Page 87 of Ferocious Nightmare

"I know, Coulter. You’ve lived through so much pain.” Her fingers brushed, caressed, gently loved over my scars. She poured into me, not only her love and hope, but her fear and pain. She showed me in that motion, that she was afraid too, and that it was okay. “You may think that your heart is as hard as stone, but your pain and love turned into a diamond. A precious, invaluable part of you that I want to own, forever.”

She placed her palm over my chest, the skin of her hand pressed up against the center of my ribcage, where every stroke, every beat of my heart belonged to the woman in front of me.

“You have a lot of love to give, Coulter. And I will never give up on that. And that love gives me strength, not weakness.” She met my gaze, her eyes fierce, full of courage. “This is my choice, Coulter. You don't have the right to decide what risks I can take, and what kind of life I should live. I've already chosen you, Coulter. And you will never take that from me."

There was a roaring sound, deep and terrifying and pounding and savage. It came from within me, crushing and pulsating the doubt and agony and pain.

It was her. My nightmare.

She was terrifying and dreadful and ferocious. She literally came to life and chased away the monsters that told me I would never find a woman to love me for me.

“I choose you, Coulter, and will never leave your side.”

The demons buried deep inside me fled at her words. She crushed the soulless creature inside me, and I was reborn with a hopeful, pounding heart, beating wildly in my chest, believing for once in my life that I could be happy.

“My little nightmare,” I moaned, clasping her, kissing her, “my world, heart.” I mumbled as I kissed along her jaw, down her neck and over her bare shoulder, giving in to the temptation I’d had all this time to worship her as she should be—to count the freckles that graced her beautiful form. “Are you saying that you want to be with me?”

“Mmm,” she breathed, lolling her head to the side, her eyes fluttering closed.

“I need to hear you say it, my love. Will you marry me?” I pulled her shirt off, throwing it to the side, then continued to trail kisses down her chest to the swell of her breasts, still counting as I went. “Of your own free will, and not because you want to keep your sister safe, but because you want me?”

“Yes,” she moaned, pressing her hand to the back of my hair, gripping it to encourage me lower. “I want to marry you, Coulter.”

A possessiveness, deep and instinctual emerged, and I growled, clasping her sexy body to me as I counted and kissed, kissed and counted.

Hundreds. She had hundreds of beautiful freckles splattered and speckled across her pale skin.

She was so beautiful.

The depth of my emotions swelled like a tide from within me. Rising, rising, rising, until it was a tidal wave, crushing, roaring, belting out of me. It pulled me under, sucked me under and into the depths of my soul where I was surrounded by the essence of her.

In that moment, I was no longer Coulter, the mafia boss or the man determined to take his father down, but a man who loved with a passion as deep and wide as the unfathomable expanse of the ocean floors. I loved Aster. I could feel it, sense it, breathe it inside me, like a lightning strike to my heart, wakening my fucking, trembling, and weak soul.

I would never be able to peel or scrape her dusky essence from inside the chambers of my heart.

My palms were hot across her skin, the heat igniting a searing, feverish flush across her cheeks and down her neck, spreading across her belly. She came alive under me, her fingers traced along my neck and arms, then down my back. “Yes, yes, yes,” she chanted as I poured my love into her. Pulling off her sweats, I lowered down to her beautiful cunt, tasting her.

“You love me?” I asked her between kisses, my voice raw and rusty and filled with all the vulnerable places inside me as I ate her out. “Even though I can never offer you a peaceful life with a white picket fence. Even though I may touch you with the same fingers that will torture and kill a man?"

“Yes,” she breathed, exposing her own quivering heart, widening her legs. “I’ll accept every bit of you, the violent and the loving. I’ve already made this decision.” Her fingers clenched in the blankets as I slid a finger up inside her, pumping in and out. “My lungs are full of my love for you. I love you with every inhale and exhale of my breath. Every part of me belongs to you.” She moaned, her fingers tightening. “I love you, Coulter, and I will never ever leave you. I don’t care what you say.” Then she pushed herself down away from my mouth enjoying her taste, until she was underneath me. Her hand moved to my pants, those ridiculous pink sweatpants stretched from hip to hip, unable to hide my thickening cock.

She palmed my dick over them, her gaze heated. “I need to fuck you, now.” Her chest pressed upwards in a deep inhale. “I need you inside me. Are you well enough?”

Desperation made me reckless. I yanked pants all the way off, tearing everything to remove it as quickly as possible. Then we were a tumble of words, breaths, emotions, each of us trying to undress the other in a rush of lust and passion.

Growling, I pushed Aster onto her back. She looked up at me with those beautiful, soulful, emerald eyes, filled with want and love and care for me, and I knew that there would never be anything as great as having this woman by my side.

I entered her slowly, taking my time, filling all the parts of her that now belonged to me. “I’m sorry for what we’ve done to you. Taking you from your home and hanging the life of your sister over you.”

“I don’t regret a single moment, because it led me to you.”

I increased my pace. “I can’t promise you everything in this world, except that I will always love you.”

“That’s all I’ll ever ask of you.” She moaned, arching her back, egging me on. “Harder, Coulter. Show me how you feel. Fuck me like you love me.”

I grabbed her knee, jerking it upwards to push myself deeper, harsher, inside her.

Then I was bucking, thrusting, rolling, rocking into her. I surged and pushed, my whole body trembling with a hungry need for her.

Her fingers dug into my back, her nails scraping against my skin, her own body shaking with desire. She took everything I had to give, as the monster inside me rose again, begging to take this woman and make her mine.

I fucked my nightmare like a man possessed with his own demons, and she shattered them into oblivion with her own passion.

This truly was the woman for me.

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