Lace and Bullets(57)

She shook her head. “The past made you who you are. You don’t have any making up to do.” She reached out and traced an edge of the tattoo on his arm with her finger. “I want you just the way you are.”

He’d never said the words to anyone. Not even Melanie. When they were kids it had seemed silly, when they were older, it was too late. Damien waited until her brown eyes found his.

“I love you, Mia.”

“I love you, too, Damien.”

He slid off the couch and kneeled at her feet. “I don’t have a ring or a threshold to carry you over, but I want to spend the rest of my life with you and our baby.” Damien reached for Mia’s hand and wrapped his own battered fingers around it.

Her brown eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “I don’t need anything else. I only need you.”

“Will you marry me?”

One tear spilled over and raced down her cheek. “Yes.”

Damien rose up and Mia wrapped her body around his. When their lips touched, Damien knew that wherever they went next, as long as they were together, it would be home.

Damien lifted Mia in his arms and carried her to the bed. Thank God for king-sized mattresses. He planned to use every square inch.

Her hands were on his chest before he could kiss her lips. She gripped his T-shirt and dragged him closer.

“I need you, Damien.”

“I know.” He took her mouth, thrusting his tongue inside to swirl and dance with hers until she moaned into his lips. He nipped her lower lip and she groaned.

“I need to taste you first.” He dipped his head, trailing kisses up her neck and over her ear. He nipped at her earlobe, tugging on the soft flesh until she arched into him.

“No, I don’t want to wait…”

“You will.” He nudged her back until she fell onto the mattress. He stripped off his shirt and threw it on the floor.

One tug on the robe’s belt and the soft hotel terry fell open. All that tanned skin. Breasts begging for his hands to touch. The place between her legs he couldn’t wait to taste. She was sexy and innocent and full of life. Everything he thought he’d lost so long ago.

Mia’s flat belly that would swell with their child. The life they made while swimming through a sea of darkness. By the time their child would be born, they would be bathed in light. Damien would never drag Mia into the dark again.

Crawling over her, Damien slid his hand up Mia’s side and marveled at the woman who’d just agreed to be his wife. Her breasts spread on her chest, nipples hardening before his eyes. She was sexy and strong and so damn perfect. He didn’t know how he got so lucky.

Damien leaned in and licked one sensitive nipple into his mouth before moving to the other. Mia arched her back and ran her fingers over his head, pulling him closer.

Mia was the sun in the sky. The brightest star he’d ever seen. She’d pulled him out of the gutter when he had nothing and no one and gave him a future. A family.

He couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life in her orbit.

Damien slid down the mattress and spread her legs. The rest of their lives started that night. He was going to enjoy it.





26





MIA




As Damien’s tongue raked through her swollen folds, Mia arched off the bed. They did it. They stopped the Marcelo cartel, the ADA confessed to his crimes, and Mia and Damien were given full immunity.

No one could touch them. They would have new lives somewhere far away from Wellington and all the horror they had survived. Damien would be a free man. He wouldn’t have to look over his shoulder. Their baby wouldn’t just have a father, she would have a family.

A home.

Damien flicked his tongue across her clit and Mia cried out. He might be a cold and violent man when he needed to be, but with Mia he knew when to stop. With their daughter, he would be gentle. Kind. The best kind of man.

Mia reached between them and tugged at Damien’s arms. He crawled over her body with a question in his eyes.

She didn’t wait for him to ask it. Her lips landed on his and she raked her tongue across his flesh, tasting her own need all over his face. God, they were good together. She was soft where he was hard. When he demanded, she submitted. She needed, he gave.

Life could never get better than this. “I love you, Damien.”

“You said that already.”

“I’ll never stop.”

He kissed her again. “I don’t want you to. I love you, too.” His hand rested hot on her belly. “And I’ll love our child, so, so much.” Damien stroked her bare skin and Mia reached down for his belt.

“I want you, right now.”

“Are you sure it’s okay. I mean, I won’t…”