I held her like that, after the kiss finally ended, for what felt like an eternity. But somehow, it still wasn’t enough. I felt like I didn’t ever want to let her go.
Not until I felt the gun she pressed into my belly. I pulled back slightly, just enough to look at her. Her eyes were wild for a moment, full of regret and conflicting emotions. But then they hardened.
“I’m sorry, Vincent,” she said coolly. “This is the last thing I want to do.”
“Then don’t do it,” I said, enunciating clearly. I had no doubt that she would pull the trigger. I could see the fierce mama bear in her was in complete control.
Her façade cracked for a second, then she straightened her spine. She was right. She had to do this. She didn’t have a choice. Part of me almost wanted to let her shoot me, to let her get her child back. To let her win at Philip’s dirty little game.
But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try and stop her. My survival instincts were just too strong. And I knew there was a chance that he would never give her back their child. He could give her more conditions. He would hurt her if he had the chance. And without me, that was more likely to happen.
Never mind the fact that I wanted desperately to take her to bed. Once wouldn’t be enough. I doubted a thousand times would.
Of course, I had to be alive if I were going to get what I was after . . .
“Frankie . . .” I murmured softly, reaching with one hand. I saw her resolve waver in those beautiful eyes of hers. But it was just a ruse. A distraction. I moved quickly, grabbing her wrist and twisting the gun free before tossing it across the room. Then I pulled her against me, hard, her arm bent behind her. I grabbed the other arm and held them together. She was so dainty, I could capture both wrists in one hand easily.
“Vincent! You’re hurting me,” she gasped, inadvertently pushing her chest harder against my chest.
“Hurting you? You tried to shoot me,” I growled, unable to resist looking her over. Her breasts were pushed up and out, serving them up to me on a platter. Her eyes were wide and shining, staring into mine with a mixture of outrage, fury, and something indefinable. Her lips were parted. I stared at them distractedly, realizing my anger was swiftly turning into something more familiar.
Lust.
“Enough of this. I’m done pretending,” I murmured, leaning closer to that delectable mouth of hers. Her eyes were on my lips for a moment before they fluttered closed. That was it. The moment I had been waiting for. Her surrender was finally complete.
The kiss was hard and fast. Hard because I was still angry. Fast because I couldn’t wait another second to be inside her. I bent her forward over the arm of the suite’s couch, using one hand to push her skirt up and the other to yank myself free. I couldn’t be bothered with pulling my pants down or even removing the black lace panties she wore. I shoved them to the side, guiding my aching cock to her wetness, sighing in satisfaction as I pushed forward into her welcoming heat. She was more than ready for me. I felt her body clench down on me instinctively, drawing me in.
“Goddammit, Frankie. Why did you make me wait?”
Chapter Fourteen
Francesca
Why did you make me wait? His words echoed in my mind. But I couldn’t answer the man riding me so relentlessly from behind. I could barely think, let alone speak. And I didn’t have an answer for him.
Why did I make him wait? How could I have known that giving in would feel like coming home? How could I not be afraid to let myself feel this much?
Now it was too late. The floodgates were open. He’d invaded my heart and my body. He’d invaded my soul.
I felt him in every corner of my being. He filled me with his heat, his hard body pushing into me relentlessly. But it didn’t feel like an invasion. It felt right. So right, in fact, that the whole earth seemed to shift. Up and down didn’t matter anymore. There was only one source of gravity. Of meaning.
Him.
Just like that, Vincent had become the center of my universe. I had two suns now. Two heavenly bodies that meant more to me than my own life.
And that was the most dangerous thing in the world for someone in my situation.
I would never be able to kill him. But I could not chose him over my daughter, either. In a perfect world, I could have them both.
But this wasn’t a perfect world. I wasn’t a princess and he wasn’t a white knight. We were both criminals. We probably didn’t deserve this kind of love.