Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Galina

T hey were both dead, that chapter in my life done. No more running. No more hiding.

It was enough to have a tear unexpectedly slide down my cheek.

I wrapped my arms around my waist and stared out at the bright lights of Vegas. The sights and sounds, the bustle of life that had always been a constant in my world seemed miles away. A distant memory.

It was no longer my past or present. Because my future was so very different now.

"No more tears."

I closed my eyes at the sound of Arlo and felt another tear move down my cheek as if my body was trying to defy his very words.

"It's over," I whispered and opened my eyes at the same time I turned around to face him. He immediately enveloped me in his arms and held me, resting his chin on the crown of my head, my strong protector who asked for nothing in return but gave me so much of himself.

"I love you." I uttered the words, not realizing they'd come out until I felt his body tense against mine. "I love you so much," I sobbed, meaning them with every single part of me.

He tangled his hand in my hair, the locks damp from the shower we'd taken together as soon as we'd gotten back to the hotel hours ago. He'd washed me so gently, wiping away the violence of the night, as if he needed to do it so desperately it was his only mission in life.

He tipped my head back so I was forced to look into his face, the light from the city coupled with the darkness of the room casting an ominous presence over him. I stared into his eyes and got lost in the depths. "I love you," I whispered, wanting to say the words over and over again until they were seared on our flesh, forever tattooed on our souls.

I lifted my hands and cupped his cheeks, a light scruff starting to grow in, scratching along the sensitive skin of my palms.

He was brutally beautiful, my dark, avenging angel. He made me feel things that I'd never thought possible, that I'd never envisioned for myself. I never thought I could give my heart to somebody, that I'd ever truly feel safe or be happy.

But looking into the dark, turbulent emotions that covered Arlo's face, I knew without a doubt all the things that had led up to this point in my life, all the ugly things had brought me to this one beautiful moment in time.

They led me to him.

" Moy svet. I love you as much as my dead, dark, and twisted heart can love anything so light and beautiful. I'll love you until I can't love anymore, and only then it'll be because I'm dead and rotting in the ground."

I rose up on my toes and pressed my lips to his, stopping him from saying anything. I dragged my tongue across the seam of his mouth, loving the spicy, masculine flavor that covered him—that was him —before delving inside. He was still so tense, but he tightened his fingers in my hair, holding me in place as he tilted my head to the side and deepened things.

This harsh groan left his throat, and I couldn't help but soften against him, wanting that danger and darkness that seeped from his soul and surrounded me. "I need you," I begged against his mouth, not realizing until this moment that I'd never needed anything more than I needed to feel Arlo's body pressed against mine, his cock deep in my pussy, his power holding me down so I was forced to take it all.

The feeling of his arms tightening around me had a thrill moving through my entire core. I found myself tearing at his clothes, ripping at mine, needing to be bare, to feel skin on skin, to know Arlo wanted me as much as I wanted him. I needed to know I was alive at this moment.

And when the remains of our clothing were nothing but tatters on the ground, he lifted me up, his biceps clenching with power. I wrapped my legs around his waist, my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss, desperate and hungry, starved like an animal unleashed inside us.

"I need to fuck you," he growled against my mouth and didn't wait for me to comply, to agree… to beg to be filled and stretched by him.

He strode us toward the bedroom, and I repeated, "I need you." Arlo kissed me and growled between licks and sucks, his hands gripping my ass cheeks, his palms so big and firm, so masculine. The air left me when my back hit the mattress, when Arlo's massive frame covered mine.

He used his knees to spread my legs wide, pushing them out forcefully so I had no choice but to stretch for him, to bare my pussy and wait for him to give it to me the way I wanted. And when he settled fully on top of me, the thick, heavy length of his cock sliding right between my pussy lips, I tunneled my hands in his hair and tugged on the strands as a moan was ripped from me.

"So fucking wet for me." He thrust against me, his length slipping up and down my slit before moving back. Over and over, he slid through my cunt, my lips framed around his girth, the root of his shaft rubbing my clit with every upstroke.

"Arlo. God, yes." I could have gotten off on this alone, the rocking motion, the feel of his weight on me, pushing me down on the bed, making me take what he had to give me.

I was so wet, soaked, my inner thighs smeared with my arousal for him.

"So ready for me," he growled against the side of my neck, biting down on the flesh hard enough I cried out from pleasure and pain, knowing there would be bruises come morning, fingertip-sized ones on my waist, hickeys on my neck.

I speared my hands in his hair, keeping him right where he was, begging for more, harder… all of it. I lifted my hips, silently demanding. I needed him inside me so deep I didn't know where I ended and he began.

And then the tip nudged at my pussy hole a second before he lifted his head slightly and looked me in the eyes. " Moya ." Mine. He thrust all those inches into me so hard my back arched, my breasts shook, and a painfully aroused sound left my mouth. "You're mine," he grunted as he thrust into me hard once more, sliding out until the tip was lodged in my entrance, then pushed back in.

"Yes," I cried out.

He fucked me with fast strokes, ones that made me feel like he was staking his claim irrevocably, that he was showing me with his body that I'd never get away, that I was his. His hips slammed against me, the sloppy, wet sound of our fucking so dirty, so raunchy, that I was almost on the verge of coming from that alone.

He was brutal, the motions pushing me up the bed from the force. Arlo slipped his hand under me and up my back, curling his fingers over one shoulder, keeping me in place as he worked his cock in and out of me.

This wasn't making love. This was raw, hard-core fucking. He was a feral beast, his body corded with strength and deadly precision. It was like he was losing just as much control as I felt like I was inside. And all I could do was hold on to him, my legs wrapped around his waist, my hands still tangled in his hair. He was biting and licking at my neck, making inhuman sounds that drove me perilously close to orgasm. His grunts, my moans, and the noise of our wet sex slapping together surrounded my head and filled the room.

"You're mine, and I will never let you go." He slammed so hard into me, hitting a secret spot that had my eyes rolling back in my head and the air being forced from my lungs. "Now come for me."

I came, my body obeying Arlo instantaneously.

"Fuck yeah. That's it. Even your body knows you're mine."

The vibrations from his voice went right to my clit, engorging the tiny bundle even more until I was nothing but a mindless fiend, thrashing my head back and forth, trying to stay conscious. I knew Arlo was the only thing that could give me the fix I needed. He was the only thing that had brought life into every single part of me.

He grabbed both of my wrists in one of his hands and thrust my arms above my head, adding pressure and pinning me down so I was spread out like an offering. And then Arlo leaned back, his other hand gripping my waist, his fingers clenching and relaxing as he stared down at where our bodies were connected.

"I've never seen anything hotter than the sight of my cock in your cunt." He slid in and pulled back out, slow and easy, as if he savored the sight. "My cock is so wet, glossy because you're fucking dripping for me." His gaze refused to move from where he watched, and I lifted my head to look down the length of my body to watch too. My lips parted as I saw the thick, girthy length of his shaft pull out of my body, wet and shiny under the glow of the outside lights coming through the window.

"Look how wet you are, baby. Look at how fucking soaked you've made my cock."

"Yes, Arlo. Oh God, yes. Fuck me."

And he did just that.

He slid his hands along my inner thighs, then hooked his fingers under my knees, pushing my legs out so far and wide that my muscles protested in the best way. The new position was obscene, my legs damn near in the splits position, my pussy lewdly displayed, but God, I'd never found anything hotter.

He slammed into me so hard and fast that I was losing my mind.

Arlo was ruthless , my body aching wonderfully. My breasts shook back and forth, my nipples hard peaks, painful, silently begging for his mouth again. As if he knew my thoughts, knew what I needed , he bent down and took one taut tip into his mouth, drawing the bud up, running his teeth gently over it again and again until my pussy clenched tightly around his cock on its own with my impending orgasm.

"So sweet. My favorite flavor in the world is you ." He dragged his tongue over my chest, up my neck, and circled my ear before growling out, "Now come for me."

And I did. I exploded in a show of lights and fireworks, pain and pleasure. All I could do was take what he gave me. Every single touch, sight, smell, and sound drove me higher.

The gruff sounds he made against my throat as he thrust in and out of me. The way his balls slapped the crease of my ass. How the root of his shaft rubbed against my clit every time he slammed home.

I was flying high, licking the sky, feeling that ecstasy from the tips of my toes to the ends of my hair. And I never wanted it to end.

I felt his cock kick inside me, growing thicker before he roared out, the heavy, hot jets of his cum filling me, taking root so I'd always be marked from the inside out by the man who held my heart, body, and soul.

When we were both spent and depleted, he brought one of my hands to his mouth, kissed the center of my palm, and then braced his forearms on the bed on either side of my head. Our breathing was harsh and identical, our skin sweaty. I felt the droplets of his perspiration land on my chest, hot and sticky… so damn sexy.

He pulled out, and I felt the loss right away. I felt the combination of my arousal and his cum slip from my pussy and slide down the crease of my ass to make a wet spot on the mattress.

Arlo pulled me close to him, and I curled against his body, my head dizzy, my vision blurry from the aftereffects of my orgasm, of my sheer happiness and love for this man. He lifted my hand and placed it on his chest, right over his heart. I tipped my head back to look into his face, noticing he already watched me, knowing there was something on his mind. There was a strange expression on his face, one I couldn't place. I reached up and smoothed my finger between the crease of his eyes.

"I never had a heart to give away, Galina," he said softly in the darkness, his gaze holding mine. "I never knew love, never gave it or received it. I didn't even know what it was until you came along."

My heart stalled in my chest at hearing him say those words, my breath holding in my lungs as I waited for him to continue.

"I'm not a good man. You know this. And you accept me regardless." He took my hand and placed it on his chest, right over his heart. "But whatever can grow in this dark, dead heart of mine, whatever love I am capable of, I want you to own it. I want you to be the only person to have that part of me, moy svet ."

"Arlo—"

"I want to give you everything that I am, Galina. I want to give you the bad, the good… even the parts that are terrifying, because that's what's real; that's who I am." He slid his hand along the side of my neck to cup my face, his thumb smoothing over my temple. "I didn't know what being in love felt like, and until you came along, I never knew how much I wanted to live. For you."

"I love you." I said those three words again, tears building in my eyes, ones that came from the very best part of me.

"Without you, there is no me, Galina. And if that's love, then I love you so fucking much I'd tear my heart out and give it to you in offering just so you could see my loyalty, my determination… that within this monster, I am just a man needing the most important person in his life. You ."

I closed my eyes and felt a smile move across my face.

"I love you. So much you make life hurt in the very best way, moy svet ."

And that's how I fell asleep, knowing I'd never have to be afraid of what lived in the dark any longer, because I had the most dangerous monster holding me tight.