I push at Leith’s chest. “I was asleep. Besides, you’ve spent God knows how long with your antics. I can’t have a moment?”
“Not unless I say so, hen.” With a predatory smile, Leith’s lips descend on mine. I turn my face to the side, denying his tender touch. His breath caresses my neck, heated. His strong body radiates against mine. Detesting the desire, I implore myself not to focus on my arousal, already spiraling out of control.
“Everything ye know, I taught ya, and ye never complained before. Shall we?” His brutal fingertips slide the length of my throat, locking into place. “If it’s yer fetish, I’m willing to switch up a few things, my bonnyfecktoy.”
His mouth is too damn close, and my sex stirs for him, relishing in the dirty talk. In a monotonous tone, I say, “I still want a divorce. If you’re intent on being a murderer li-like my . . .”The man who created me.“Then I want nothing to do with you, Leith.”
“He didna. But yer da was on to something. Ye shared how he loved yer mam so madly. How ya never saw him hurt her. Well, I won’t hurt ye, Chevelle. I’ll bloodyfeckin’die for ye. I’m also willing to murder anyone ye have eyes for, including yer auld boss before I ever let ya go.”
Through gritted teeth, I declare, “You can’t keep me.”
Leith’s tongue teases the curve of my mouth. When I don’t concede, his teeth grind into my bottom lip with enough force to grind bone. A whimper escapes my lips, but his tongue tosses the sound right back into a sweet, cruel oblivion as he assaults my mouth.
The kiss is ravenous. Possessive. Defiant. Pure torture. Leith’s kiss cuts through my tenacious shield, piercing my soul and spirit. When he speaks, I have to hunker down and concentrate to recall our argument. “Of course, I can keepye, Chevelle. I’m a make money kind of man, so it’d be no problem at all to keep ye locked up. That’s not a joke, sweetheart; that’s a bloodyfeckin’promise.”
His thumb caresses the hollow of my throat. When I attempt to deny him again, his light, affectionate touch tightens. I snarl, “What about Mia?”
“Ye’re Mia’s mam. Caring for her is yer job.”
“So, she’ll see me locked up?”
“Give me a little time to think about that.” He jumps off the bed. “The snake is Douglas Yates, by the way.”
I toss a defiant, “Who cares?”
Leith’s shoulders lift. “Well, I’m still telling ye. Nae more secrets between my lovely wife and me.”
Curling into a ball in the bed, I toss over my shoulder, “Stop being ornery. Give me a friggin minute, Leith!”
“Nae. I’m being transparent, hen. I need ya to get outta yerfeckin’heid! Ye’re so wrapped up in the past. I’m Mia’s father, not yers! That’s the issue, aye? Ye’re scared I’ll leave one day, disappear?”
The audacity of it all! I offer a few blinks in response. Leith’s thick chest softly collapses in relief of hitting the nail on the head.My abandonment. More tender this time, he adds, “And if ya wanna see it that way, wanna believe the lies, then aye, I’m a murderer like yer da, but—”
“But?” I catch his gaze, swallowing a boulder of unease. “What makes you different fromhim?”
Leith’s voice drops to a poignant whisper, twining a gruff that’s as rough and soft as satin. “I’ll not ever let ye go.”
Internally, I’m shaking like a leaf. Our love scares the ever-loving daylights outta me. The desire I have for him. The fear of him leaving or dying. The fear of what my love could do to him.
“Just so ye’re not wondering, my Crabbit Chevelle, the moment I leave ye, I’m gonna torture Yates until his last breath. While I do, I’ll figure out the dynamics of us because there will forever beye and me—together. Nae more silly vows.”
I chuckle. “Silly? Being law-abiding is silly?”
“Being someone other than I am, that’s silly!”
At the bass in Leith’s voice, I turn around and regard him.
“I’m a MacKenzie, Chevelle! And another thing, I’m pretty good at troubleshooting with blood on my hands.”
Looking like a stranger I’ve never met, Leith steps over the wooden door on the ground and stalks from the room. I grind my teeth. Leith MacKenzie was right about one thing. My father’s eyes were drowning in love for my momma. After all these years of reflection, had I gotten it wrong? If so, I’ve tormented my husband in vain for years. And if Daddy hadn’t murdered Momma, who killed them and why?
Chapter 50
Leith
For ages,I’ve denied myself certain basic rights as a MacKenzie, which I’ll nae longer abstain from. Chevelle once called me the Funny Scot. Now, the Savage Scot has taken his reign. My inner beast’s unbridled. I’m in the basement of my parents’ home. Yates was brought to us on his knees. A cousin of mine who lives in San Bernardino found him at a private airport. He’d made use of one of those offshore accounts to pay a crooked pilot for a flight out of the country. That’s how I found him, following the money.
The weefeckerwas in the hangar, ready to board when my cousin arrived. Had I been working alone, thatscabby wankstainwould’ve fled.