23. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Dahlia

T he wind is blowing harder tonight, much harder than last week. Last night even.

I hear it howling outside.

I see it as well. People cling to their coats, their hair whipping around their heads. An empty cup a woman was holding magically flies out of her hand. It goes plonk, plonk, plonk on the sidewalk before she catches it, then tosses it in the nearest trash can.

Good woman.

Unlike Dallas, who should be here in an hour, when I close.

The woman who makes it her mission to ignore the city's trash cans. The woman who's been spitting her gum on the pavement outside my shop and tosses her receipts there too, then marches into my shop.

Expecting me to ignore the things she's done.

Not cool.

Not. Cool.

Maybe loitering doesn't deserve capital punishment. Maybe I rage-added her three months ago without thinking it through.

Maybe.

Who cares.

If Dallas wished to keep her life, she shouldn't have fucked with my shop.

The shop is pretty empty, so until she'll be here, I go ahead and tidy up the place. A wet cloth in my hand and Tyler's tattoo on my breast, and I'm ready to go. I start with the old tiles behind the counter, smiling to myself.

Tonight, I'll tell Tyler exactly what it is I'm doing here. I'm excited.

He might be less than thrilled about killing bad guys. He might dislike it so much that his mind blacks out sometimes.

I don't.

Life forces it on me, and I don't complain. I embrace my calling. In this shop, I'm in charge. In charge of people's lives. Of my meltdowns. I'm the motherfucking queen here.

Always will be.

Once the back area sparkles, I push the swinging door and start on the display window.

A song plays in my head, and I hum the first line to "I Put a Spell On You"—the Annie Lennox sexy version.

A sense of awareness prickles across my skin.

Ding.

The smell. The presence. The vise grip this man has on me .

My bones feel him before my eyes see him.

I keep going, wiping as I sing the second line. Third, fourth and fifth.

Then my ears hear him singing along with me about being unable to stand me running around.

The air in the shop is thick with lust. It's hard to breathe. Even harder when Tyler's fingers curl around my throat from behind. I don't put up an ounce of fight when he pulls me to his chest.

When I sing the line with the word Daddy, his cock hardens at my back. My voice is hoarse. I twist my head. Feel the neat bun I pinned high up on my head grazing his chin.

He's gorgeous. His hair is messy, as if he just got out of bed. His stubble accentuates the shadows on his face.

Dark eyes glower at me beneath thick eyelashes.

There's no need to tell him I can't stand it, as the song goes.

He knows.

"Little savage."

"Tyler."

"Hey," he says, his voice gruff. His hold on my throat tightens. My thighs clench.

"Hi." My tongue darts out to wet my dried lips.

His gaze is drawn to the movement. Nostrils flaring. "I'm here for the cupcakes I'm owed."

"I remember a particular someone who threw shade on them." I pout. "You hurt their feelings. "

"Darling." He yanks me impossibly closer. His cock throbs. His breaths are hotter as they land on my lips. "Are you telling me no?"

"I'm telling you…"

Of course, I'll tell him yes . I'll always say yes to him.

Except I'm not done teasing him.

"Precisely that." My throat constricts. He's squeezing me harder. "No."

"Why is that?" Tyler fists the skirt of my dress, dragging it to my hips. The fingers of his other hand find the crotch of my tights, tearing them.

"Hmm, little savage?" His teeth scrape my ear, and I shudder.

"Because…" I trail off. Can't talk when he pushes my panties to the side and drives three fingers into me. "Oh, Satan."

"Answer me." He's pumping in and out. Relentless as ever.

"You have to stop. Customers…could…come…in." As if I give a damn. As if I care about anything other than his wrist twisting and his fingers curling inside me. "They'll see."

"Do they own you?" Somehow, someway, Tyler's fingers reach deeper. He pushes me forward, shoves my cheek on the display.

Impatient. That's what he is. Impatient and powerful and all motherfucking consuming.

A whimper is my answer. Then a moan.

"It's a simple question, Dahlia." Anyone who passes by could see us. Could think Tyler's fucking me. "Answer me. Do they own you? "

For once, I don't care about the smudges. I care about my breath fogging the glass and the dark eyes that are dangerously close to mine. The investment I made in a sturdier display window is really paying off.

"No." My hands flatten on the glass, and Tyler licks the healed wounds on my fingers. "They don't. You do."

"That's right." He pulls his fingers out of me, and tears of frustration well in my eyes. He licks them, grips my hips, and walks me and him behind the counter. "Me. I own you."

"More." I push against him. I have to face him, show him how much I need him. "Ty."

"Dahlia." He doesn't allow that, not my Tyler. With his erection pressed to me and his hand on my throat, he leads me to the numbered cupcakes I have left on display. "Choose one. Choose one for me."

My desperation for him stings like a spider bite. It's loud like a crow's caw. An owl's hoot. It's as lethal as a snake coiling around my body, attempting to crush my bones.

I'd kill someone if I don't have him soon.

That's how much I need Tyler.

He needs me just the same. Now that I have a view of the front door, I see that he's flipped the sign to Closed , allowing us a few moments of privacy.

Fuck. He's driving me insane. I grind my ass against his crotch, ignoring the cupcakes.

Ignoring his order.

"Do you need me spanking you so you'd pick one already?"

"You could've said I've missed you instead of manhandling me." I'm being a brat. And Tyler's dark chuckle tells me he loves it. "Like normal people do."

"And here I thought it was obvious." His hand slides from my throat to my breast where he inked me. Squeezes. Caresses. "Thought it was clear I missed you every hour of every day when we were apart."

"Tyler."

"Choose."

I reach for the Boston Scream. "You've loved me all those days too?"

"Fishing." His lips curve in a smile on my neck. If I'd turn around, I'd come face-to-face with a wicked grin. No doubt about that. "But yes. Every minute. Every millisecond."

Before I break down and cry from being so ridiculously happy, I pluck out the cupcake I have chosen for him.

"Remember this one?"

"Fuck yes, I do." Tyler bites my throat. Sucks on the skin and sends shivers up my spine. "I remember it was the last one Grams baked for you. She could hardly walk, but she made it her mission to do something special for your eighteenth birthday."

"She had you deliver it to my apartment."

His hand slides down my front, below the display window. Where no one can see. Where I need him the most. He shoves my panties to the side again. Slips three fingers, find the soaking part of me, driving deep.

"I planned on taking you that night." His tongue, teeth, and fingers assault me repeatedly. "Then I saw you there, baking the same fucking cake to celebrate your own birthday with us. You were sweet. Too fucking sweet for me to fuck you then and there. And I was your guardian the day before. I couldn't. Wanted to so fucking bad, and couldn't."

"You hugged me that day"— moan —"a lot."

"Had to."

My eyes close. Whoever strolls in front of Sweet DeNights will have a view of a dark man towering over me. Let them watch. Meanwhile, I'll be here in our own little world.

"Is that why you licked my nose?"

"Yes." He pinches my clit, then he's back to stretching my pussy with his fingers. "It wasn't the right time. You and I, I had to make sure everything was just right."

"Because you loved me."

"Because I loved you."

I'm quiet after that. Quiet while I focus on how good everything feels. Quiet while time ticks by.

The fucking time.

We have less than an hour before Dallas arrives. The cure for my meltdowns.

Do I really need it, though? I have Tyler back. Tyler, who knows how to hold me. How to hug the pain away.

Maybe I should quit killing people?

Nope. I'm fury and justice and kinky fun, all wrapped up in one.

But for him… For more moments with him manipulating my body the way he does…

Maybe.

"I'll be out of your hair before you close. "

Holy shit. That's as close we've ever gotten to talking about it after he showed me his tattoo.

Maybe I should tell him. I should. "Ty, I—"

"Shh. Get out of your head, Dahlia. For a few more minutes, it's only you and me." His teeth almost break skin. Just a little more pressure and I'll bleed for him. "Only you. And me."

Good thing hearts can't catch fire. Mine would, for sure. It'd burn so bright. Burn the whole city down.

"Okay." My grip on the cupcake tightens. The top pushes out. "Only us."

"Good girl." Tyler yanks me away from the display, dragging me back with his firm body. We're both on the floor, him on top of me. I don't know how he did it, but the cupcake hasn't dropped to the floor. "Take a bite, little one."

With his fingers squeezing my wrist, he guides the cupcake to my lips.

I cock an eyebrow. Teasing despite the scorching need between my thighs. "You're checking it isn't poisoned?"

A slow shake of his head. A mischievous glint in his eyes. "Take a bite. Chew. Then part your lips for me. Let me taste it on you."

This is more than a love language. This is how soulmates communicate.

The bite I take is huge. It fills my mouth, and I chew slowly. With my mouth open.

"That's it." He's tearing the hole he made in my tights. Frees his cock and nudges it in there. Not entering, not yet. Enough to have me squirming while I'm choking on my own cupcake. "Stop chewing. Good girl. Hold still."

Tyler slants his mouth on mine. His lips coax mine to open wider, his teeth hitting mine as he delves in for the Boston's Scream. I arch my back for him. Drag my nails through his hair to pull him closer. Push my tongue out for him to get every bit of cream and cupcake.

His groan as he sucks the pastry in is delicious.

I curse at the sight of him chewing my creation. A tiny, chocolaty crumble drops on my lips, and I inhale the thing.

"Tastes better when it has you on it, Ty." I tilt my hips up, begging him to shove himself inside me.

He licks his lips clean. "I've never had anything better in my entire miserable life."

Slam , and his cock is buried inside me. It hurts and feels too good to be true all at once.

"You take up the entire space in my heart, Dahlia." His words are soft, his thrusts are aggressive. "I won't let anything bad happen to you. I promise. Fucking swear on it."

His lips are on mine and he swallows what little air I've had left. Tyler pistons his hips, each stroke of his cock bruising my insides. He's sweeter than chocolate and frosting. More addictive than the sugar I pour into my cupcakes.

"You have such a sweet pussy, you know that?" Each thrust is more vicious than the last. He chokes me, glowers at me. Bites my lip so hard that I scream. "All mine. There'll be no one else for you, little savage. There's only my heart. My hands. My cock. I'll fuck pleasure into you—fuck babies inside you. Make you feel good. Make you cry. And you'll be my good slut and take it. You're mine. My property. My love. Mine."

And he's alive. The beginning and end of them. I will follow him to hell and back. I'll follow Tyler to the ends of the world.

"Tyler," I cry out when my orgasm threatens to rip me in half. "Please."

"Come for me." His fingers twist my nipple. The pain reaches beyond my dress and bra. It's a ruthless kind of pain only Ty can deliver. "Come on my cock, Dahlia."

That's all I need. All I'll ever need. Tyler catches my next scream, his hand on my mouth. He keeps my mouth shut while his dark gaze and ruthless thrusts break me down and build me anew.

"You feel my cock deep inside you?" My ass scratches on the tiles of my shop, my head banging against them. I don't care. I just want him. "Going to come so deep you'll be pregnant by tomorrow."

We both know it can't happen. But fuck, that's hot. It's even hotter when his orgasm hits and I feel his seed shooting deep inside me.

"Good girl." Tyler pumps his release into me. "Such a good girl, Dahl."

We soak each other in for a while longer. Then he pulls out, and his middle finger shoves the seed that's leaked back inside.

It's so intimate that I have to ask, "Would you like to stay and play? "

"Yes and no." His eyes rise to meet mine. "I'd rather start by watching."

Rejection, hot and shameful. As if being in the same room with me while I kill someone will disgust him.

Yes, he kills people too. But he could shoot them. From afar. What I do is so much more personal and…

Disgusting.

He could be disgusted.

Sigh.

"Hey, don't go there. I want every part of you." The cloth he fishes from his hoodie and presses to my pussy is soft. Comforting. Like Tyler's voice. "Thing is, I've been stalking you for four years, little one."

"Yes. You've been into my apartment at night."

Not an ounce of shock registers on his face. He's not ashamed. He's not surprised that I pretended to sleep while he violated me.

"I have." He pulls my dress up higher, looking between my legs, then at my face. "Figured it would be safer for you. If we don't celebrate our love, you know?"

"I do. That's why I've been visiting you at night as well."

A kiss to my clit. Tender. That's it. No shock or hurt and indignation.

Only a kiss.

"I've been obsessed with you." He lowers my dress back in place. "I am obsessed with you. And with stalking you. You're the most dangerous prey out there. So I'm going to hang on to that for a little while longer."

"Will you write about it?" This honesty thing is addictive .

"Nope." He helps me up. Removes my hairband and smooths my hair. "I'll go home. Be back here in three hours so you won't walk home by yourself."

"Ty, I—"

"Quiet. Do not fight me on this." His eyebrows knit. "Tomorrow, though, don't let them scream. There'll be a hole in your soundproof wall."

At that, my face splits in half. My smile is huge. It stays there when Tyler walks out of the shop. When Dallas comes in. I have the same sickening smile while I gut her and mix her intestines with a whisk until she finally dies.

That's what Tyler does to me.

He makes me smile.