Page 73 of Iron Blade

“You may kiss the bride,” he said, clapping his hands.

I didn’t hesitate. I lunged into her, cupping the back of her neck in my hand and pulling her to me.

I faintly heard her sigh of contentment, as her arms encircled my neck, and mine went around her waist so that I could pull our bodies close together.

But it wasn’t enough. Not until we could be together, alone, without these filthy, profane clothes between us.

Chapter twenty-five

A Little Hat

Kira

“Next time you want me to be your chauffeur, cousin, you need to get me a little hat,” Dairo said from the driver’s seat as Eoghan and I sat in the back, our arms around each other.

Eoghan was a good kisser. He had taken my mouth in his in such a possessive way that I melted into him. There was something so traditional about how it all felt - the aisle, the piano music as I walked to him. The vows…

It was all so real. Because it was real.

The thought cut through my brain, making me almost stiffen in his arms. I didn't know what was real anymore.

I had spent so long pretending to be someone else, that I didn’t even know who, or what, I was anymore. Everything I was, was built on a lie.

The vows weren’t a lie. You meant every fucking word.

I did stiffen then, almost lurching out of his arms.

He held on tighter, his hand on my shoulder pulling me in.

“Dairo, put up the divider,” he commanded, his breath so close that it sent heat over my ear.

“Fuck you. I’m not your servant.”

“As you wish,” Eoghan chuckled as he leaned in, taking my ear between his teeth. I relaxed into him, enjoying the warm shiver that went up my spine. “Mrs. Green, do you consent to having my lips between your thighs as…”

“Oh, fuck off,” Dairo said, as I heard the whirr of the divider going up.

Despite his threats, and his wandering hands, he did not, in fact, dive between my thighs as he had promised.

But God, I wanted him to.

I pulled away, tilting my head up, trying to regain my breath.

He had too much power over me. I couldn’t let him take over my body the way he was. I needed to keep my head on straight. I had to remember who I was, and… and..

“What are you thinking, love?” Eoghan said, his hand not straying from my breast, as the other pulled a strand of hair over the ear he was seducing with his warm mouth. “Why is my bride pulling away from me?”

“It just… all feels so…” I moaned, as his strong fingers pinched my nipple through the dress. I enjoyed the slight stab of pain.

“Feels so…?” he prompted when I didn’t finish my thought.

“Sudden,” I said, between gasps.

“It is sudden.” He licked a trail from my ear, down to the curve of my neck. “But that doesn’t make it rushed. I have never been more certain of anything. You were meant to be mine, and mine alone.”

I whimpered as his hand lifted from my breast, and I so desperately wanted it back. But instead, he wrapped that hand around my throat, not to threaten me, but to hold me close. To pull me into him even more. It was possessive, but not cruel. I wanted him to tighten his hand and steal my air, to possess such an essential function of me.

Because he already owns my heartbeat.

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