Page 142 of The Sinner's Bargain

Naya chuckled sleepily. “I think even he’s done for a little bit.”

I growled into her satin flesh. “Give me five minutes, love.”

The sound she made was somewhere between amused and aroused.

“Did you mean it?”

I sank my teeth into her shoulder, making her shudder. “What?”

She wiggled and I lifted myself enough for her to roll onto her back. Her eyes met mine. Her face flushed. She had the glow of a woman who’d just been thoroughly fucked, and it made every primal part of me prickle with pride.

“About a real wedding.”

I felt my insides warm as I pulled her into my arms. My lips captured hers.

“Once a year for the rest of our lives, if you want,” I told her softly. “If we had more time, if I had met you sooner, it wouldn’t be like this. We would have courted. I would have met your family, and I would have spoiled you while we planned the biggest wedding anyone has ever seen.” I brushed back the hairs at her temple and kissed her again. “We’re still doing all of that, but we’re just getting that paper first.”

I expected some excitement. Maybe some relief. But Naya licked her lips and dropped her gaze to my chin.

“I don’t know ... I don’t know if I can marry you, Thoran,” she whispered at last. “I want to. I want to so much, but I can’t.”

I touched the side of her face, brushing my thumb along her bottom lip before sliding down to tip her chin up until she was looking at me once more. “Tell me why not.”

She dampened her lips again but didn’t avert her gaze. Her inhalation was deep and shaky between us. “There’s so much about me you don’t know, and I can’t ... I can’t tell you.”

I should have been angry. Annoyed even. But I knew she was hiding her past. I knew that from the moment I found her in the garden, getting too close to those fucking roses. I couldn’t act surprised or upset now when I already knew, but for the first time, it did make me curious.

“Why can’t you tell me?” I stroked her cheek lightly with the back of my fingers. “You know I won’t let anyone hurt you, don’t you? Whatever you’re running from ... whoever, they will never touch you. I promise you that.”

If my words comforted her, it was never clear when she exhaled another breath. “It’s more complicated than that. I made a promise and ... you can’t protect me from this.” Her lashes lifted and wet eyes rose to meet mine. “I don’t even have any ID and Katie Smith ... she’s not real. You know that. It would be fake, and I don’t want our marriage to be fake.”

“It won’t be fake.” I kissed her again. “I’ll bring the priest here.”

“But the paperwork would need to be filed, right?” she pressed, her voice tinged with hints of panic. “It’ll become public record and...”

She was right.

Once the license was filed, there would be nothing stopping anyone from finding her, but who was looking for her that badly? What was she running from? It hadn’t bothered me before but now I was getting pissed; if someone thought they could scare her into hiding for the rest of her life, they were about to find themselves facing a whole other beast.

“Get dressed,” I told her evenly. “We’re getting married.” I pressed the pad of my thumb over her lips when they started to open. “Let them find you, sweetheart. There is nothing they can do to you now. You’ll be my wife and I will destroy every last one of them.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

NAYA

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