Page 18 of Sinister Engagement

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. The worry and doubt my sister had woven into my head were fusing my tongue to the top of my mouth as Gertie helped me into the gown. No matter how many times I tried to push them away as I finished getting ready, they continued to taunt me.

"You look beautiful, Miss."

I stared at myself in the floor length, tri-fold mirror that showed all sides of the wedding dress save for the back and took a shaky breath. "Thank you, Gertie."

"You make a stunning bride," she gushed.

Normally, I wouldn't think anything of her compliments—I was so used to hearing them from her sweet lips—but right now, I had to admit she was right. This dress. The makeup. The veil. It all came together and turned me from adequate to extraordinary. I turned slightly, the skirts clinging to my legs swishing with the movement.

"Gertie," I said, "can you give me a few moments alone?"

The older woman tilted her head back, her all too knowing gray eyes recognizing the riot in my mind. She nodded and then quietly left the room. As soon as the door shut behind her, I stepped off the dais that had been placed in front of the mirror and turned away from it. My chest felt tight.I’m getting married tonight.

My gaze fell to the table that had been set up to display all of the useless items brides needed for a wedding day, something new and old, borrowed and blue and the like. My lips thinned as I eyed each object before finally, I glanced down at the ring on my finger. It'd been delivered by a man I hadn't recognized not long after the shopping trip. A single gold band with a cluttering of diamonds that glittered every time I moved my fingers. It was gorgeous. It was ostentatious. It made the rock sitting at the bottom of my stomach feel that much heavier.

"What the hell am I doing?" I asked myself, pressing the back of my hand to my forehead. My skin was clammy.

"That's what I'm wondering." The familiar baritone was so sudden and startling that it nearly made me trip over my own skirts as I whirled around too fast to face the man who'd—once again—snuck up on me.

Gaven stood against the doors, his hands in the pockets of his black suit. Far be it from him to dress for a wedding. He looked like he was dressing for a funeral. Black shirt, black jacket, black slacks, even a black tie. Still, he was handsome. Entrancing. I couldn't pull my eyes away from him. My breathing sped up.

"What are you doing in here?" I asked. "You're not supposed to see me before the wedding."

"It's in an hour," he said with a shrug. "And I'm not one for waiting. What are you doing?"

My hands found the skirts at my upper thighs, my fingers digging into the fabric. "Just admiring the dress," I said. "Getting ready."

"Yeah?" He arched a brow. "Usually when one admires something, they have to be looking at it. Why aren't you looking at yourself, darling?" Heat rose to my face, and I had no response to that. He pushed away from the door and approached. "Well?" he prompted when I still hadn't answered him. The closer he came, the faster my heart beat until I feared that it would leap right out of my chest.

I moved away, but he came forward. Push and pull. It wasn't until the backs of my legs smacked into the table that I realized he'd been steadily directing me. By then, it was too late.

Gaven's arms came down on either side of me, and he leaned in close enough that the scent of whatever cologne he'd chosen for today's special event was all that I could smell. It was something spicy, making my nose twitch. I liked it.

"Are you having second thoughts, Angel?"

"Would it matter if I was?" I replied tersely. Both he and my father had made it all too clear that regardless of my wishes, this wedding would come to pass. There was no way out. That, combined with Jackie’s cruel words, had me more than doubting this little arrangement.

Gaven's lips twitched. "No," he said with a small chuckle.

At least he was honest,I thought with a grumble.

He dipped his head as one of his hands came up and swept my hair back. My pulse throbbed in my veins as he leaned down even further and pressed a chaste kiss to my throat. At least, it was chaste at first. Within a second, the hard bite of his teeth shocked me as they sank into my skin. My lips parted on a gasp, and without thinking, my hands went to the waistband of his pants, gripping onto him there, but not quite pushing him back.

The sharp pain of his bite slipped through my senses and traveled downward, lighting up a fire within me as the place between my legs soften. "Gaven..." I whispered, both a plea and a denial.

"You have no clue what I'm going to do to you tonight, do you, Angel?" he said, but even as he asked the question, he kept going, pressing himself more firmly against me so that even through the copious fabrics of my dress and his pants, I could feel how hard he was. "I'm going to mold you, sweetheart. I'm going to teach you exactly how to please a man like me, and I promise you. You're going to like it. You'll like everything I give you, and you'll ask for more."

I wanted more now, but I didn't know how to ask for it. Gaven was a big man. Strong. Broad. Dominating. I wanted to know what he'd be like when he came into me, when he pushed me down and fucked me and lost a little bit of that control he held so close. Maybe Jackie was wrong. Maybe she was overreacting. God, I hoped she was.

I licked my lips and moved my head back so that I could look him in his perfect, beautiful, blue eyes. Reckless. I was being so fucking reckless. "Why not show me right now?"

His body tightened against mine and a flare of something wicked entered his eyes. He hadn't been planning to, I realized, but my words had changed something inside of him. My readiness had shown him that I was more than willing to enter that dangerous place he was threatening me with. I wanted to know what it would be like and waiting for several more hours seemed like a hellish pursuit.

"Oh, Angel." The sound of my name rumbled in his chest. "You're going to wish you hadn't asked me that."

"Are you going to hurt me?" I challenged him.

He smiled. "Yes," he admitted. "I'm going to rip you open and get inside of you, sweetheart. I'm going to tie you down and fuck you until you can't breathe. I'm going to shove my cock so far between those pretty lips of yours all you'll know is the taste of me. I'm going to fall asleep tonight with my cock in your pussy, wake up, fuck you again, and then do it all over the next night. After today, you will officially belong to me, Evangeline Price. Once you do, there's no going back, and there's nowhere you'll be able to run that I won't come hunting for you."

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