Chapter 22

Ares

My little tornado had once more proven to me that we were made of the same spirit. Her toned legs ran toward the forest with her tiny pink shorts and top, her long fiery hair moving wildly against the element.

I knew I was a twisted man, things always had to go a different road with me. And it turns out I had found my match, a woman as untamed and wild as me, not backing down from a run into the woods under pouring rain if the prize was our final destination.

I didn’t even acknowledge my men all guarding the house, one every fifty meters, hands on their rifles, looking away. My house, my rules, and my fucking woman. Deep into the forest, we would be hidden from everyone.

I gave her a minute, just enough so she could let the adrenaline pulse through her veins, become euphoric with the thrill of knowing I was behind her, ready to grab her and link my soul forever to hers. So when her fiery hair disappeared from sight, I removed my cut and ran to the forest, not caring about how loud my footsteps were. I wanted her to hear me come for her.

I wanted her to know that I would always chase her, that she would never have to be afraid of being unwanted ever again. That this place was her house and my heart her home. And I fucking hoped that in every step bringing us closer, I fucking hoped she knew that she was it for me. That no other woman could ever fill the void she had created in my chest and that only she could fill. That her laugh was my oxygen and her smiles, my religion.

So, ran, I fucking did.

Until I could no longer see the light from the porch of the cabin. Until the mud covered my boots and the rain soaked my shirt, the fabric becoming one with my skin. I ran until I saw the bouncing of creamy flesh behind the branches, her breath getting louder as I was reaching toward her.

Her legs were moving fast despite running barefoot in the dirt, and I knew I would then bring her home and wash her myself, caring for every wound she could ever have, inside and out.

The silhouette of my breathtaking wife appeared fully in my sight, the predator in me roaring in my chest as I lunged for her and caught her waist with one arm, lifting her legs off the ground, her back pressed on me.

“Mia.” I inhale her hair, her cinnamon scent clutching my heart like a vice.

“Ares,” she says, out of breath, her little hand covering the one I had laid on her stomach, possessively holding what would be forever mine to cherish and protect.

“You caught me.” Thick tears echo in her throat.

“I’ll always catch you, always,” I say, turning her soaked body to face mine, keeping her above the ground, protecting her from the elements. She looks at her feet, her trembling hands landing on my chest and gripping the wet fabric.

“Mia, look at me.” My voice is softer than I’ve ever heard.

Her sweet face lifts slowly, biting her lips hard with watery eyes.

“I love you,” I say, locking my eyes with hers.

There.

I said it.

The four-letter word.

“I love you, and I’ve been loving you since the day I held you in my arms when you had your first panic attack here. Even then, I already knew.” Our foreheads connect in the darkness.

“I…I love you too,” she murmurs in a breathy voice.

I’ve never been a man who needed validation, but damn if those words didn’t tear my inside out and build me back into a new fucking man.

She loves me.

My Mia loves me, and I’m the luckiest man on earth.

“That’s it, princess.” I rub my finger on her wedding band. “Till death do us part.”

“Yes.” She nods with a shy smile rising at the corner of her lips.

“Let’s go home now. I think it’s time I show you all the things I’ve been burning to do with you for months,” I rasp, my body suddenly reaching a thousand degrees.

“Ares, don’t. I don’t want to go back yet.” Her hands hold my shoulders as if she’s afraid to let go.

“I.. Fuck, I didn’t mean to pressure you. Fuck—” Regret instantly settles in my guts for pushing her too far too soon.

“No, it’s not that…it’s, I can’t wait a second longer.” She shakes her head, tears falling from her chocolate pupils.

“But you’re freezing. I’m not leaving you out here.” No fucking way, I’m leaving my wife in the cold of the night. We’re getting home right fucking now. I let her down and take her face in my hands.

“No—I…I need you,” she repeats, her voice more confident than before, her eyes shining with a dangerous spark I’ve been trying to ignore since the moment I kissed her on our wedding day. Her body gets closer to me, with heat burning in her hazelnut gaze.

“Now, please,” she pleads with a mix of gravity and eagerness, fisting my shirt with a desperation I know can only match mine. There’s nothing I can refuse her, anything she wants, she can have it. And I’m just as much on the edge as she is, barely able to think, knowing I have in my arms the woman I’ll be spending the rest of my life with.

My little tornado.

My wife.

My Mia.

I should know better and bring her back to dry herself in our home and not stay here, at night, on the ground, trees surrounding us with rain pouring in the forest of our property with drenched clothes sticking to our bodies as the water pours down on us. But at that instant, I don’t feel the cold anymore, nor the drops of water or the pulse of my heart running wild in my chest.

Nothing matters but the woman I’m holding in my arms.

Anything she wants, I’ll give it to her.

Everything that I am.

Back then, before knowing her, I expected her to want silky things, expensive sheets and a luxurious mattress, but now I know that my Mia is just like me. She doesn’t need material stuff. She just wants to feel alive. And even wet and shivering with leaves and small branches in her wild hair, she looks more royal than any woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.

A true queen.

“Right now?” I grunt, searching for doubt in her beautiful eyes.

“Right now.” She holds her chin high, challenging me.

Sliding my palm behind her nape, I pull her closer, our mouths seconds away from crashing against each other. I pull us down on the ground, rocks pointing under my thighs, but don’t give a damn about it. I’m shielding her from the mud, only her knees touching the dirt as she straddles my lap, her hand fisting my shirt as if her life depended on it.

“I love you,” she tells me, her eyes going back and forth with my lips. Shutting down all my defenses, all my resolve.

My Mia does that.

She destroys control.

She destroys logic.

She takes it all away and breaks them until they bend to her will, to her want.

“I love you too, Mia,” I chant to her like a prayer, my hand sliding to catch her hair in my fist, pulling her closer.

And then I kiss her like the world’s about to end if I don’t.

I kiss her until we’re nothing more than desire embodied in two people who should have never met yet understand each other better than anyone ever could.

Our lips never part as we merge our souls into the forest, the wind and echoes of the night masking our sounds as I watch my Mia unfurl before me. My eyes never stop watching her, constantly reminding myself that I’m just a mortal in front of a goddess and almost choking on my own pride for having the right to do this with her.

Even after all is done, I can’t stop kissing her soft lips, hungry for her as if years will never suffice it. As the rain batters down, soaking us through, I hoist her up in my arms, her warmth pressed against me despite the cold. With our clothes back on, clinging wet and heavy, I carry her through the stormy forest toward our home. I nuzzle my lips into her damp hair, my voice gruff but tender.

“You’re my whole damn world, you know that?” She shivers against me, and I hold her tighter, feeling the fierce bond between us sealed into these woods, body and soul. As we finally reach our bathroom, I shower her, her hands resting on my shoulders as I kneel before my queen, cleaning the legs that had run into those woods for us. Then I tuck her back into the covers and quickly shower myself before sliding behind her, pulling her sweet little body into mine, and falling asleep with my wife in my arms, knowing that I will wake up to her smile every fucking day of my life.