that way. I wanted Elaine Constantine at my side.
I wanted the world to know it was Elaine Constantine at my side because I was proud.
Proud of her, proud of me, proud of our life together.
What a shame our families across the Atlantic would be anything but.
That was another reason I needed to step out and take charge of our new place in this world. It was the only hope we had of staying alive.
Sure, they’d still come for us, they’d be trying even as my thoughts were tumbling fresh, but to survive it, and attempt to get them to give up the fight, I’d have to stand strong, proud and ruthless. Bold in a brave new world.
One thing was for sure—I’d have a damn fucking load of work to be doing before Lucian and Elaine could take the public stage in this new kingdom, otherwise we’d be wiped out in the blink of an eye.
Just as well I’d always been a relentless workaholic, then, wasn’t it?
Only I wasn’t right there and then.
I was anything but a relentless workaholic as I took hold of Elaine even tighter and let myself finally fall asleep at her side.
15
Elaine
I had no idea what time it was when I woke up. It was dark outside, just the orange glow of the London streetlights showing through the window. We hadn’t even closed the blinds we’d been that tired when we’d flopped on the bed.
Lucian was still deep asleep beside me, and I loved that. I knew I’d be loving that for the rest of my life. I loved it way too much to ever take it for granted.
I just hoped the rest of our lives was quite a long period of time, and not going to be snatched away from us in just a few days, if people found out where we were. That was another case of optimism on my part at best.
I needed to pee, and tried to move without waking him, but I didn’t manage it. He reached out for me before I’d made it off the bed.
“Get back here, Elaine,” he said, and his voice was low and beautiful.
“I need to pee,” I whispered.
He let go of my arm with a grunt. “Then hurry the fuck up. And ditch those clothes while you’re at it. We need to rebandage you pretty damn sharp as well.”
I hurried to the bathroom as quickly as I could while still flinching at the pain, didn’t pull the light switch, thinking it might wake up some hitman sniper on the roof opposite. God this was crazy.
I ran the basin tap to hide the sound of me peeing. That was crazy, too. As if that mattered anymore. I flushed the john and had a quick drink from the tap before I tore my clothes off and hurried back on in there, stopping short of the bed. He was sitting up, still dressed, his beautiful face bathed in the orange glow through the window.
He didn’t say a word, just opened his arms and I fell into him as he held me tight.
“God I love you,” I said and it rolled off my tongue in the most amazing of ways.
“Just as well, sweetheart, since I love you right fucking back.”
I knew he was smirking.
I let out a breath against his chest. He smelled so much of him through his sweater that I pressed my nose against him just to smell him deeper. I loved it. Love, love, love. I loved every damn thing about Lucian Morelli, or Jason, or Evan, or whoever the hell he was now.
His fingers trailed up my back and his touch made me shiver—a nice shiver.
That was another thing I loved about Lucian. I loved how hard his cock was for me constantly. It made me feel like the most attractive woman alive. Even now, after grabbing sleep after a crazy, crazy few days, his body was still seeking out mine.
And it was crazy instinct as I ached for his body, lifting his sweater off over his head for him.
It didn’t take him long to get naked.
Didn’t take him long to pull me into bed and under the covers with him, still being so tender around my bandage that he was like a saint, even through his dark eyes.
And it didn’t take me long to grab hold of his cock and squeeze it hard.
“I love what a horny little bitch you’re turning out to be, Elaine,” he said, and his face was illuminated just enough by the glow from the window that I could see his smile.
“So treat me like one,” I whined. “Make me your horny little bitch.”
“Oh, I will be treating you like one,” he told me. “Don’t you worry about that, little girl. I’ll be making you my horny little bitch so much you’ll barely be able to take it, just as soon as we get you nice and healed.”