Page 29 of Made For Ruin

“What did you do?”

“What could I do? I was deployed thousands of miles away.” He shakes his head. “She had full custody. Victor’s lawyers made sure of that. I got supervised visits twice a month when my leave aligned with their schedule.”

The bitterness in his voice makes me press closer.

“But you kept trying.”

“Yeah. Kept trying. Kept fucking up.” He shifts, adjusting me against his chest. “Missed his first day of school because of training. Missed his little league games because of deployments. Every time I’d come back, he’d be different. Bigger. Further away.”

“That wasn’t your fault,” I say softly.

“Maybe not. But it was my reality.” His hand moves to stroke my hair. “We talk now. Have dinner sometimes. But there’s always this... distance. Like we’re both trying to figure out who we’re supposed to be to each other.”

Anxiety twists in my stomach. “He’s going to lose his mind if he ever finds out about this. About us.”

Marcus tilts my chin up, making me meet his eyes. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll figure it out.” His thumb brushes my lower lip. “Besides, Axel’s an adult. He’ll deal.”

I curl closer, taking comfort in his warmth.

“I just care about both of you. I don’t want to make things harder between you.”

Marcus looks at me then, really looks at me, and something in his expression makes my heart skip.

“I like that about you.”

“What?”

“The way you care so much about other people. Not halfway, not carefully. Just all in. Even when they don’t deserve it.”

“You deserve it.”

He chuckles. “Even though I kidnapped you?”

I giggle. “Especially because you kidnapped me.”

And then he’s kissing me, deep and tender, and I forget everything else except the feel of him, the warmth of his skin under my hands, and the way my heart feels too big for my chest.

When we finally break apart, he rests his forehead against mine.

“We should get some sleep,” he murmurs, pulling the blanket up over us.

I curl closer, fitting myself against him like I belong there. His arms tighten around me as I drift off, feeling safer than I have in years.

EIGHT

MARCUS

When I wakeup the next morning, Lainey is curled naked into my side, her honey-blonde braid coming undone across the pillow. I stroke a hand down the smooth expanse of her back, recalling how amazing last night was.

I have never had sex that good in all my life.

I still can’t believe it was her first time. The way her tight little body opened up for me... Fuck. I lost count of how many times I made her come undone on my tongue, my fingers, my cock. And when she asked me to be rougher with her, to take what I wanted I nearly lost my fucking mind.

When it comes to Lainey, the things I want to do are downright depraved. She’d probably be shocked if she knew what was going through my head right now, watching her sleep so peacefully in my bed.

But now that she’s mine, I plan to explore every inch of her perfect body. I want to push her limits, make her scream, leave my mark on every inch of her creamy skin.

As if sensing my heated thoughts, Lainey stirs and blinks open those captivating blue eyes.

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