He pulled himself up next to me and kissed me roughly, his hand on my throat, but not squeezing hard enough to cut off my air supply.
“You’re mine,” he muttered against my lips. “Never fucking forget it, Angel. You’re my favorite toy.”
“And your only one,” I reminded him cheekily, and he grinned at me again. “At least I hope so. That’s what I’ve heard…”
“Damn right,” he murmured, kissing me again and letting me taste my own pussy on his tongue. “This is all mine, toy. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
It took us almost an hour to drag ourselves out of bed. I felt clumsy as hell with my huge belly, and I barely managed to get dressed. Carolina had to help me get my dress on, and I practically retched at the idea of the heels I was supposed to wear. We settled on a pretty pair of sandals instead, and Carter assured me I looked amazing.
We had a wedding to go to that day, and I was feeling nervous as we got ready. It would be one of the first times I was officially introduced as Carter’s wife.
We’d eloped soon after Carter’s father passed away. Neither of us had anyone we wanted there, although I occasionally regretted not telling Carter’s mother. She was actually a nice woman, and in the past few years, I’d enjoyed spending some time with her. She was thrilled about the idea of a grandchild, which surprised me, since she seemed to be on a permanent hunt for eternal youth. But she could chat about baby things for hours, and I’d spent many weekends online shopping with her.
But still, my life after what happened was pretty much limited to the house, and my interactions focused mainly on the staff. Carolina, Carter, and his mother were the only regular people I had in my life.
After my stepfather died and I found out the truth, I crawled into the safety of my cage and refused to come out for months. It took me almost half a year to start sleeping in Carter’s room regularly. And it took longer than that to stop crying myself to sleep every night.
It was the bitter part. The part that made my stomach, my head and my heart ache every time I remembered what the people I loved most had done to my family.
It was all gone, in the blink of an eye. Everything my parents had built, the life I’d known with Barron, it was wiped clean as if someone was trying to start my life anew. And it took me a long time to accept that I had been wrong for a very, very long time.
I didn’t want to believe the truth about my father for a while. I refused to admit he’d done anything wrong. Carter had been patient with me during that time, comforting me any time I needed it and making sure I was comfortable with what was going on between us. But there were still moments, sometimes several times in a day, where I’d burst into tears for no apparent reason.
It was hard to come to terms with the fact that I was completely alone now. There was no one else left in my family.
The person who helped me the most with that turned out to be Carolina.
After Carter’s father passed, she admitted to having the same feelings of painful loneliness, and we bonded over the fact that we’d both lost someone we loved.
We spent long hours together, and she became one of my best friends. Three years later, she was graduating from the community college she’d attended, and she’d settled down with one of the guards who helped us bring down my stepfather.
“But are you happy?” I asked her once. “I want to know if it’s possible to ever be happy after everything that has happened to us.”
She looked at me over her shoulder. We were sitting in the gardens and she looked beautiful in the dusk of the day. The light made her scar almost illuminate her face, and for the first time since I met Carolina, I thought the mark she bore on her face was beautiful.
“I’m happy,” she said, and on that day, when everything was possible and her scars were beautiful, I believed her.
There were days when I didn’t, but Carter managed to convince me otherwise. His gentle touch, his firm grip on my throat. Everything he did, he did for me, and I fell in love with him multiple times a day. He was a dream come true, everything I’d ever wanted. He was the one who made getting up in the mornings worth it, because it meant I got to fall asleep in his arms again that night.
He whistled at me once I got ready for the wedding, and I gave him a shy smile.
“I can’t believe this is really it,” I said as we got in the car, getting ready for the ride to the venue. “I can’t believe this is how things have ended up.”
“It’s been a long time coming,” he told me with a grin. “It’s time to close this of our lives.”
He put a protective hand on my belly when we started driving, and the baby kicked gingerly as the car stirred to life. We decided against finding out the sex, but the nurse had slipped and accidentally told me anyway, and I knew it was a boy. It was so hard keeping the secret, and it took all I had not to tell Carter what I knew. I wanted to let him know he’d be a daddy so badly.
Maybe now was the right moment…
“Daddy,” I whispered, and he looked away from the window and into my eyes.
He was so handsome. Even though he was older than me, it seemed like the years passing were merely doing him a favor. He had a few smile lines, and a few smatterings of gray in his jet-black hair, but that was it. He looked as sexy as the first day I met him, and he was still just as fucking impossible to resist as the day he took my virginity while I begged for him to come inside me.
“You know,” he said thoughtfully. “Soon you’re not going to be the only one calling me that.”
I giggled and hit him on the forearm playfully, and he caught my fists between his fingers and pulled me closer.
“Careful,” I whispered, not wanting to disrupt the position I was sitting in. It was getting uncomfortable to sit like that, with the huge belly. And I wanted to keep my belt on. Safety first.
“Maybe people won’t think it’s so weird when you call me daddy in public then,” Carter grinned at me and I stuck my tongue out at him.
“Maybe I’ll have to stop then,” I teased him. He caught my nipple through the fabric of the flimsy dress and I gasped when he gently twisted it, eliciting a soft moan from my lips.
“Please,” I said right away, because it was what I had been taught to do, and because I knew just how much he loved it. “Please, Daddy.”
“Good girl,” he muttered. “You’re never going to fucking stop, Angel, and we both know it. You love it too much to deny either of us the pleasure of calling me Daddy. And I fucking love hearing it from those pretty lips.”
I squirmed in my seat and he pulled me closer, as close as I could get while keeping the seatbelt on. I giggled when he tipped my chin back. It was still my favorite thing he did to me.
“You’re going to make an amazing mother,” he told me gently, and my heart lurched when he leaned down low and kissed my mouth, forcefully parting my lips and toying with my tongue until I was moaning against his face.
Once he let me breathe, I pulled back a little and touched my hair, worried it was going to get messy before the ceremony.
“And you, Carter Knight,” I said seriously,“are going to make an amazing daddy. You’re going to be such a good father.”
I smoothed my belly through the dress thoughtfully.
“He’s one lucky little boy,” I said softly, and only a moment later, realized my mistake.
I looked up at Carter fearfully, my eyes scared as they connected with his. But what I saw in his eyes was pure joy.
“A baby boy?” he asked, and his voice wasn’t as strong as I was used to it being.
“Yes,” I whispered, and he grinned wide.
“You make me fucking happy,” he told me, and I giggled. “I love you, little toy.”
We’d said the words before, but they never made me feel happier than in that moment.
“I love you more, Daddy,” I whispered, and his hot mouth covered mine in another kiss.
Our baby kicked between us and I giggled against my daddy’s
lips as we drove towards our future.
THE END
Coming soon…
The next book of Empire Sin, Malice, is based on ENVY. It’s releasing July 20th, 2017. Join my Facebook group to read the first chapter on July 1st.
xx, Isa
Acknowledgments
Hey, you!
Yes, you.
First of all, I want to say a big, huge thank YOU for reading this book. I hope you enjoyed the first story of Empire Sin and will stick around for six sexy as sin stories! I’m so very excited to introduce this luxurious, sexy, dirty as hell world, and I hope you’ll come with me on this wild ride. I’m very excited!
A big huge thank you to my editor John Hudspith, who is probably mentally editing this speech as he reads it. Thank you for another amazing collaboration, I will never get sick of telling people who my editor is, and how excited I am to be able to work with you.
Another thank you to Jade West, who did her very best to distract me with pictures of Adam Levine as I was banging out the last few s of Vengeance. Jade, you’re bad! That man could distract me from freaking breathing!
Thank you to my ARC reviewers, who always take the time out of their day to read my books and leave glowing, beautiful reviews on my books.
And a big, GIANT thank you to my good girls who LOVE bad boys. If you’re a member of my readers’ group, thank you so much for taking time out of your day and spending it with me. I love having you all there and you’re honestly amazing! I can’t wait to show you more news about Empire Sin, so make sure to join if you haven’t yet.
Finally, thank you to my boyfriend who lets me eat gummy bears in bed and makes fun of me for falling asleep with makeup on when I’m waiting for him. You’re the best.
Hope you enjoyed, lovely!
Isa
About the Author
Isabella Starling started out as a voracious reader of dark romance, and has since evolved her love of reading into writing dark, twisted romantic tales. When not spending time with her boyfriend, two cats & a Labrador pup, she's chatting away to author friends and plotting her next release.
Besides reading and writing, Isabella is a fan of photography and graphic design, and writes a beauty blog in her spare time. Obsessed with the next big project she wants to work on, she can always be found perusing the web for ideas and inspiration. Isabella's dream is to reach as many readers as possible and make them feel all kinds of emotions when they read her books - from fear to love and affection, just like the characters in her books.
Visit me online!
www.isabellastarling.com
[email protected]
Also by Isabella Starling
Pet: A Dark Menage Romance
Daddy’s Girl
His Brat: A Dark Romance
Vengeance: A Dark Billionaire Romance (Empire Sin) Page 20
