Page 26 of Recaptured by the Crime Lord

He dropped his head on her shoulder. “Thank you, thank you God.” He raised his head and looked her straight in the eye. “I swear, baby girl, I won’t let you down this time.”

“I know you won’t.” He was different, and so was she. Death separated them twice. She wasn’t going to run a third time. This time, she would fight for life. She would fight for Manny because it was his dying wish that she and Gavin be together. Gavin was no longer a part of the underworld and she chose to live.

“We’re going to spend the rest of the day in bed,” Gavin decreed.

That sounded great to her. Gavin carried her upstairs and set her on the bed as he leaned down to undo her shoes and then shrug out of his clothes. That was when she noticed that her dress had splashes of her father’s blood and her hand was swollen. She flexed it and winced.

“You want me to call a doctor?” Gavin asked, cradling her hand in his.

“No, I think I’m okay,” she said and noticed that he had blood on him as well. She must have gotten it on him when they were fucking.

“Come on,” he said, helping her stand and pulling down her zipper.

The dress began to fall before she remembered her scars. She clutched the dress to her front and bit her lip as cold, hard reality seeped back. He made love to her without seeing—

“What is it?” Gavin asked.

“I—Um, it isn’t pretty. You may not want to see—”

Gavin gently pried her hands away from the dress and let it fall. Lyla closed her eyes as she was left standing in only her underwear, her scars on full display. Even she could barely stand them. Gavin was used to beautiful things and she definitely wasn’t. Her chest was a representation of how she felt inside—disfigured and ugly. The silence stretched. She tried to turn away from him. Gavin fell to his knees, wrapped his arms around her and pressed his face against her stomach.

“Gavin—”

“I don’t care about the scars,” he said and she stilled. “I’m so fucking happy that you’re here with me.”

He pressed his lips to the horizontal scar across her lower abdomen and traced the raised line with his tongue. Goosebumps raced over her skin as she watched him, stupefied, as he laved her scars with his tongue. Beauty out of ashes, she thought. He bent his head and she saw the dried blood on his neck and it dimmed her lust. She didn’t want a reminder of her father to intrude on their time together.

“Let’s take a shower,” she said.

He kissed her belly and rose. Lyla led him into the shower and stood beneath the strong spray and let him wash her hair, a habit from their past. She enjoyed the feel of his hands in her hair and returned the favor. He sat on the bench and moaned as her fingers moved over him. He really did have an amazing body. When she finished, he toweled her dry.

“I can’t believe we consummated our marriage in the back of an SUV,” he muttered.

Lyla flushed a little, wondering how much Blade had seen or heard. She didn’t have time to ponder this because Gavin picked her up and tossed her on the bed. She bounced and watched him prowl towards her. Her breath caught as he lay beside her and traced his fingers over the scars. This was their history. There was no way to forget or ignore it. She saw the fury, sadness and guilt on his face.

“It’s okay, Gavin,” she said quietly.

He splayed his hand on her stomach. “Can we still have kids?”

Lyla’s heart skipped. “What?”

“I want to have kids. We can adopt, but... Can you have children?”

“I-I don’t know. I didn’t ask,” she stammered, completely bowled over by this. A week ago, she had a hard time getting through each day and now Gavin was asking about children. Holy crap. Talk about life moving onward. She left a funeral and might have created a new life. She wasn’t on any type of birth control. Lyla sat up and ran her hands through her tangled, damp hair.

“We’ll go to a doctor,” he said, rubbing his hand over her stomach. “We should know if something was damaged or if we need to take extra precautions.”

“Mmm,” Lyla said distractedly, tugging at a big knot in her hair. “Let me brush my hair.”

Lyla ran to the bathroom where she grabbed her brush and attacked her hair. She couldn’t stand to look at her body so she grabbed a robe and put that on before she resumed taming the beast. Since she was in the bathroom, she brushed her teeth and was gargling mouthwash when Gavin leaned against the doorjamb. Lyla spit out the green liquid and because she needed something else to do, began to slather lotion on her body.

“You want some?” she asked Gavin.

“No.”

She was in the process of deciding whether or not to french braid her hair when Gavin spoke.

“You don’t want to have kids?”

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