I kiss her again, greedy and hungry to be inside her. “I need more of you,” I growl out, knowing that if I take her now, there’s no turning back. She’ll be marked forever.
Mine.
Mine.
Mine.
Lust and need blaze in her eyes, but it’s the other emotions, love and trust that have my throat constricting.
“Make love to me,” she says, hand resting on my chest over my heart.
If any other woman had said those words to me, I would have laughed. I don’t make love, I fuck. But with London, I want more than just carnal pleasure. I want to sink inside her body and soul.
I grab a condom from the bedside table and sheathe myself. I’m clean as far as I know. And my dick might be screaming to plunge into her bare, but even though there’s no chance of me getting her pregnant, I’m not going to risk her or the baby.
Holding the base of my cock, I watch London as her eyes follow my every move. Her cheeks are pink, her lips swollen from our kisses.
Slowly, I sink inside of her, and our matched moans fill the room. Her gaze is locked on mine, and I stay there for a moment, unable to breathe, unable to do anything but take her in.
“London,” her name rips from my throat, the desperate cry of a man starved for this - for her.
She reaches up and cups the back of my head, drawing my mouth to hers, kissing me.
“I love you, Abbott,” she whispers against my lips.
God, I love her too. More than anything. And I’m unraveling with the emotions that threaten to choke me.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I tell her, keeping my strokes shallow. The need to be deeper, to let my feral hunger loose makes it difficult to stay in control.
“You won’t.” Her fingers dig into my back, my hips, my arms, clinging to me as the intensity rises.
I’ve never felt anything like the sensations that build.
This is ecstasy.
And I can’t hold on much longer, the need to spill myself inside her building in my balls. I fight to hold back my release, but this, her, us, it’s too much.
“Come for me, sweetheart.” I increase my strokes, watching the pleasure roll over her
She does, my name a wailing moan on her lips as her pussy tightens around my cock. And then she’s trembling, her hips jerking, and I’m coming so fucking hard I swear to God I black out momentarily.
I don’t know if I’m breathing, or if my heart stopped, and right now I don’t care if the fucking world falls down on us. Right now, all that matters is that London is in my arms.
And I swear, I’m never going to let her go.
Chapter 14
London
“You okay?” Abbott murmurs against the top of my head, his large arms wrapped around me protectively.
I snuggle against him, afraid to let him go, worried that if I do, he’ll run.
“Mmmhmm,” I murmur sleepily. “Can we stay like this forever?”
He chuckles, brushing my hair away from my face. “I like the sound of that.”
He takes my hand in his and rubs his thumb over the scar that runs across my palm. It’s from the night of the fire when I’d tried to pull the doors open. I hadn’t even noticed that I’d burned myself until the paramedics had checked me over. But it was bad enough to leave a permanent mark.
“I have to tell you something,” he says, voice low, controlled, and it makes my stomach clench.
I pull my hand back and twist in his arms. “If it’s going to ruin this moment, can it wait?”
His jaw clenches, eyes mercurial, but he nods, and leans toward me, brushing his mouth against mine.
I melt into him, letting his warmth flood through me. Nothing can ruin this moment. I won’t let it. I yawn and he pulls me tighter against him.
“You’re exhausted,” he says. “Go to sleep.”
“We should talk...” But my eyes are already closing.
He kisses my forehead, and I know he has no plans on letting go. It’s the only reason I let myself start to drift off. And when I do, I swear I hear him whisper, “I love you, London.” But I may already be half asleep.
Either way in this moment, I feel like all my dreams have already come true.
* * *
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” Despite his protests and the small frown line between his brows, I’ve never seen Abbott smile so much as he has the last couple of days.
We just pulled up the long driveway of his sister Quinn’s house, and there are already half a dozen cars parked there.
“Quinn was pretty persistent that we come.” I give his hand a squeeze.
“Yeah, she has an uncanny ability to get what she wants.” He puts the car in park but just stares forward, like he’s preparing himself for a fight.
“If you’re worried about people knowing about us. What they’ll say—”
His gaze whips to mine. “I don’t give two shits what they say. No one has the right to judge me, or you. And if anyone makes you feel like—”
“Abbott.” I place my hand on his arm. “You don’t have to protect me from your family.”
He drags a hand back through his hair and shakes his head. “Let’s just get this over with.”
I sigh and get out of the car, wondering if maybe I shouldn’t have pushed him to come to this dinner. But I know he’s been hurting these past months, pushing himself further away from them.
And in a way I get it. I did the same thing with my mom after my dad died, the guilt of knowing I was responsible for him being in the building when it went up in flames, and her accusations that followed. They ate away at me for a long time. I know how easy it is to fall into the darkness of self-doubt and hatred.
Abbott’s fingers twine with mine as we walk up the steps of the oversized home that looks out onto the great lake.
Quinn answers the door before we get the chance to knock, and instantly I’m pulled into a hug. “I’m so glad you came. Thank you for dragging him here.” Her energy is contagious, and so is her smile, even Abbott manages to grin at his sister when she punches his shoulder, and says, “You look good.” Her gaze drops to where Abbott holds my hand, and her smile widens. “Really good.”
Abbott grunts, “You going to invite us in, or just stand there ogling us.”
Quinn rolls her eyes, but her smile never falters. “Come in. Everyone is already here.”
“Everyone?” Abbott asks, his muscles tensing, and his fingers tightening around mine.
She doesn’t answer, just leads us into the enormous living room, where Abbott’s entire family is spread out through the room.
All conversations stop instantly, and there’s an awkward, tense silence for a moment before Kade stands up, and pulls Abbott into a hug, and turns to me and does the same. People start talking again, and one by one Abbott’s parents and siblings approach us - everyone but Damon, who I notice stands broodily in the corner of the room, talking to his wife.
Questions are asked, kids race around the room, jokes are tossed out, and it isn’t long before the tension that was felt when we first arrived is replaced with a sense of acceptance and ease.
“Do you want to join me in the kitchen?” Quinn asks.
“Sure,” I say, knowing her reason is to pry more information from me.
Abbott must know it too because he seems reluctant for me to leave his side.
“I’m not kidnapping her..,” Quinn starts, then clamps her mouth shut, and there’s a tense moment where I know we’re all thinking about how Abbott demanded his sister-in-law Lorelei go with him to confront Kyle’s killer.
“Shit, Abbott. I didn’t mean it like that,” Quinn finally says, twisting her hands together.
Abbott snorts. “Too bad. It would have been funny if you had.”
Quinn breathes out a sigh, then shakes her head and looks at me. “Whatever you did to my brother, thank you.” She looks at Abbott then. “I’m taking her with me. You can live without her for a f
ew minutes, right?”
Abbott frowns, which makes Quinn laugh, but she takes my arm and leads me to the kitchen, whispering, “Honestly, whatever you did, thank you.”
“I didn’t do anything,” I tell her when she motions for me to sit at the island, then pours me a glass of lemonade.
“So the two of you aren’t together?” she asks, leaning on her forearms on the other side of the island.
“Wait.” Sophie and Lorelei come into the kitchen. “We want the details too.”
I shrug, heat rising to my cheeks. “There’s nothing to tell. We’re just...”
Quinn rolls her eyes. “If you say friends, I’m going to call you a big, fat liar. Because I’ve never seen Abbott look at anyone the way he looks at you.”
“It’s pretty obvious he’s in love with you,” Lorelei says, grinning at me like she knows a secret, a hand on her belly. She’s not as far along as I am, maybe five or six months.
“And that you’re in love with him,” Sophie offers, placing her hand over mine.
“I thought you’d all be worried,” I say. “You know, because of...” I place my hand on my stomach. “Everything.”
“Sure, things are complicated.” Quinn takes my other hand. “But what relationship isn’t? The main thing is that you two are better together.”
I blame the pregnancy hormones when tears prick at my eyes, and I have to pull my hands back to fan my face. “Sorry. I’m a mess these days.”
Sophie wraps an arm around my shoulder. “Trust me, we’ve all been there. I couldn’t control my tears when I was pregnant.”
“We’re just grateful that you brought him back to us,” Quinn says. “And we have another baby shower to plan.” She claps her hands, then begs, “If you’ll let me.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Trust me, she wants to,” Sophie says. “Do you know what you’re having?”
“A girl.”
There’s a round of sighs, then Sophie says, “I can’t wait to see Abbott with a little girl, he was always so good with Lola.”
“I think you’re all rushing things a bit,” I tell them, even though I’ve thought the same...hoped the same. “But things are new between us, and you know how Abbott is—”
“How am I?” Abbott’s deep voice interrupts me, and the women all straighten.
I turn and meet his hard gaze, and he looks pissed, but I immediately know it isn’t my words that set the fire burning inside him. Something happened when I was gone, I can see, almost feel his fury.
“We were just talking, Abbott,” Quinn says, her words a warning, and I know she feels the same thing from him. “You know, girl talk.”
He grunts, gaze still trained on mine. “No. I want to hear what you were going to say. What am I like, London?”
“Abbott, don’t do this.” I stand from the stool and start toward him, but he pulls back when I touch his arm.
“I need to get some air.” He’s gone before I can say another word.
“What just happened?” Sophie asks.
“I think I know,” Lorelai says before she walks out of the room toward where the other men are, and from the look on her face, I have no doubt she’s gone to find out what Damon said to him.
“Damon was probably being an ass again,” Quinn says. “He’s the only one who could have set Abbott off like that.” She gives me a sympathetic smile. “You all right?”
“Yeah.” I rub my arms, watching Abbott through the window as he storms across the yard toward the outcrop that looks over the lake. He looks completely miserable, and alone and like he’s ready to do the one thing I’m terrified he’ll do - run.
Maybe I was wrong to bring him here.
“Damon can be a pigheaded jerk, sometimes,” Lorelei says, coming back into the kitchen, her face red.
“What happened?” Sophie asks.
“What do you think? Damon went off on him again. I don’t know why he won’t let it go.” Lorelei rubs her temples. “I told him he needs to apologize or he’s sleeping on the couch tonight.”
Quinn laughs. “That’s good motivation.”
Lorelei smirks. “Yeah. I thought so.”
“You all love Abbott so much.” I always knew their family was close, but I always saw them from Abbott’s eyes, thinking they somehow kept him at arm’s length. But that’s not what I feel right now. “I wish he knew that.”
All three of them sigh, and Quinn says, “Yeah, me too.”
“Everything’s going to be all right,” Lorelei says, rubbing my back. “You’ll see.”
I hope so.
Through the window, I see Damon, as dark and broody as Abbott, walk across the lawn toward his younger brother.
Words are exchanged, and it looks like maybe they’re being civilized to each other. But then I see Abbott’s posture change, and even from this distance I know he’s switched back into fight mode.
Lorelei obviously doesn’t see it, because she starts to say, “See, everything is—” She doesn’t get the chance to continue, because her husband uses his size and strength to take Abbott to the ground, and his first blow hits Abbott square in the jaw.
Then they’re both tumbling over the edge of the cliff, and we all let out a scream.
Chapter 15
Abbott
I stand on the outcrop, staring out at the lake, hating myself for lashing out at London when it was Damon who I’m really pissed at.
But I can’t lash out at him, because I know he has every right to hate me. I put his wife in danger, and she’d nearly drowned because of it. I don’t ever expect my brother to forgive me, but I’m also sick and tired of being his verbal punching bag every time he sees me.
Footsteps sound behind me, and I grunt when I turn and see Damon walking in my direction.
“You looking for a fight?” I growl out, ready to give him one. Maybe it’ll make us both feel better.
“Lorelei told me to come apologize to you.”
I snort. “Didn’t think it would be your idea.”
“Because I have nothing to apologize for.” He holds my gaze, daring me to say anything. Then he sighs. “Look, I’m glad you’re doing better.”
I grunt.
“Just hope it lasts,” he adds.
I narrow my eyes at him. “You think I’m going to fuck up again? That’s what you came here to tell me, right?”
“For that girl in there’s sake, I hope you don’t. But you and I both know that this is all a game. You playing house. How long before you’re snorting another line of coke, or screwing some random chick after one of your illegal fights.”
“I’m not doing any of that shit anymore.” I don’t know why I feel the need to justify myself to him, but I do. I want his approval. But I know I’ll never have it.
Damon mutters something under his breath that I can’t make out.
The beast inside me paces, needing to strike out, needing to inflict pain.
“You want to talk about games?” I spit out. “Look at your own shit before you start trying to smear my face in mine.” I glare at him, taking a step closer, my fists balling at my side.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
I snort. “You’ve spent your entire life playing the white knight when the entire time you were just a fuck-up who hurt the only girl you ever loved. You really think Lorelei will ever really forgive you for all those years she lost because you were too much of a coward to—”
His eyes go wild with fury, and I only have a second to prepare myself for the impact of his weight. He barrels into me, taking me to the ground. Damon is a bull of a man, towering over me by a few inches, and outweighing me by a good twenty pounds. He’s also the brother who taught me how to fight. When his fist lands square on my jaw, I grunt with the impact, but when we start to roll, I realize too late that we’re close to the cliff’s edge, and then we’re tumbling over.
Thank god the fall is only ten, maybe fifteen feet, and the impact doesn’t d
o much damage. But it still hurts like a motherfucker. I shove Damon off, who was lucky enough to use my body to soften his landing.
I groan, every muscle in my body aching.
“You want to hit me,” I yell at him, regaining my balance. “Fine. Let’s fight. But then it’s over. Me. You. Us. We’re done.”
“We were done the moment you chose to put Lorelei’s life in danger.” He’s slow to stand, and I see him wince when he puts pressure on his right ankle.
“You’d have done the same thing if it had been Lorelei who Farkas was threatening.”
Damon sneers at me. “That’s where you’re wrong. I would have found another way, not put an innocent person in harm’s way. But then you’re an old pro at that, aren’t you? You don’t think, Abbott. You just do whatever the hell you want and expect others to clean up your mess.”
“I’ve never asked you for anything—”
He laughs, hard, but it’s filled with bitterness. “For years I tried to protect you, even when everyone else warned me not to.”
“Then why the hell did you?”
“Because I knew the guilt you were carrying.”
A heaviness falls on my shoulders. “What are you talking about?”
“You think I didn’t know it was you who started that fire in the church?” He points a finger at me. “Don’t even try and deny it. I saw it in your eyes that night.”
My breath sticks in my throat. “It was an accident.”
“It always is.” He shakes his head at me. “You never mean to do anything, but over and over again you keep hurting people, and it’s always those closest to you. Why? Because there’s only one person that you care about. Yourself.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Yeah? Then prove it to me.” He’s in my face again, and he shoves my shoulders. “Prove to me that you’re not the same narcissistic bastard who drove a car into Kade’s bar. Who scared the shit out of Sophie because you were so intoxicated you could barely stand. That you’re not the same stupid kid who set a fire and killed his best friend’s father. Does she even know that you’re the one who started it? That you’re responsible for the church burning down?”
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