Her blush deepens as she nods. "Yes."
My already leaking cock jerks within my pants. That knowledge is enough to send a stream of precum shooting straight from my tip.
I groan. Mine, mine, mine. I hear those words reverberating throughout my head again. Sophie's mine. Only mine. She's only ever going to be mine.
"I'm sorry," she whispers, taking my silence for displeasure.
I let out a laugh, and she starts to scramble away from me, but I brace my arms on either side of her and hover over her. I'm never letting her get away from me ever again.
I press my lips against hers and kiss her gently with all the love I feel in my heart.
"Don't be sorry," I tell her. "I should be thanking you."
"Thanking me?" Her little brow furrows. "What for?"
"For saving yourself for me." My throat works with emotion. "Knowing that I'm the first man—the only man—who's ever going to touch you...fuck, Sophie." I'm overcome. I can't put into words what I'm feeling.
Fortunately, it looks like I don't have to. Sophie's eyes soften as she looks up at me.
"You're also keeping me from having to murder any man who's ever touched you before," I tell her seriously.
She surprises me when she lets out a giggle. I grin, loving the sound. I don't know that I've ever heard that sound from her, and the knowledge that I'm the one who elicited it from her makes my chest swell with pride.
I drink her in, loving how adorable she looks.
"You're so crazy," she says. "You really would do it too," she comments.
I feel a smile tug at the corner of my lips.
"I told you I'm crazy about you," I confirm honestly.
She finally sobers, as do I. I'm dying to get inside her, but I won't rush this. Anything my angel wants is hers. If she just wants to lie here and talk, I'll do it for as long as she wants.
"Axe?" She says my name uncertainly and then bites her lips. I look down at her, waiting for her question.
"How many other women have you been with?"
"None that matter," I tell her honestly. "I don't have a definite number, Sophie, because none of them were memorable. One face bled into another. What I can tell you with absolute certainly is that I've never wanted anyone like you."
I cup her cheek in my hand, marveling at how tiny she is in my big hands. A surge of protectiveness wells up within me. I'll do anything for this woman. "I'll never want anyone else again." I speak the truth that I feel deep down in my soul. "You're it for me, Sophie. I swear it. This isn't just some line to pick you up either. I've never said these words to another woman, nor will I ever. I've never felt this way in my entire fucking life, my little ruby."
She licks her lips, accepting my confession, and I feel a weight lift my soul, knowing that she finally believes me. "Why do you call me that?" she asks me.
I stroke her red hair. "Because you're beautiful with all this lovely red hair, and I saw gold glinting it in under the light of the streetlamp. I'd never seen anything so captivating." I admire the golden flecks I see in her red tresses even now. "You showed up at my club—Club Ruby—on the day it opened like you were my own personal little good luck charm. There you were, this beautiful little ruby."
Her eyes are searching mine, and I drop my forehead to hers, my cock demanding entry into her body. "Tell me you want this, Sophie," I beg her, needing to hear her say it. "I need you more than I've ever needed anything."
She pulls away from me just enough to lift her shirt over her head so that she's completely bare before me.
A wave of lust crashes over me when I see the perfect little cherries of her nipples.
"I want you, Axe," she finally confesses, and that confession snaps the last thread of control I have.
My mouth descends on her hard little nipples, and I feast on them, delighting in the way she arches up into me. I press my knee in between her legs. My cock bobs in the air and slaps against my stomach as she starts humping my leg, dragging her wetness up and down my thigh.
"Fuck, Sophie," I pant as I rip my pants from my body and line myself up with her wet virgin hole. "Need you now."
"Yes," she agrees, lifting her hips up to me in offering.