Heartless Savage (Angels Halo MC Next Gen 7)

Licking my lips, I tried to find an argument, but the whole “I refuse to be a teen bride” thing had seemed lame to my own ears the last time I’d said it and was even more so now that the truth was out. My cousins would all gang up on me if they even knew I’d said that to begin with, especially River.

“Okay, fine,” I gave in. As soon as the words left me, a weight felt as if it were lifted off my chest. “But if you think this gets you out of proposing, you’re dead wrong, mister.”

“When have I ever not given you what you wanted, my heart?” he murmured against my lips.

“You make me sound spoiled,” I complained halfheartedly.

“Baby, spoiling you is my greatest pleasure.” Something darkened in his eyes, and instantly, my body reacted to the spark in them. “I love you so fucking much.”

“Ryan.”

“November can’t come fast enough,” he groaned, leaning his head back against the chair. “I’m going to be a wreck until that ring is on your finger.”

A soft laugh escaped me. “Oh, please. A ring isn’t going to calm you down. Not even a little. Nothing ever will.”

“I’m calm when you’re beside me,” he argued. “Every time you touch me, this tightness that chokes the life from me eases. I have no worries, no bad memories, no enemies. In those moments, there is only you and peace.”

A sob bubbled up in my throat. “R-Ryan.”

“Shh,” he soothed, kissing along my jaw. “Your tears are my kryptonite. Even when they are happy tears, they are the worst kind of torture, my heart.”

“Y-you definitely know how to kiss it b-better.” I turned in his arms so I was straddling his lap, my tears already drying on my lashes as he kissed down my neck to the top of my shirt. “You know, you demanding I marry you is pretty special.”

He flexed his fingers on my ass. Lifting his head, he locked his heated gaze with mine. “Nova, our first time is not going to be on a jet.”

I rocked my hips, grinding down into his hardness. “It would be fun, though.”

“Come here,” he grumped with a half smile. “Kiss me again, baby.”

“Fine,” I sighed but brushed my lips over his. “I guess we shouldn’t give poor Oliver a show.”

He thrust his fingers into my hair, pulling my head back slightly. “No, we will not give him one. Because if he or anyone else so much as hears the way you moan for me, I will have to end their lives then and there. Those are for my ears only, Nova.”

The way he pulled my hair mixed with the aggression in his voice only turned me on more. “Wh-what if I’m very, very quiet?”

He sank his teeth into my neck, nipping just hard enough to sting before licking the tender spot. “You have already proven to me that you can’t be quiet when I touch you, my heart. Now be a good girl and kiss me.”

* * *

I barely took two steps up onto the porch of my house when the front door opened and Mom walked out. Her gaze went straight to the way Ryan was holding my hand, making her beautiful blue eyes brighten even more before they traveled to my left hand.

“Damn it!” she grumbled under her breath, her shoulders drooping comically in disappointment.

“What?” I asked with a laugh.

She sighed. “We had a little bet going. Raven and I both thought you would come home with a ring on your finger.”

I lifted my hand and turned it left and right to emphasize the lack of a ring. “Sorry, Mom, but—”

“No ring!” Dad whooped as he came out onto the porch. “I’ll be taking that payment tonight, thank you very much.”

“Gross,” I muttered to Ryan under my breath. I could only imagine what the prize for winning the bet was, and I didn’t want those images in my head. Especially when pink filled my mom’s cheeks, and she slapped at Dad’s chest, telling him to shush.

Ryan laughed quietly as he pulled me against him, tucking me under his arm and letting his hand slide down to my hip. It was a bold move to make in front of my father, but Dad had always been laid-back when it came to anything to do with my best friend and me. When I glanced his way to garner his reaction to Ryan holding me so possessively, it was to see something close to approval in his green eyes—and maybe a little relief too.

“Mom.” I pulled her attention back to me. “I don’t have a ring—”

“Yet,” Ryan stressed.