by Nina Levine
“Jesus, is that what this is about?”
“No, this is about you doing what you said you’d do.”
“I never fucking said I’d quit smoking. I said I’d think about it.”
“And let me guess, you’ve thought about it and—”
“Fucking hell,” I snapped, “Enough! I didn’t come home from a shitty fucking day so I could cop more shit from you.”
Her eyes flashed with anger. “You should go back to the clubhouse then.” With that, she pushed off from the railing and stalked towards the door to go back inside.
I stalked after her, my own anger flaring, ready to lash out. Grabbing her arm, I yanked her to me. Eyes glued to hers, I growled, “No fucking way am I going back to the clubhouse. I’m leaving first thing in the morning for Melbourne and I have no clue when I’ll be home, so this is not a night for me to be away from you. I don’t fucking care if I have to carry you kicking and screaming to bed, you will be sleeping right fucking next to me tonight.”
She slapped me away, fighting me in a way she didn’t usually do. Lily often got worked up, but not this much. When I caught her wrists in an effort to stop her, and pulled her into my embrace, she lost her shit completely. “King! Let me go! I’m not in the mood for your bossy asshole shit tonight. I’m just here trying to look out for your health, but honestly I don’t know why I bother because you don’t seem to give one shit about it. You want to bring children into the world, but you don’t care enough to do everything in your power to ensure you live as long as you can for us.”
I tightened my grip on her instead of loosening it. My temper was close to breaking point, and while I worked hard to keep it from spilling over, I wasn’t gentle with the way I held her. “Are you fucking finished?” I demanded.
She jerked in my hold, a storm of fury and passion. “No I’m not fucking finished! I hate nagging you. Like, I really fucking hate being that woman, but I’ve had four years with you and they’ve been the best four years of my life, so I don’t want you to die anytime soon. That’s why I’ll keep nagging you about this. And you can keep being the same old King you’ve always been when it comes to our arguments, pushing and bossing your way into whatever you want, but I’m not ever going to stop fighting you on this.”
The anger coursing through my veins collided with the kind of urgent and fierce need only Lily caused in me. A violent wave of it crashed into me, leaving me unable to stop myself from taking what I wanted.
Letting go of her wrists, I gripped her face. “I’m not fucking dying anytime soon,” I rasped right before my lips smashed down onto hers.
Fuck she was fire. Hot burning fire. And she was exactly what I craved even if it didn’t fucking feel like it when she fought me.
She kissed me back, completely consumed by the kiss, but not for long. Her hands came to my chest and she pushed me away as she dragged her mouth from mine. When she spoke, her fire still raged hot. “I want to talk about this, King, not screw our way into getting distracted from it.”
I hooked my arm around her waist and pulling her tight against my body again. Wrapping my free hand around her neck, I growled, “You wanted a fight and now you’ve got your fight, but we’re gonna do it my way.”
Her breath quickened as desire blazed in her eyes. I was right; this was exactly what she wanted.
Backing her against the railing, I kissed her again. This time, she didn’t challenge me on it. This time, she gave me back what I gave her—heat and fury and raw fucking need. We abandoned ourselves to the lust, ripping each other’s clothes off and clawing for more of everything we had to have right fucking then.
When I finally pulled my lips from hers, I met her gaze. “I’m a fucking asshole, Lily, but I do my best not to get into shit with you when I know it’s your hormones—”
“Don’t blame this on my hormones,” she snapped. “This isn’t because of them.”
I spun her around to face the railing and trapped her in front of me so she couldn’t go anywhere. Taking a handful of her hair, I pulled her head back and bent my mouth to her ear. At the same time, I reached for her cunt. She was wet. Ready for me. Pushing two fingers inside, I said, “You can’t fucking tell me you didn’t come out here looking to get into something with me. This is what you’ve been doing lately and I’ve been fucking tiptoeing around it. I’ve made allowances for your pregnancy but I’m not doing that anymore. You come looking for a fight in future, you’ll get a fight. We clear?”
She moaned as I worked my fingers inside her, but she continued to argue with me. Wrapping her hand around my forearm, she dug her fingers into my skin and said, “I didn’t—”
I pulled her hair, jerking her head back more and cutting her off. As I grazed her neck with my teeth, I said, “The answer is yes.” My tone was dark. Warning. Before we were done here, she would understand where we stood. “We’re equals, Lily. You come at me, I’ll give it right back to you.”
She let go of my arm and pushed it away. She then spun back around to face me, those beautiful eyes of hers full of wild angry energy and heat. Taking hold of my face, she kissed the hell out of me before raging at me, “Fine! But if we’re equals, I’m giving all your shit back to you, too. You wanna come at me with that bossy bullshit of yours, you should expect it right back. We clear?”
Jesus fucking hell, she really was worked up tonight. And that only worked my dick up more. I was hard as fuck now.
Before she knew what was happening, I lifted her and carried her to the table. I bent her over it and wrapped one hand around her neck holding her down while I thrust hard into her.
“Fuck,” I roared. Fuck. I was going to need a few hours with her tonight to get my fill. I knew she’d need just as long to work her shit out.
Her moans filled the night air as I pounded into her. Lily might have been pregnant but that didn’t stop me fucking her the way I always had. Not yet anyway. As she got closer to her due date, I’d tone it down, but she wanted it like this just as fucking much as I did.
It didn’t take either of us long to come, and when we were done, I bent over her and said forcefully, “We’re clear.”
We both stood and she caught my lips in a kiss, fingers stabbing into my waist where she held me. When she was done, she said, “I love you, but goddam it’s hard some days.”
My eyes ran down her body, appreciating the hell out of every curve and all her beauty. The sight of her baby bump caused my gut to tighten, and her earlier words came back to me. Meeting her gaze again, I said, “I’ll work on cutting back.” Fuck knew I wasn’t sure how with all the stress I was under, but for her and the kids, I’d try.
A small smile settled on her face. “Really?”
I kissed her roughly before saying, “This discussion is done. Forever.”
That smile of hers stretched a little and she nodded. She fucking knew she’d won this battle. It mightn’t be for months or maybe longer, but she’d won. “We’re clear.”
I jerked my chin towards the door. “Inside. I’ve got plans for the rest of the night.” Plans that included shutting the world out and getting lost in my woman. She could fight me as much as she wanted; I was never going anywhere. This was right where I was meant to be.
Four Years After Wedding #2
King
I took a deep breath and rested my hands on the bathroom vanity, staring into the mirror. Fuck, this trip to Melbourne had been hell. I’d almost lost five of my men in the bloodbath we’d been dragged into with the fucking cunts down there. Winter had his hands full with them, and while we’d taken back control of the city, neither of us was convinced that was going to be easy to keep hold of. At the rate we were going, I’d have to make another trip down there soon. And that pissed me off because Lily needed me home at the moment. This pregnancy was kicking her ass. When she wasn’t vomiting, she was fighting exhaustion.
“King.” Her voice came from behind me and I met her gaze in the mirror as she moved closer. “I didn’t hear yo
u come in.”
“Yeah.” I turned to face her, sliding my hand around her waist so I could pull her to me.
Narrowing her eyes at me, she said, “Were you a mess?”
My woman knew me well. I’d had blood on my clothes and body after Fury and I dealt with some assholes on the way home, so I’d come in quietly to clean up in case I saw the kids.
Shifting one hand to rest on her ass, I wrapped my other around her neck and nodded. “You look tired.” I hadn’t spoken with her in the last twelve hours so I had no idea how she was today. The only thing I knew without a shadow of a fucking doubt was that I was about to put my fucking foot down and tell her she was taking at least a week off work. And if Jackson didn’t like that, he could deal with me.
Smiling, she reached for my face and angled it down so she could kiss me. It wasn’t the kind of kiss either of us wanted after not seeing each other for a week, but it felt like she was just getting warmed up. Her lips lingered on mine and she pressed hard against me as if she was trying to get as close as possible. “I am tired,” she murmured before kissing me again.
This time she deepened the kiss and gave me her tongue. Within seconds, we were clawing at each other desperately. A week was too fucking long to go without her. I needed her naked. And I needed my dick inside that sweet cunt of hers.
Letting go of her neck, and pulling my mouth from hers, I removed the T-shirt she was wearing. One of mine. I fucking loved it when she wore my shirts, and she always seemed to be wearing one when I came home after being away.
My gaze dropped to her tits as my fingers worked the button and zip on her jeans. It didn’t take me long to get my hand in her panties, and as I slid my fingers through her wetness, a moan fell from her lips. I’d kept a rein on my desire to turn her around, bend her the fuck over and slam into her, but that sound was all I needed to lose any ounce of control I had.
However, as I spun her around, she heaved, vomiting into the sink. I caught her hair and held it back while she continued vomiting. When she finished, I grabbed the washer and wet it.
She took it from me and wiped her face. She then brushed her teeth before looking back up and grimacing when our eyes met in the mirror. “Sorry about that.”
I shook my head. “Lily, you’re having my baby. You don’t ever fucking apologise for anything, least of all throwing up.” I paused for a beat. “You’re still vomiting every day?”
“Yes, but I think it’s getting better, so you don’t have to worry about it.”
I raised a brow. “You think?” She was bullshitting me. This was the kind of thing someone knew for fucking sure either way.
She sighed. “I know what you’re going to say, and I don’t want you to say it.”
There was no way we weren’t going down this path today. “I’m calling Jackson and telling him you’re taking a week off work, if not longer. And you’re not gonna argue with me over this. We clear?”
Turning to face me, she hit me with a glare. “No, we’re not clear. I told you there’s no way I can take a week off right now. We’re just too busy.”
We’d discussed this over and fucking over. Hell, we’d had some arguments over it that ended in her trying to force me out of our bed. She’d learned pretty fucking fast that nothing, not even an argument that had her struggling to look at me, would keep me from our bed. This time, though, she wasn’t getting her own way.
“I’m not arguing with you over this again. Just accept it’s a given. Now, are the kids in bed already?” I expected they were; it was almost 9:00 p.m.
Her eyes widened and she pushed me away. “You don’t get to decide whether there’s a discussion or not. And besides—”
“Fuck, Lily, you’re sick and you’re tired. You need some time off. And as your husband, I do get a fucking say in it.”
She stared at me for a long few moments, anger flashing in her eyes. Then, without a word, she scooped up her T-shirt and pushed past me, muttering, “God you can be an ass.” She exited the bathroom and then the bedroom, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
After deciding to give her some time to cool off, I headed to Cade’s bedroom. I wouldn’t wake him or any of the kids, but I needed to get eyes on them to see for myself they were all okay.
Lily met me in the hallway outside his bedroom. Anger was still clear in her eyes, but it softened a little when she found me looking for our son. “None of the kids are here,” she said.
I frowned. “Where are they?”
“Having a sleepover at Brynn’s. I wanted tonight to just be us. Turns out that’s a good idea, because you’re being a dick, and I—”
I cut her off again and forced her back against the wall, demanding, “You wanna get this shit out now? Do it. But once it’s done, we’re not going back and forth all fucking night.”
The thing I fucking loved about Lily was her fight, and she didn’t hesitate to give it to me now. And although I could have done without it, I couldn’t help loving it at the same time. Hell, it got me hard fast.
“I’m not taking a week off, and you’re just going to live with that”—she held a hand up at me when I worked my jaw—“because I’m going to be taking a lot of weeks off in three week’s time. And if you’d given me the chance to tell you that before, we could have avoided getting shitty with each other, but no, you had to come home and start laying down your freaking law.” She drew a long breath and exhaled it loudly. “I love you, King, but some days I just wanna smack the hell out of you!”
“How long are you taking off?”
“I quit my job. Now, you need to move out of my way so I can go have a bath and have some time away from you. You’ve got me all freaking worked up when all I wanted was calm and peace tonight.”
I gripped her wrist while curling my other hand around her neck. “You give me that news and expect me to leave you alone? You can get your ass in that bath, and you can stay there for hours, but no fucking way are you doing it on your own. Not when I haven’t had your cunt for a week. And sure as fuck not when you tell me the one fucking thing I’ve wanted you to tell me for months.”
Her breathing slowed while we watched each other silently for a few moments. Then, she snaked a hand out to grasp a handful of my shirt. “How do you always manage to say the exact right thing when I most need it?”
There was no anger left in her voice. All that was there now was raw emotion. And need. The same need I had. And that’s what made us work. We could scream at each other, fight all fucking night or argue for days over something, but we always, always, came back together with that need. That urgency for the other.
My mouth crashed down on hers and my hand tightened around her neck. When I finally let her go, I growled, “You can have your bath after I fuck you. And don’t even think about arguing with me over that.”
She smiled, and for once in her life, she did what I fucking said.
Chapter From King’s Wrath in King’s POV
King
This was originally written in Lily’s POV in King’s Wrath. I hope you enjoy seeing it with King’s thoughts.
I knocked back half the glass of whisky I’d just poured and placed the glass on the desk. The burn of it against my throat was what I was looking for tonight. Bronze weighed heavily on my mind, as did Skylar. Fuck, I hadn’t seen her this anxious for a long time, and the fact it was because of me and the club ate at me. I hoped like fuck Lily could talk her down because I sure as hell hadn’t been able to.
A sound at the office door alerted me to someone’s presence, and I looked up to find Lily watching me with a look I couldn’t quite place. Concern perhaps.
“What?” I barked. I didn’t need her concern. Didn’t need to drag her into my shit. The sooner Lily stopped worrying over me, the better. And I sure as fuck didn’t need her hands on me again.
She entered the office, not taking any notice of my mood, and sat her ass on my desk of all fucking places.
Fuck.
“You should pour
me a drink,” she said, her gaze locked to mine.
I threw the rest of my whisky down my throat. “You don’t need another drink.” I could smell the booze on her from here.
Her brows arched. “How do you know what I need?”
“I don’t, but I know it’s not that,” I said, placing my empty glass down. It sure as fuck wasn’t any more alcohol she needed.
Her gaze darted to the bottle of whisky beside me, and before I could stop her, she leant across me to swipe it up.
“Fuck,” I muttered, trying like hell to ignore how fucking good she smelt. My efforts proved futile, though. My dick was already hard from the minute I took in the red dress she wore that barely covered her ass. Her scent only intensified my desire.
She poured whisky into my glass and drank some while she watched me. The heat blazing from her eyes—hell, from her entire fucking body—told me she hadn’t come here just to talk. Lily wanted to fuck me. And while I wasn’t a man who ever cared enough to push a woman away when it was clear we weren’t a good match, fucking Lily was not on my agenda.
“Skylar took a pill. She should sleep all night.”
“Good.”
She took another swig of whisky. “You’re a man of few words, King. Normally I like that about people, but I kinda wish you’d say more.”
I clenched my jaw.
Fuck.
What the hell was it about this woman that made me want her? I had no business wanting her, but I was so damn hard for her I wasn’t sure I’d be able to say no if she continued pushing this.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her, however I refused to lower my gaze to her body. That shit would break my resolve; I knew that much.
Lily had to be the most beautiful woman I’d ever met. But my attraction was more than that; there was something else about her that had captivated me. She cared about people and gave of herself in ways not many women I knew did.
