Page 31 of Loyalties & Longings

Not knowing what to say, I reach over to her, place my hand on her leg, and squeeze it. Lake drops her hand to mine, and I hold it, giving her some of the comfort Enzo said she would need.

The rest of the drive is quiet and spent hand in hand.

Chapter Twenty

Blaze

We walk quietly through the cemetery. I have both bunches of flowers in one arm and Lake’s arm linked through my other as she guides us to her mother’s grave. It’s exactly what I’d expect to see, topped with a large headstone that reads:

Leilani “Lani” Sarah Morelli

1977–2005

Loving wife and devoted mother.

You will forever live in our hearts.

Lake unhooks her arm from mine and bends down to clean the headstone. After clearing off all the debris and brushing it clean of dirt, she removes the dead flowers and turns to me. I hand her both bunches of flowers. She takes them, places them in the vase that sits in front of the headstone, and fusses with their arrangement.

I step back, giving her some space. Watching her intently, I see that her face is sad but not miserable. Even when she is down, she is beautiful. Actually, it makes her look younger. It’s like seeing her vulnerable in a completely different way. I’ve never witnessed her experiencing this set of emotions before. It takes everything in me to let her have a moment. I want nothing more than to reach out to her, pull her body into mine, and hold her so tightly to give her comfort and take away all her hurt.

About ten minutes pass at Lake’s mother’s headstone. She sits in silence, touching it every so often, lost in her own thoughts. I stand over her silently, looking around every so often, assessing for any threats. I thought I heard her whispering a couple of times, but I didn’t want to pry.

Lake stands and closes the distance between us, placing her palms and cheek on my chest. I wrap my arms around her, comforting her and letting her know I’m here for her without saying a word. Pulling back, she looks up at me, and I notice she hasn’t been crying, although her eyes are glassy.

“Are you okay?”

She nods with a smile. “Thank you for coming with me, Blaze. Do you think we could make it work?” Her eyes are sincere. “I want this. I want you. I want to beyours,Blaze.”

Looking down at her, I’m silent for a brief moment, unsure if this is real or not. She grips my chest tightly, hoping I yield or at least let her down gently.

“Then be mine, Lake. I’ve wanted you to be mine since the day I was released.” I pull her into me, pressing my body to hers so she can feel what her words have done to me.

Bringing her arms up around my neck, she presses her lips into mine. The animal in me rises, looking to escape, hungry for a feed. Lake pulls her lips from mine and moves them to my ear.

“It’s always been a fantasy of mine to have sex in a cemetery,” she whispers, pulling back and looking me in the eyes, biting that sexy and full bottom lip of hers.

We’ve just visited her dead mother and brought flowers, and she is thinking about sex?

In a cemetery, no less.

This woman is all kinds of crazy, but she is absolutely my kind of crazy. My dick throbs at the thought of being between her legs again.

“Well, Siren, I aim to please.”

We walk around the cemetery for a while trying to find a quiet spot. Although, the whole place is pretty quiet if you ask me—we’ve only seen two other people leaving as we arrived. Still, we head to the back of the cemetery, where it edges on woodlands.

“Why are we coming so far back?” she asks, trying to keep up.

“Because now you are mine. You areonlymine. If anyone saw you even partially naked, let alone how beautiful your face is when you come apart on my dick...” I trail off and turn her to face me, my eyes laser-focused on her as I will her to understand me, “... I’d have to kill them.” I shrug with a slight smirk, only half-joking.

“Oh.” Is all she can manage as I watch her breathing pick up.

Interesting.

Knowing I’d kill for her is a turn-on.

Noted.

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