Page 62 of Sinful Bride

Right now, she needs to be reminded of who I belong to.

“That’s it, baby.” I nip at the curve of her hip. “Open up for me. Let me take care of you.”

It’s easy to bury my face between her legs and forget about everything else in the world. It’s just us, here and now. All that matters, all that exists, is the connection we feel between each other.

I pulse my tongue in and out of her sweet slit, listening to her moans to know when to flick, when to dip, when to glide. Her fingers squeeze the bedsheets when I move over her clit again, so I return to that spot.

“Yes!” Daphne rolls her hips. Presses herself to me more. “Yes! Pasha… please…”

When she comes, her gasping cries are music to my ears. Her hips buck and roll, but I don’t let her go anywhere but my mouth. Her thighs quiver and give way, but I hold her down until it’s finally through.

“That…” Daphne’s chest rises and falls with her attempts to catch her breath. “That was…”

“A warm-up.” I suck a lovebite into the juncture between her hip and her thigh. I want to see where I’ve been tomorrow, and the next day, and always.

I meet her gaze, even from where I’m firmly planted between her legs and worshiping the softness of her post-pregnancy abdomen, so she can see just how serious I am.

“I told you, Daphne: I love you. I want you. And I’m not letting you sleep until there’s no way you can doubt that I do.” I arch an eyebrow. “Any questions? Yeah, I didn’t think so.”

24

PASHA

Jameson sidles up to me at the goodbye brunch the next morning, a mug of coffee in one hand and his daughter anchored to his hip with the other. “Welcome to the family, Pasha. Good to have you here.”

“Is it?” I ask.

He shrugs a shoulder and sips his coffee. “If she’s happy, I’m happy. And she’s still here, despite my offer to get her out, so?—”

“Hold on. What did you just say?”

Jameson is stone-faced. “I gave her an out. Car was ready to go, keys in my pocket, no questions asked.”

He must see the raging emotions in my face—I’m letting them show these days more than I ever used to, though fuck knows why—because he chuckles.

“Relax,” he advises. “She stayed. For you. Even when she saw those two monsters she calls parents in the crowd, she stayed. I hope you’ll remember that when things get tough. Because believe me, they will.”

I frown at him. “I’m not sure if I’m supposed to thank you or hit you.”

“Thank me, don’t thank me—frankly, I don’t care. What I care about, who I care about, is my family. Daphne is my sister. I protect my sister. I think you can empathize with that, yeah?”

Honestly, I can. I clap a hand on his shoulder, which I think surprises him, but he doesn’t pull away. “Thanks, Jameson. Really. You know, I could really use a man like you in the family business.”

Jameson barks a laugh and shakes his head. “Thanks, but no thanks. I like my nine-to-five where I don’t risk getting shot. Lower healthcare premiums, ya know?” He pats my shoulder as well. “But fuck with my sister, hurt her in any way, and I’ll make any one of your bulldogs look tame. Nam yasno?”

I whip my head to stare at him. When the fuck did he learn Russian?

My brother-in-law gives me the barest little smile. The kind that says he’s got more up his sleeve than he’ll ever reveal. To anyone.

My respect for him has just skyrocketed. I think we’ll be getting along just fine.

It’s strange. Alien, even, to fully comprehend everything my life has become. That I have become. Not only am I now Daphne’s husband, I’m a father. A brother-in-law. An uncle.

Someone people count on. Someone people trust.

Most alien of all: I’m someone people genuinely love.

With that increasingly uncomfortable thought, I make my way over to Daphne. She’s sitting with Taty halfway on her lap, halfway on Gentry’s, and he’s lightly stroking the downy hair of his baby cousin with tenderness and awe.

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