“I’m sorry I put you in danger. But no, I’m not sorry that Marco brought you to me.” Raw honesty was the only way forward. “I want you, Ashlyn. I need you with me. I was a fucking mess without you.”
“I wasn’t doing great without you, either” she admitted. “I want to be with you, but not like this. Can’t we just go back to Cambridge? I’m scared, Joseph. Marco said you’re involved with the mafia, and he said your enemies… He said they’d hurt me.” A small tremor ran through her body.
Damn Marco for scaring her. He’d been trying to talk some sense into her, but he’d been too blunt. I never would’ve told her the fucked-up things our enemies might do to her if they caught her. I wanted to shield her from that fear.
“We can’t go back,” I told her, the words acid on my tongue. I wished we could, but I wouldn’t be able to protect her there. Not by myself. The dream of sharing a normal life with her was shattered beyond repair, and all I could do was let it go. Marco was right: this was our reality. Ashlyn and I both had to face it.
“I am sorry for that, but I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. Even if it means you hate me for keeping you here, I’ll do it.”
“I…I don’t hate you. I don’t think I’m capable of hating you.”
Relief surged through me, a pulse of light through my entire body.
She doesn’t hate me. It wasn’t the same as trusting me, but it was a start. I’d earn her trust back. It would just take time. She’d adjust and accept her place here with me. It might never be possible for her to return to her old life. Even if we dealt with my father’s enemies and the immediate danger passed, she was in my world now.
I didn’t like the world I lived in, but it would be bearable with Ashlyn in my arms.
“I’m everything Marco said I am,” I told her. “I’m all that and worse. Like I said, I’m not a good man. But I’ll be good to you. I’ll take care of you, just like I did in Cambridge. I hid my past from you, but that part of me was never a lie. All I want is to take care of you. I know you don’t want to be here, but I’m still going to try to make you happy. Will you give me a chance to do that?”
Her eyes were tight with longing. She wanted everything I promised. She wanted to be sheltered and adored.
She just didn’t want to be my captive.
“I want to go back to school,” she begged. “Please, take me back. And stay there with me.”
Maybe Marco had been right to be so blunt with her. She still wasn’t fully grasping the danger she faced.
“I wish I could give you what you want, but I can’t. I can’t make any promises about taking you back. I can’t let you go. I won’t.”
Ashlyn was mine, and it was time she acknowledged it. She already belonged to me. I could feel it in the way she leaned into me for comfort even as she begged me to release her. This might not be the way she wanted our relationship to go, but at least we were together. My life had been hell without her, and I wasn’t sorry for keeping her.
I’d just have to remind her how good it could be between us.
I shifted my hand in her hair so I grasped her nape, and I pulled her toward me to finally capture her lips.
Fuck, I’d forgotten how good she tasted—pure sin from the mouth of an angel.
I’d licked at the salt of her tears this morning, but those were apologetic kisses, meant to soothe.
I didn’t want to soothe her now. I wanted to consume her.
As soon as her lips parted for me, my tongue surged into her mouth on a hungry growl. My other hand eased up her thigh, the reverent touch contrasting with the almost brutal way I claimed her lips. I nipped at them, kissing her hard enough to make them swollen.
Good. I wanted her to bear marks of my possession. I might not be able to mark her skin like I truly wanted, but I could allow myself this one dark pleasure. I knew my sweet, pure angel was far too innocent for all the kinky things I wanted to do to her, so I’d hold back.
Mostly.
My fingers dipped beneath the hem of the silk nightgown, and I found her lower lips were swollen, too. She was slick and ready for me. I brushed my thumb over her clit. It was hard, needy. She mewled into my mouth, and I devoured the sound.