“That would be…acceptable.”
“I’ll never hurt you though, angel.” His voice was soft.
“I know.”
“I love you helpless. Wet and afraid. And when I’m done terrifying you, I’ll get down on my knees and make you forgive me.”
“God, yes,” I whispered.
Something shifted. It was the first time I’d openly admitted I loved it when he freed himself and showed his true face to me. Not the pretty one that everyone else saw. The one that lived and died by beauty and darkness. The one that was never satiated, that took and took until I was weak in his hands.
“Enough talking,” he growled, burying his face into my neck. “I waited fucking long enough for you, Lia. I’m going to fuck you until you’re a broken mess in my bed.”
He made good on his threat. In the cramped space against the window, he made me come again and again. Until I was shaking and stammering in his hands. Then he fucked me like he had something to prove. I was weak and my thighs were painted with stinging marks and slippery wetness when he finally freed himself from my hips. Then he carried me to the shower and washed me gently and put me in bed. I was already half asleep when I felt his big, lean body slip between the covers and gather me against his chest.
His mouth brushed my ear.
“My angel,” he murmured.
From him, that one word meant everything.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
PEREGRINE
I stood there in my parents’ hallway, staring down at the box my youngest brother had shoved into my hands. There was something alive inside. Aloysius watched me, newly eight and confident he knew everything. Since Christmas, since I’d confessed one night to Rosalia how much I resented my parents’ for not protecting me, she’d invited Aloysius over almost every day. I could tell she was worried he wasn’t getting the emotional attention he needed and I agreed with her on that.
“What is this?” I asked.
“A gift for Lia,” he said.
“From you?”
“No, from you.”
I frowned. “What for?”
“Valentine’s Day is tomorrow.”
He frowned, his gaze boring into me as if I’d forgotten. I hadn’t. Tonight I had a reservation at her favorite restaurant and a diamond bracelet in a Tiffany’s bag.
“Trust me, Perry, this is better than whatever you got,” said Aloysius. “It’ll be the best present you’ve ever given her.”
I’d spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on gifts for her and I had my doubts that whatever this was would top that. I lifted the lid and inside was a tiny, black kitten with a pink ribbon around its neck. It fixed its round eyes on me and gave a silent meow. I glared over the box at my little brother and he shrank back.
“I’m not giving her a cat,” I said. “You have to take it back.”
“Can’t,” he said.
He swiveled on his heel and skipped away down the hall, leaving me seething with a kitten in a box in my hand. Simmering with annoyance, I stalked out of the house and got into the car, setting the box down on the passenger side and closing the lid. The kitten scrabbled against the cardboard the entire way back to the house.
Mrs. Greene was still in the kitchen prepping dinner. I walked down the hall, intent on asking her to take the kitten until we could find a new home for it. But something stopped me and I stood there in the hall with the box in my hand.
Goddamn it.
I knew Aloysius was right—she would love having a kitten.
“Fine,” I snapped under my breath. “Just this once.”