Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 120475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 482(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 482(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
I was never the kind of girl who dreamed of wedding cakes and white dresses. That was for other girls, girls who believed in fairytales. Not me.
And yet, somehow, I said yes.
And somehow, we’re here.
And somehow, this is real.
My pulse pounds as I push against his chest, just enough to make space. “Did you just do this because you hate liars? Because you freaked out in the moment and said I was your wife, so now you had to make it true? Like… for your ethics? To save your job?”
He frowns, and I realize I haven’t taken a breath in approximately forever. My lungs scream for air, but I can’t move. I can’t look away.
“No.” He steps forward, arms wrapping around me again, solid and warm. “I meant what I said last night. I love you. I lied to you when I said things were fine after our accidental photo-op at the Christmas gala. Things weren’t fine with the bishop. She made me choose. The priesthood or you. I chose you.”
Oh.
Oh, fuck.
So then why did we—?
If he’d already basically lost his job. . .! Or is this just a way to keep both me and his job? My head’s spinning too fast.
“You could have told me!” I finally explode.
“I just did.” His lips graze my ear. “No more secrets, wife. Now that you’re mine, I won’t keep anything back. One last thing, though; my father is Brad Blackwolf.”
I jerk back. “Brad Blackwolf. The—”
“The richest man in the world,” he confirms, sighing like he wishes it weren’t true.
My brain does a full reboot.
I thought there was something familiar about that man lurking in the shadows the other night. It was fucking Brad Blackwolf! Also known as Mad Blackwolf because the man eats billionaires for breakfast and flosses with their bones.
And I just married his son.
I blink up at Bane. “Why the fuck didn’t you make me sign a prenup?!”
His eyes darken. “I gave up my inheritance when I became a priest.”
I exhale. “Oh, thank God.”
Bane throws his head back and laughs, then hauls me into his chest. “This. This is one of the many reasons you’re perfect.”
I narrow my eyes. “What?”
“It never even occurred to you to care about the money.”
I slap him on the shoulder for thinking I would ever care about that shit. “I’ve been poor before. It was fine. I mean, I’ve been miserable when I was rich and when I was poor.”
Bane cups my face, his gaze turning serious, almost fierce. “Not anymore. Not now that you’re with me.”
A small smile tugs at my lips. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
I stretch up on my tiptoes, letting my lips graze his ear. “Wow. I bet you weren’t lying about what an asshole you were growing up.” And then I bite his earlobe, hard.
There’s been a tightness in him all day, something coiled just beneath the surface, but it unravels in an instant as he melts into me, pinning me against the wall.
“Yes,” he growls, voice dark, rough, and brimming with promise.
I shove him toward the bed with a wicked grin, my voice all honey and steel. “Go lay on your back with a pillow under your hips.”
Bane growls, his biceps flexing as he grabs me and pins me against the wall again. “What if I want to fuck you against this wall instead?”
God, I love the feel of his big body up against mine. I get back up on tiptoes to bite the tip of his earlobe, then soften the sting with slow, deliberate kisses down his jaw to his mouth. “You can do that. And we’d both enjoy it. I’m so fucking wet at the thought.”
His hand is already beneath the hem of my dress, fingers teasing my inner thighs before sliding higher, and oh. Oh.
He exhales, sharp and harsh, and I clench around the fingers he’s slid inside my cunt, grinning against his lips. “But you won’t get the surprise you would if you were a good boy and did what I said.”
I feel the jolt of his cock against my stomach at the words good boy. His muscles lock up like I just flipped a switch inside him, and oh dear God. Bane Blackwolf is utterly wrecked by the way I tease him, and the power of that knowledge floods me, thick and intoxicating.
I never get to have the power. Not like this.
But he relinquishes it to me so completely. So easily. So without hesitation.
I haven’t told him I love him. Do I?
I haven’t told him my secrets. Can I?
He gives of himself so freely, but I’m not sure I know how. Giving my body is easy. Thoughtless. Nothing at all.
His dark eyes hold mine, pupils so wide I swear they’ve swallowed his irises. Then he moves, stepping back to the bed. Never looking away, not for a second.
“Naked or clothed?”