A primal roar rips free from his throat as thick bursts of come spill into me.
He leans forward, panting. I bury my face in his neck and breathe him in, unable to really believe that he’s here with me.He came back for me. My body protests as he pulls free and sets me back on my feet. I gaze up into eyes as dark and fathomless as his heart.
“Y-you left me,” I choke on my sadness.
“If I remember correctly, you’re the one who ran from me.”
“You let me go.”
“And it was a mistake.”
He’s here, he’s real. He hasn’t thrown me away after all, but it still begs the question. “Why didn’t you come for me sooner?”
“And do what, Pet? Kill your bodyguards, the maid, the cop?”
I shake my head. “You wouldn’t have had to kill them. I would have come freely.”
“And will you come freely now?”
“Of course. I need to get my things, I need to pack, but I would follow you anywhere, Sir.”
“You can’t go home. You can never return there, not if you want to come with me now. You can never see your loved ones again.”
I don’t have any loved ones.Only you.
I swallow hard and close my eyes. I don’t care about any of them. My father, my ex-fiancé, Brigid, Maximus—I’d give them all up for my Sir, but there is one heart I never want to break again by leaving . . . Dimitri’s. I spare a thought for Violet and Atticus too. Will they know my Sir has come back for me? Will they care or will they be too busy finding their next baby girl?
“Will you come, Pet?” He holds out his hand, and silence settles heavily in the air between us. What he’s really asking is,“Am I enough?”
I give him a small smile and place my hand in his. Ares brings it to his mouth. A grin, as mischievous as it is decimating, plays on his lips, and he kisses me, licking and nipping all the way up to my shoulder where he sinks his teeth into my flesh. I shiver, my nipples bead, and I close my eyes and float, all my cares forgotten.I’d follow him anywhere. He’s not just my Sir; he’s my home. My harbor, my freedom, and my shackles. He tethers me to his side with barbed wire, and I’d willingly wrap myself in it, endure the wicked prongs that cut deep enough to wound if it meant he’d never leave again.He’s everything.
“We need to go now, Pet. Chances are the theatre security guard has already woken.”
“Woken?” I frown. “What did you do?”
“You didn’t think he’d just let me walk right in, did you?”
I hadn’t thought about anything. Only that my Sir was here, and he’d come for me.
It’s clear from his expression that Ares is growing impatient with me. “He’ll be fine. A little tired when he wakes, likely with a killer headache, but he’ll live.”
“You drugged security?”
He shrugs. “I didn’t kill him.” He slides his hand around my neck, gently stroking the tender flesh that’s likely already bruising. “Come, Pet. Traffic is a bitch, and we still have to find a way to lose your tail.”
“What tail?” I glance up at him.
“You didn’t know the FBI have been following you since you broke Officer Torres’s heart?”
“I didn’t break his heart. It was one time.”
“It was still one time too many. The night you let Maximus up in my pretty little cunt, it was so fucking hard not to slit his throat.”
“You can’t kill him, Sir. Please? It was my fault. I begged him to fuck me.”
“And you will pay for it with a sound beating. You’ll pay for it all—Atticus and Violet too. Every orgasm you took without my permission will earn another red-hot weal on your ass.” He snags my earlobe with his teeth, sending tiny little electric currents through my body. I need him inside me again. Ares’ lips brush the shell of my ear. “When I’m done, you’ll have more stripes than a fucking zebra.”
It dawns on me that he said, “that night.” He knew I was fucking Max, but how? Was he there? Did he somehow sneak into the apartment? Has he been this close the whole time, and was I just too blind to see it?