Page 65 of Vicious Redemption

“Put this on,” he instructs, leaning over to collect our clothes and passing me his suit jacket.

I smile, liking his bossiness as he dresses me in his clothes. Sitting up, I accept the coat and slip my arms into the too-long sleeves. When I button it, the fabric closes just above my belly button, leaving me with a dangerous amount of cleavage.

As Leo straightens, he brings his pants back up, and a lewd smile curls the corners of his lips as he admires me openly. “I don’t know. I might just make that your new dress requirement. It suits you.”

“Was that a pun?” I ask in mock horror.

God, it’s good to hear him laugh. It lifts the dark emotion from his posture for just a moment and fills my heart with warmth. We can get through this together. Grieving just takes time.

“I suppose it was,” he agrees. Then he scoops me into his arms, leaving his shirt and tie and my black dress carelessly strewn across the floor.

“Shouldn’t we collect those?” I ask, my cheeks warming. “Otherwise, people will know what we did.”

Leo’s eyes glimmer with unapologetic arousal as he carries me like a bride, leaving the clothes behind. “I assure you, after the sounds you were making, they already know.”

“Oh my god,” I whisper, burying my mortified face in his shoulder.

Again, he chuckles, making my heart flutter.

“This is our home, Tia. And you’re my wife. We have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Somehow, that eases my embarrassment. He’s right. I should treat this like my home—even if that means finding the courage to get a little wild—because this is where I belong. And astonishingly, though I’ve only lived here a short time, in some ways, it feels more like home than the house I grew up in.

I contribute a significant part of that to Leo. He’s become my safe space in a way I never would have imagined. In his arms, I feel warm and wanted and loved. A smile graces my lips as something occurs to me.

“What?” Leo asks, glancing down at me from the corner of his eye.

“Nothing. Just… you still carry me around even though my ankle’s fully healed.” It brings back the first time he held me in his arms, when he carried me for miles to bring me back to the house after I nearly died. “I was just thinking that your arms are starting to feel like home.”

The suspicious smirk washes from his face, replaced by a deeper emotion that makes my heart palpitate. And Leo pauses to kiss me as he holds me close.

It’s a momentary connection before he starts walking again. But the tingling pleasure that lingers on my lips makes me smile.

“Well, since it’s so familiar…” he teases as we reach the door to our suite. Then he lowers me just enough so I can reach the handle.

I turn it, swinging the door wide, like I’ve done countless times.

He carries me straight to the bed. But rather than laying me down softly, like he did when my ankle was sprained, this time, he throws me onto the mattress, giving me a moment of airborne weightlessness that makes me squeal.

His dark chuckle sets me alight. And before I can sit up, he falls on top of me, his hips spreading my knees as he settles between my thighs. Kissing me soft and slow, Leo trails his hand down my body, feeling the exposed skin of my chest before reaching inside his suit coat to cup my breasts.

I gasp as fresh excitement makes my walls tighten with need. And when he releases the jacket’s button, exposing my body once again, I’m eager for round two.

“Please, Leo,” I murmur, testing out my new toy.

“Please, what?” he breathes against my lips.

I can feel his erection swelling against his slacks.

“Make love to me? I’m begging you. I want you so bad.” I trail my hands down his chest as I say it, reaching the button of his pants.

His tortured groan vibrates through me, lighting a fire in my core.

“Why do your pleas turn me on so fucking much?” he rasps.

I could almost mistake him for being angry if I didn’t know better. And because I’m having fun making him forget about his loss, I bring my lips close to his ear.

“Because you like to please me.”

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