“Tell me you’re mine,” I ordered, grazing her clit with my teeth.
“I’m yours!” she cried, twisting in my harsh hold.
“Mine,” I snarled as primal satisfaction flooded my mind. I stimulated her g-spot and tongued her clit, making her shatter on a scream.
I watched with hunger and awe as she came undone, lithe body writhing on my bed as her lush lips parted on panting breaths. I pressed one final kiss to her pussy and relented, allowing her a respite before I finished claiming her.
She watched me as I stripped, licking her lips with hunger of her own. I almost groaned at the way her eyes riveted to my cock, and I gritted my teeth to hold back the burst of pleasure that pulsed through my body.
I swiftly sheathed myself in a condom and settled my body atop hers. Finally, I deftly freed the knot on the tie that bound her. I wanted to feel her small hands caressing my body, her fingernails marking my skin.
“I need you,” she moaned, her slender fingers spearing through my curls to pull me in for a desperate kiss.
I entered her in one brutal thrust, driving deep enough to rock her entire body. She shuddered, and I stilled, coaxing her to relax with gentle brushes of my lips against hers. After a few long, torturous seconds, she began to move beneath me, urging me to take her.
Her legs wrapped around me, heels digging into my ass to drive me deeper. She clutched at my shoulders, dragging her nails over my flesh to mark me as hers. I branded her with brutal, fast thrusts, making sure she wouldn’t be able to walk without thinking about my harsh claim over her body, her heart, her soul.
Something hot and bright filled my chest, so full that I thought my heart might burst with it. “I love you,” I vowed between desperate kisses. “I love you, Allie.”
Her hands bracketed my face, holding me close so that she could peer into my soul. “You’re mine, Max.”
“Yes,” I groaned, my pleasure cresting at her fierce declaration. “All yours.”
My release swept through me in a tidal wave, and I reached between us to pinch her nipples, pushing her over the edge with me. She screamed my name, and I drove into her with mindless abandon, riding out our mutual ecstasy. We were bound in bliss, our bodies intwined as we peaked together.
I crushed my lips to hers, branding her with a fierce kiss. Allie was all mine, and I was hers.
CHAPTER 14
Max
Allie stirred beside me, blinking slowly. She’d passed out after the intense orgasms I’d given her, and I was surprised to find her awake. It was late—past midnight. I’d expected her to sleep until morning while I held her, but a line of worry furrowed her brow.
I brushed a kiss over it, trying to soothe away her concern. “What’s wrong, Bambi?”
“I’m worried about my friends,” she admitted. “About the engagement. About everything.”
My arms firmed around her at the mention of the engagement to that Russian bastard. “You’re not marrying him. I’ll fix this.”
Her eyes sparkled, and she pressed a hand to my cheek. “How? I don’t want you to kill Niko. I don’t want you to kill anyone.” The worry line on her forehead deepened. “I meant what I said. I love you, but I can’t be with someone who’s involved in organized crime.” She placed her fingers over my lips, forestalling my insistent reply that she was mine, no matter what. “You’ve told me that love is hard, but that’s not true. It shouldn’t be. Love doesn’t come with cruelty. Please, Max. You have to see that your family is toxic. They’ve hurt you in such awful ways. They tried to kill me. Why are you loyal to them?” The last hitched in her throat, a demand and a plea.
No worthy man would betray the woman he loves in exchange for power. You can make another choice. My grandfather’s rebuke played through my mind. Yes, I could’ve chosen differently. I didn’t have to follow through with blackmailing Allie’s dad, not once I knew how it would hurt her.
And the consequences had been even worse than the emotional fallout I’d feared. Her friends were in danger, and she’d been forced to accept a ring from that Russian scum.
I stroked her copper hair behind her ear. “I love you, and I hurt you,” I reminded her roughly.
Just like my family had always hurt me.
Love is hard.
“Yes,” she agreed softly. “You did. But you can make it right. I will never hurt you, Max.”
Emotion clogged my throat. No, my sweet Allie wouldn’t cause me pain. Not like my sister with her caustic words. Not like my father with his violence. And not like my cousins, who’d committed the worst sin against me: they’d tried to take Allie from me.
Her love was pure and unconditional, and it could all be mine if I was brave enough to choose her, to walk away from everything I’d ever known so that I could be worthy of her.
As I looked into her shining green eyes, a new future stretched out before me, one that wasn’t steeped in blood, rage, and hatred. I’d stolen her from her pretty, easy life, changed her world forever by revealing ugly truths to her. I’d pulled her into the shadows, but she’d dragged me out of the depths of darkness.