“I’m being serious, Viper. You want to marry me?” she asked.
“Yes. I want to marry you. I want to belong to you.”
“Then we can get married, you know. Before we go and deal with him. If anything goes wrong, you can have it all. You’ll be the next in line as my husband to inherit my family fortune. I want you to have it.”
He pressed a finger to her lips, to silence any more words or plans from her. The last thing he wanted to be talking about right now was what was about to happen. She had no idea that this threat was never going to go away. They only had each other for this one night, and then he was going to have to fight, and to fight hard. “I don’t want you to be thinking about that, or about anything else right now, okay?”
“Viper, we can do this together. I know we can.”
She always saw the positive, and never what had to happen. It was like she was either blind, or refused to see the truth. He loved that about her. Even after everything, knowing what he did, she never judged him.
“Why couldn’t we have met a couple of years ago?” He wasn’t asking her, or anyone else. The truth was, he deeply regretted his life for a split second, and wished there was some way to end it.
He wasn’t a good man, never would be. Tilting her head back, he stared into her eyes, and tried to remember everything he loved about the color blue. How it reminded him of the ocean, of the dreams that would often come to him as a boy. Stroking her cheek, he relished the softness of her skin, and then he remembered the feeling of her tight, virgin pussy wrapped around his cock.
For as much as he could be poetic in their last night together, he still was a man, a man with needs. He stared at the knot holding the towel together. Her skin had dried a little in the warm air, but the temptation of her body was too much of an allure for him to give up.
Sliding his hands down her neck to that very knot, he released it, and slowly began to open her towel, letting it drop to the floor in a heap.
She didn’t try to hide her body from him, and for that he was thankful. His cock sprang to life, hard, pulsing, demanding, but he ignored it. He was going to take tonight to give Pepper a night she would never forget. This was all about her and the two of them together. He pushed thoughts of her stepfather, responsibility, and Killer of Kings to the back of his mind.
He had tonight, and he was going to make every single moment count.
Stepping away from her body, he removed his shirt, placing his gun on the small cabinet beside the bed, and opened his belt. Piece by piece he became as naked as she was.
Once he wore nothing, he stepped up to her, wrapping his arms around her waist, and pulling her close.
Just the feel of her naked body pressing against his own, Viper was in heaven. In his world, he had more money than he could ever spend, but he had never had the one thing that he had craved as a little boy—love. Until now, Viper had never known what it was like to love a woman, or to be loved by her. Many nights, he would lie on the cold ground, shaking, shivering, and begging for someone to take him away. He craved someone to love him, to hold him close more than anything.
When Pepper wrapped her arms around him, he sighed, contented.
“I wanted you so much, Pepper. When I was a boy, I wanted a woman, and you are my dream come true. There is no one else for me in this world.” He pulled back just enough to press a kiss to her lips. “And I will do everything in my power to keep you alive.”
****
Pepper didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She had never wanted a man in her life, and had always believed she would be nothing more than a lonely businesswoman, with the family empire to keep her company. Viper exploded onto her scene in more ways than she could have ever imagined. Against all odds, he had saved her when he didn’t have to, and she had fallen in love with him.
Maybe it was that Stockholm thing, but then again, Viper had never hurt her. Sure, he’d grabbed her roughly a couple of times, but the moment he saw that he was hurting her, he released his hold. He was entirely the wrong kind of man to love, and yet, the perfect one. He never took crap from anyone, and he was a damn fierce man.
She loved him with all of her heart, and knew that he would take a bullet for her. She didn’t want him to though. Sinking her fingers into the short hairs at the back of his nape, she smiled at him, and tried to control the tears that were threatening to fall.
“I love you, Pepper.”
They fell. She couldn’t contain her tears an
ymore, and nor did she want to. “Let’s go away together, Viper. In time everything will die down, and we can live happily, just the two of us. I don’t want my family’s empire. I only want you. That’s all I want.”
He held her close. “They will never stop hunting you, and your stepfather will only get desperate. We have tonight, baby. Give me tonight, and then I will make sure you never have anything else to fear.”
She closed her eyes, and then pressed her lips against his. No matter what it took, she would stop him. Pepper would make sure that he didn’t go and find hell, but that he stayed, and loved her.
Viper wrapped his large, muscular arms around her, one hand going to the back of her head, holding onto her tightly. She loved how he held her, how his arms helped her to feel comfort. So many had died because of him, but not her. He held her, protected her, and above everything else, he loved her.
His tongue traced her lips, and she opened to him, wanting his kiss, needing him more than anything. Pushing all of her fears to one side, she concentrated on the moment she had with Viper, loving him, being surrounded by him, consumed by him.
Running the tips of her fingers down his back, she marveled at the man in her arms, knowing what it had cost him to open up like that. His body pressed against hers, Pepper was in total heaven. She held her thighs together as heat rushed through her body. She was so wet already, and it was kind of embarrassing. When it came to Viper, he inspired so much inside her that it was next to impossible to keep it contained.
She loved him.