Page 98 of Unveiled

Silence falls over the room as my ears refuse to believe what they’re hearing. She sounded as if she had rehearsed that speech already, like she expected this exact conversation to happen today. My eyes search hers, waiting for the sincerity in her gaze to turn mocking when she decides to tell me it’s all a joke and she doesn’t love me anymore. Her arm stretches out to cup my cheek, and she strokes a thumb along my cheekbone.

“You deserve better, little one,” I tell her, because it’s the truth. She deserves better than this chaotic, dangerous life, but I don’t want her anywhere that’s not right by my side.

“It doesn’t get better than this,” she answers, smiling at me as the words fall from her mouth. “You’re the best there is for me. I don’t want anyone else. So, ask me again.”

A question forms in my eyes, not understanding what she’s telling me to do. Ask her what again? I didn’t ask her a question.

“Cain,” she calls to me. My eyes focus back on her again, leaving my thoughts behind. “Ask me again.”

As she stares into my eyes, seeing straight into my soul, realization dawns.

Never stop asking.

She can’t really mean -

“Marry me, Ainsley,” I blurt out before I can stop myself. A wide grin splits her beautiful face as the words fall from my mouth. She pulls her hand from my face and motions for me to come closer. I obey until I’m leaning over her so she can whisper into my ear.

As she speaks the single word, her breath tickles my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

“No.”

Pulling away from her, I let her see the confusion clouding my eyes again. Did I misinterpret her? Was there another question I was supposed to ask?

“You just tried to get me to leave you, you’ll have a lot of making up to do for that. Just don’t stop asking, okay?”

Epilogue

Ainsley

Seven months later

“You could have put a little more thought into your costume,” I chastise Cain as we walk into the Halloween fair.

It’s been a year since the first time he claimed me as his. With his black skull mask covering his face and the black shirt he’s wearing, he looks exactly the same as the first time I met him.

“And what exactly are you supposed to be?” he asks as he looks me up and down through the eyes in his mask.

It’s the first time he’s asked me that question since I walked into the living room after I finished getting ready. He’s been begging me for weeks to tell him, even trying to coax it out of me after each mind blowing orgasm, but I stayed strong and kept my secret.

The black leather corset I’m wearing pushes my boobs up farther than they’ve ever been, but keeps the lower part of my abdomen revealed. Right above the waistband of the tiny matching leather skirt I’m wearing, written in sharpie, are the words, “The Monster’s Lair” with an arrow pointing down. I put my arms behind my back, letting the cuffs around my wrists magnetically attach, and look at Cain with big doe eyes.

“I’m yours,” I answer him.

I know, I know, I’ve never been the type to pick a sexy costume for Halloween. I much prefer something scary, but I just couldn’t pass it up this year. Tonight has too much in store for us, though Cain doesn’t know that yet.

Cain growls as he grabs my arm and pulls me behind one of the buildings to give us some privacy. He lifts the mask from his head so I can see his reaction to me. As he pushes me back into the building, leaving my arms attached at the cuffs behind my back, he looks like a starving man. His eyes roam over me, just as they did before I insisted we needed to leave, and I feel my own reaction to his heated gaze as my thighs try to rub themselves together.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t take you home and fuck you, little one,” he commands as he clenches his jaw, trying to keep himself under control.

I move myself away from the wall far enough that I can pull the cuffs apart. Once they’re free, I raise a hand to his face and gently trace a line down his cheek.

“Because I have a surprise for you, and if you take me home right now, you won’t get it,” I tell him honestly. Once my finger reaches his jaw, I trace a line over to his chin and then grab it in my hand. I pull him in until his lips are close enough to mine that they’ll feel the words as I speak them, and I hear him groan when I don’t pull him in further. “Now be a good boy and take me to the haunted houses.”

As I go to push him away from me, Cain growls and grabs the back of my neck, pulling me in until our lips crash together. Our kiss is hungry and passionate, like we haven’t seen each other in weeks, even though we live together.

He releases my neck and grabs my thighs, hoisting me up until my legs are wrapped around his waist with my back still pressed against the wall.

“Cain,” I pant, trying to make it sound like a warning. “There are people right around the corner.”

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