Chapter Eleven

Nex.

“What the fuck were you thinking? That’s my sister.”

Merrick threw his arm out to the side, pointing to the car Cia was in.

“I’m well aware, but let’s be clear, she’s also my wife.”

“Then act like it. She shouldn’t have been here.”

I arched a brow. “You demanded I bring her.”

He flinched. “Only because I expected her to be leaving with me and not agreeing to stay married to your morally flawed ass.”

I smirked. “Are you insisting that part of me is now a problem? Because I’m more than aware of how much you’ve paid for the talents that my morally flawed ass has to offer.”

“Killing people is one thing, but being married to my sister… Fuck…”

he yelled.

“Get over it. She’s my wife and, as of now, has no plans of divorcing me.”

Even if she wanted, I would refuse. “We need to focus on more important things like deciding how to navigate this thing with Harte.”

“You don’t have to worry. I have it covered.”

I angled my head to the side. “You must not have understood my point. Marrying Cia changes everything. We are now equal partners in this. Your father will step down and you and I will be presiding over Malone and Harte business moving forward.”

“That’s not possible.”

“It’s very possible and it’s what the fuck is happening. With what we just did, she’s at risk. Whether they know it’s us with certainty that killed him, they’ll assume it was the minute everyone realizes Ciana’s my wife. She’ll be at risk which means she’ll be paying the price for decisions we made. The power has shifted between three families. What used to be Harte, Arlo, and Malone is now Barrett, Arlo, and Malone. It will shift again if Arlo can’t accept what the new structure looks like…”

I glared at Merrick, communicating exactly what I meant. Arlo would suffer the same fate if he didn’t accept the new hierarchy Merrick and I had created.

Merrick nodded tightly with understanding. “Fine. We’ll deal with this later. Right now I need to handle them.”

“Yeah, you do that,”

I mused. “I have to take care of my wife.”

Merrick frowned his disapproval but didn’t stop me when I walked away. As soon as I made it to the car, I wanted to fucking murder him too for delaying me when I saw the state the Cia was in. She was having a panic attack, which made sense. She’d just witnessed two dead bodies, one of which I was responsible for.

Her hand was over her chest as she gasped for air. I wasn’t sure she realized I was in the car until my hands gripped the side of her face and I brought her eyes to mine. “Fuck, Little Flame. You’re okay. I need you to relax.”

Her eyes narrowed but she kept gasping which worried the shit out of me. So I did the first thing that came to mind and kissed her. She froze and tried to jerk away, but when I gripped her face tighter, she resisted for a few seconds more and eventually relaxed into the kiss. I pulled her closer while I leaned over the console until she grabbed my wrist and jerked away.

“I couldn’t breathe.”

I nodded. “Panic attack.”

She attempted to shift her eyes toward the issue but I gripped her face again and kept them locked on me. “Don’t look out there. Keep your eyes on me.”

“Yeah. Can we go?”

“We can. Are you okay?”

“No, you lied, Nex. You promised no ‘bring your wife to work’ moments; yet here we are.”

I smirked when she pulled away and plopped against the seat, cutting me a side glance before she closed her eyes.

“This wasn’t exactly work so I didn’t lie, but regardless, I’ll still make it up to you.”

And I would!

###

I sank into my wife with a groan of satisfaction. Yeah, definitely no outs. She was mine for better or worse, until death do us part, and I had no plans on leaving this earth anytime soon. Neither would she.

When we returned to our hotel, I did as promised and began the process of making up for Cia having witnessed me kill a man. I thought she would resist, want space, tell me to get the hell away from her, but I was pleasantly surprised when I began undressing her and she let me.

I made her come multiple times on my tongue then spread her open, sliding into her pussy, enjoying the way her lids fluttered and she arched away from the mattress. So fucking beautiful and so fucking mine.

I took my time. Even if she admitted her preference was when I fucked her hard and fast, that wasn’t what she needed right now nor was it what I wanted. My strokes were slow, easy, and languid. My eyes remained on hers, even as I explored her mouth with my tongue at the same pace I rocked into her.

The way she spasmed around my dick had me barely holding on. My thrusts were lazy, dragging from her pulsing core only to thrust back in deeper each time I rocked my hips forward.

Cia’s mouth dropped open and I smirked at the trembles of her neck as she moaned through approval of my depth and pace. When she lifted her hips and arched her back from the mattress again, I plowed into her, thrusting deep until I bottomed out. She gripped me tightly, causing every nerve ending in my dick to thrive and pulse.

“I can’t, this is…oh fuck…”

She came hard, and the start of hers forced mine. I shifted my angle to make sure I brushed her clit while I continued thrusting into her with long, hard plunges until her body jerked and her hips were bucking against me. Not letting up until her body gave out and sank into the mattress.

When I was completely empty, I rolled over onto my back, bringing her with me. Cia shifted, relaxing on my chest, draping one of her legs over mine, giving me the warmth of her pussy against my thigh.

“I’m still mad at you,”

she mumbled, bringing a smile to my face.

“Do you want a divorce?”

“No.”

I kissed her forehead again. “Then you can be mad at me all you want.”

“You’re working with my brother.”

“Yeah, I am.”

“You said you didn’t want that kind of power and control.”

I frowned, lowering my eyes to hers. “I don’t but there has to be balance. They’ll never allow things to remain with just Merrick and Arlo. We fucked up the balance with what happened today. Someone has to take Harte’s place.”

“Did Merrick ask you to be the one to do it?”

I grunted. “No, the last thing he wants is to be tied to me with your family’s business dealings. However, what he wants even less is for it to be someone else. Anyone else. I’m the best choice he has.”

She nodded in understanding. “So what now…”

I frowned a bit. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to spend Christmas here but I don’t think I’m ready to spend it with my family either.”

She frowned and worried her bottom lip before she added, “And you don’t celebrate Christmas…”

“I’ll celebrate whatever my wife wants me to celebrate.”

She groaned into my shoulder. “You’re totally going to overdo it with the wife thing, aren’t you?”

I pinched her chin and tilted it enough to gain access to her lips which I brushed mine over. “Have you seen my wife? Why the hell wouldn’t I?”

She smiled and I kissed her slowly, trying to wrap my mind around how I’d ended up here, with Cia Malone as my wife and becoming one third of the power who controlled Diamond Falls. Two things I’d never desired. One of which I could take or leave; the other I refused to fucking let go of, ever. Based on the way she kissed me back, I would assert Cia felt the same.

Merry fucking Christmas to me…

“When can we leave?”

I reached for my phone and lifted it from the nightstand. “I’ll call and set up a flight. It might take a few hours for them to get us on the schedule.”

“Hmm, I guess I might need to think of something to keep us occupied until then…”

While I dialed I kept my eyes on my wife as she eased down my body and disappeared under the covers. I felt her hands on my dick first, then her mouth. And fuck me, we might not make it home for Christmas because there was no way in hell I could complete this call with my dick down her throat.

Epilogue

Cia.

Christmas Day

Iglanced over my shoulder at Nex who was sitting centered on the sofa looking deliciously tempting in a pair of bright green Grinch inspired holiday lounge pants that matched the button up shirt I was in. Before leaving Vegas, he paid an ungodly amount of money to the concierges for them to do a last minute scavenger shop for an artificial tree, whatever ornaments they could find, and holiday pajamas.

They did a fairly decent job collecting everything I asked for, which we then loaded into the SUV that carried us to the airport. All of our holiday goodies were loaded on a private plane that took us back to Diamond Falls.

Currently, I was in the process of decorating that tree. It was just after lunch on Christmas Day and even though the moment would be temporary, I insisted on experiencing my first Christmas with Nex. A real Christmas with a tree and everything. He didn’t care about any of this stuff, but he cared about making me happy. So while I blasted Christmas music, drank hot chocolate, and pranced around the flimsy, six-foot, plastic tree, he kept me company.

“Are you seriously not going to help me?”

“No, this is your thing.”

“But I’m your thing. Doesn’t that count for something?”

I arched a brow and turned my back to him to hang a plastic snowman with a broken nose. The miniature carrot had snapped in half and was nowhere to be found but I still hung it because I was working with limited stock. The ornaments were cheap, plastic, and ugly, but they were absolutely perfect.

“Do you want my help or would you prefer to complain about not having my help so I have to make it up to you later?”

The low rumble of his voice danced across my skin and I smiled, glancing over my shoulder again.

“I choose option C.”

“Which is?”

“Both. I want your help and I’ll still complain about you not helping…properly; and then you can make it up to me later.”

He chuckled and his hand moved to adjust his dick. “C isn’t an option. So I’ll stay put and assume you’re going with B.”

He winked and it landed right between my thighs and danced on my clit.

“Fine, but just so we’re clear, you’re still making up for what happened in Vegas and for not being honest with me.”

If Nex had fessed up about Merrick not truly wanting me to marry Warren, I would have never proposed marriage.

And…

I wouldn’t be married to him, which twisted my stomach in knots every time I thought about it. He didn’t need to know I was perfectly content with how things happened because I was enjoying milking his guilt. However, I truly believed it wasn’t guilt driving my husband to grant my every wish. It was simply his desire to make me happy. Yet another reason I wouldn’t change a thing about how we’d ended up here.

“I’ll take my chances with adding onto that list.”

When I turned to face him, his eyes were glued to my lower half. I felt the heat of his stare on my bare legs and a pull to be close, so I crossed the room and stepped between his widespread legs, placing a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and kissed my ring.

My beautiful, three-carat, diamond solitaire that was added to the list of Christmas items he paid for while we were in Vegas. Only he sent for a jeweler to bring a selection to our room for me to choose from. He ended up picking because I couldn’t decide. Of course I fell in love with the one he selected, mostly because he chose it.

The ring could have been out of a gumball machine and I would have loved it.

“Mmm,”

I hummed. “Remember you said that.”

Nex grinned and lifted his phone, frowning at the screen when he realized it was my brother. They had been on multiple calls in the hours since we’d left that rundown restaurant where I witnessed my husband doing what paid the bills. Their egos were constantly clashing but they always worked it out thanks to the common denominator they shared… Me.

“I need to take this,”

he mumbled while standing. He dropped a kiss to my lips and left the room. I was about to go back to decorating but someone rang the doorbell which had me swinging my head in the direction Nex had just gone. He resurfaced with the phone to his ear but motioned for me to answer. I hesitated, crossed the room, twisted the bolt lock, and slowly pulled the door open, frowning at the person on the other side.

“What are you doing here?”

“It’s Christmas, Ciana. In thirty-four years, I’ve never not seen your face on Christmas.”

My mother lifted a hand and placed it on my cheek. “Can I come in?”

My eyes moved past her down the hallway and she softly responded, “It’s just me. Your father and brother thought it best to accept your demand to give you time to cool off.”

“How is he… Dad?”

“Your father is fine. They worked it all out and I’m sure you know why…”

I glanced over my shoulder and Nex’s eyes were waiting. He winked and offered a nod to my mother. I stepped back, allowing her room to enter. He crossed the room, kissed her cheek to welcome her to his home, and went back to speaking to my brother.

“I get it now,”

she said with a smug grin, extending two large shopping bags in my direction.

“Get what?”

“Why you’re a Barrett and no longer a Malone.”

She smiled at Nex then pointed to the bags. “You weren’t celebrating with us so I thought maybe you wouldn’t mind a piece of home for your first Christmas here.”

I carried the bags to the living room, set them on the sofa, and peeked inside, smiling when I realized she’d brought some of my favorite ornaments. Regardless of who she paid to design our holiday cheer, we always decorated one tree together, her and me. I threw my arms around her, hugging my mother tightly. “Thank you. This means a lot.”

“I’m glad. I’m disappointed you’re not with us but I understand and am fully aware that you’ll be creating your own family traditions.”

She placed a hand over my stomach and I frowned, shooting my eyes back to where Nex stood in the kitchen, still on the phone with my brother. When he only smiled, I relaxed.

“I’m not pregnant.”

“Maybe not, but the way that man is looking at you, I’m betting you will be soon.”

I opened my mouth to argue but she cut me off.

“It’s the truth, honey, just accept it. Now let me help you finish dressing this sad ass tree of yours.”

I frowned. “It’s not sad. Nex brought it for me.”

“Mhm, it’s still sad, but the sentiment is there. He’ll have to do better next year.”

“I will,”

he murmured, scaring the shit out of me when his chest met my back and his lips grazed my ear with a kiss.

My mother shoved him away gently. “Good to know but now I need you to get out of the way. This is a mother daughter thing. You can make yourself busy preparing me a drink. Wine, red preferably. But if not I’ll take Cognac on the rocks.”

The low rumble of his laugh danced across my skin. “Let me see what I can do.”

Before he filled my mother’s request, Nex had his arms around me again.

“I think you might have convinced me that Christmas and family might not be so bad after all.”

His hand slipped under my shirt and pressed against my stomach. “Good thing we skipped the condoms because I think I figured out what we’re doing later.”

Well shit, Merry fucking Christmas to me.