Cold Hearted Bastard (Underworld Kings)

“So sweet. My favorite flavor in the world is you.” He dragged his tongue over my chest, up my neck, and circled my ear before growling out, “Now come for me.”

And I did. I exploded in a show of lights and fireworks, pain and pleasure. All I could do was take what he gave me. Every single touch, sight, smell, and sound drove me higher.

The gruff sounds he made against my throat as he thrust in and out of me. The way his balls slapped the crease of my ass. How the root of his shaft rubbed against my clit every time he slammed home.

I was flying high, licking the sky, feeling that ecstasy from the tips of my toes to the ends of my hair. And I never wanted it to end.

I felt his cock kick inside me, growing thicker before he roared out, the heavy, hot jets of his cum filling me, taking root so I’d always be marked from the inside out by the man who held my heart, body, and soul.

When we were both spent and depleted, he brought one of my hands to his mouth, kissed the center of my palm, and then braced his forearms on the bed on either side of my head. Our breathing was harsh and identical, our skin sweaty. I felt the droplets of his perspiration land on my chest, hot and sticky… so damn sexy.

He pulled out, and I felt the loss right away. I felt the combination of my arousal and his cum slip from my pussy and slide down the crease of my ass to make a wet spot on the mattress.

Arlo pulled me close to him, and I curled against his body, my head dizzy, my vision blurry from the aftereffects of my orgasm, of my sheer happiness and love for this man. He lifted my hand and placed it on his chest, right over his heart. I tipped my head back to look into his face, noticing he already watched me, knowing there was something on his mind. There was a strange expression on his face, one I couldn’t place. I reached up and smoothed my finger between the crease of his eyes.

“I never had a heart to give away, Galina,” he said softly in the darkness, his gaze holding mine. “I never knew love, never gave it or received it. I didn’t even know what it was until you came along.”

My heart stalled in my chest at hearing him say those words, my breath holding in my lungs as I waited for him to continue.

“I’m not a good man. You know this. And you accept me regardless.” He took my hand and placed it on his chest, right over his heart. “But whatever can grow in this dark, dead heart of mine, whatever love I am capable of, I want you to own it. I want you to be the only person to have that part of me, moy svet.”

“Arlo—”

“I want to give you everything that I am, Galina. I want to give you the bad, the good… even the parts that are terrifying, because that’s what’s real; that’s who I am.” He slid his hand along the side of my neck to cup my face, his thumb smoothing over my temple. “I didn’t know what being in love felt like, and until you came along, I never knew how much I wanted to live. For you.”

“I love you.” I said those three words again, tears building in my eyes, ones that came from the very best part of me.

“Without you, there is no me, Galina. And if that’s love, then I love you so fucking much I’d tear my heart out and give it to you in offering just so you could see my loyalty, my determination… that within this monster, I am just a man needing the most important person in his life. You.”

I closed my eyes and felt a smile move across my face.

“I love you. So much you make life hurt in the very best way, moy svet.”

And that’s how I fell asleep, knowing I’d never have to be afraid of what lived in the dark any longer, because I had the most dangerous monster holding me tight.

Epilogue

Arlo

Five years later

You can never fully leave behind darkness. It follows you like a shadow, always there, looking and imposing. But as long as you have light, it will always stay one step behind, never able to touch you.

And as long as I had Galina in my life, I’d never truly be the villain in my own story. She’d given me that humanity I’d always been missing.

I stood on the porch and stared at her, her profile shadowed by the sun setting over the horizon, the waves crashing against the shore. Next to staring into Galina’s face, the sight of her like this, the beach and ocean her backdrop, was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen.