“I meant our home, princess.”
I stared at him, barely able to believe what was happening. “You mean…but what about my father and what he said?”
Stone pulled up in the stately turning, circling before Thorn Hill, and without a response, he got out of the car and rounded it to my door. My palms were sweating, and I felt dizzy with excitement and hope as he opened my door and held out a hand for mine. I placed my hand in his, feeling like the very movement was significant somehow. I stood, and he tugged me forward and closed the door behind me.
“I told you, I don’t care about that,” he repeated, walking me a few steps backward until my back came up against the car, and his body loomed over me. He placed a hand on either side of me, caging me between the car and his chest. “I don’t care how it started. I don’t care about Alfie or whatever pathetic scheme he might have had. I don’t even care if you set out to soften me on purpose when you arrived.”
“I didn’t. I didn’t even think of it,” I said quickly.
He shrugged. “I don’t care.”
His repeated phrase was doing something to me, as was the molten look in his eyes. “Why not?” My voice was a breathy whisper at this point. I was lucky I could speak with the clamor going on in my chest. I was still upright, and that was a win.
“Because no matter how we started, you are mine, Bella Moore. You gave yourself to me, and I’m not letting you go. There is no escaping me. There is no end to us. In this story, the beast remains a beast, and the princess loves him regardless. She doesn’t know that even if she didn’t, he still wouldn’t let her go.”
“That’s a little twisted,” I said, a lightness inside me spilling up and out of my heart. After hours of tension and dark thoughts and endless worry, I was happy in a way I couldn’t have imagined.
“The best fairy tales always are.” His hand wove into my hair, and he tilted my head back so he could look down on me, pressing his hips against me, pinning me to the car with his desire for me.
“You’re not mad?” I whispered, unable to believe it.
He shook his head, stroking a finger down my cheek. “I get to keep you. I’ll never be mad again,” he said quietly. “I love you, Bella. You are my light in the dark, and I will never let you go.”
I shivered at that stark statement, but it didn’t feel like a threat. It felt like a promise I never wanted him to break.
“Now, be a good princess, admit you love me too, and say you’ll marry me and fill this house with a real family.”
“Marry you? Isn’t it too soon?”
“It’s late if anything. I’ve been waiting my entire life to meet you. I’m not waiting one more second to tie you to me in any way I can. A ring on your finger, babies in your belly, money for your bookstore, more orgasms a day than you can count… I’ll do it all and more.”
I let out a laugh of pure happiness at his earnest words. I could tell he meant it. This brooding recluse meant to keep me forever, and I couldn’t be more excited about it.
“That certainly sounds more interesting than the fairy tales I heard growing up,” I teased him. He cupped my face with both hands, calloused and strong. I melted into his brutish tenderness.
“Princess, I’m only just getting started.”