Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59199 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59199 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
23
DANE
The warm water grows cloudy as I carefully wash the soot from Abigail’s hair and face. She does the same for me, her slender fingers gentle on my scalp. My head aches slightly from the blows her uncle managed to inflict, but the pain is nothing when she’s blessing me with her tender touch.
We linger in the shower until the water starts to go cold, simply holding one another. The feel of her safely in my arms calms me like nothing else, and panic has ridden me hard for hours.
When I finished burying Billy earlier this afternoon, I’d checked her location and realized that she was at Elysium. I’d known that she wouldn’t go there of her own accord, and every second it’d taken me to get to her had been an agonizing eternity.
Her uncle tried to inflict yet another psychological wound when he locked her in the darkness of that cell. He tried to scare her into cooperating with his demands to retract her statement about his crimes against her.
Now, he’s paid the ultimate price.
No one touches my wife.
I turn off the cool water in our shower and wrap her in a fluffy white towel. She leans into me, allowing me to take care of her.
Her trust in me is a miracle, and I’ll never take it for granted.
“You were so brave back there,” I praise as I run a brush through her damp hair.
She turns to face me, and her glowing eyes pierce my soul. “I did it for you. He was going to kill you.” Before I can reply, she admits more quietly. “And I did it for myself.”
I cradle her delicate jaw in my hand. “Never feel guilty for killing that bastard. The world is a safer place without him in it. What you did was justice. He deserved far worse.”
She blinks up at me. “I don’t feel guilty. I’d do it again if I had to.”
“Good,” I say with savage approval. I don’t want her to lose so much as a moment of sleep over that motherfucker’s death.
“All I want is to be with you,” she declares with the weight of an oath. “I want a future with you, just like we promised on our wedding day. Nothing will stop us from having that.”
I grin. “I promised you the world, Abigail. You will have everything you desire.”
“I desire you.” Her voice takes on the breathy quality that goes straight to my cock.
I hum in consideration. “I think you deserve more than that. I never did give you a proper honeymoon. How does Whitby sound?”
Her eyes spark with excitement. “Really? I’ve always wanted to go there.”
I chuckle. “I remember your fascination with Dracula. I remember everything you tell me.”
I’m still greedy to know everything about her. I don’t think my maddening craving for this woman will ever abate, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
She leans into me with a happy sigh. “I’d love to go to Whitby, but I know you need to focus on work. And I have my gallery now. We can’t just leave Charleston for a honeymoon.”
I fix her with a stern stare. “We’re leaving tomorrow. Your gallery will wait for a week.”
“But Meadows—”
“Will make do without me,” I cut her off. “We’re partners. He can’t tell me what to do, and he can’t run that practice without me. I went private so that I have the freedom to set my own schedule. I choose to make time for my wife. No one can tell me no.”
She giggles. “I can.”
“But you won’t.”
Her chin tips back. “Won’t I?”
Fuck, that challenging stance and impertinent tone stir my darkest urges.
But my hand is gentle when I stroke her hair. “Don’t goad me, little dove.”
“Why not?”
I trace the shape of her pretty pout. “Because you’re not ready to face the consequences. You’ve been through enough.”
Those aquamarine eyes flash like gemstones. “That’s not solely your decision to make. When I remembered what Uncle Jeffrey did to me, I felt robbed of all agency. Well, I’m not going to let him take one more thing from me, much less my intimacy with my husband.”
I search her expression and find nothing but determination and defiance in every sharp line of her stunning features.
“I don’t want to do anything that will hurt you,” I confess.
“I like the pain,” she reminds me. “And I trust you completely. I want you, Dane. All of you. Even the dark parts. They match my own perfectly.”
“Abigail…” Her name is a warning. I’m clinging to my control by my fingernails.
“Dane,” she replies evenly. “I want to be with you. I need to feel you inside me.”
I bite out a curse, and my control snaps.
I scoop her up in my arms and promise, “I’ll be gentle with you.”
Her eyes flare. “I don’t want gentle. I want you. My dark god.”