Page 105 of Love Without Control

My eyebrows returned to their normal position, and I tried not to look too giddy. Dane had told me before that he’d never wanted marriage, so this felt like a big freaking deal.

And then he opened his hand.

My eyes almost bulged out of their sockets when I saw the perfect, cushion-cut diamond ring in his palm. “Dane, that is… beautiful.”

“I thought you’d like it,” he said, lifting it between his thumb and forefinger and handing it to me. “Read the inscription.”

I took the ring and turned it until I could read the words on the inside of the platinum band.

In the light and in the darkness… I choose you.

My hand went to my throat, and I attempted to control my breathing. Those were the most beautiful words I’d ever read. “Dane…” I whispered, unable to say much else.

We had a tiny tug of war when he tried to take the ring from me, but I finally relented. He smirked as he dropped to one knee, and I had to lean back against the door for support.

“I know we’re already married, but I wanted you to have this ring so you’d know every single day thatI choose you.” Tears streamed down my face as my beautiful man stared up at me with earnest eyes. “Eden Osbourne, will you please choose me too?”

I nodded vigorously as I swallowed the lump in my throat and finally found the ability to form actual words. “I choose you, Dane Osbourne.”

In two seconds flat, he had nestled the ring onto my finger beside my wedding band, and he was lifting me once again. His mouth closed over mine with a gentle suction before he breached my parted lips with his tongue. Our kiss was gentle and loving, and I felt like I’d just gotten engaged to the man of my dreams. Except I was already married to him. Kind of illegally, but whatever.

Dane carried me into the bathroom and set me on the pecan-colored countertop. Then he wet a washcloth, and with his tender touch, cleaned my face. It seemed somehow even more intimate than when he cleaned between my legs after sex. When he was done, I took the cloth from him, rinsed it, and proceeded to wipe down his cheeks with the same care.

“Let’s go to bed,” I told him, laying a soft kiss on his lips. “Give me a minute, and I’ll be in there.”

After he left, I removed my brown contact lenses and then pulled the terry cloth sash from the white robe on the back of the door, wrapping it a few times around my wrists. When I got into our bedroom, my heart swelled when I saw my turtle nightlights scattered around the room, giving off a soft greenish-yellow glow. I didn’t know he’d packed them.

Dane was looking out the tall window at the city, and he turned when he heard me enter the room. His shirt was unbuttoned all the way, giving me a tempting view of his toned chest and abs.

“You know how you said you wanted to tie me to the bed and break me?” I asked, and his brow furrowed as he nodded. I pulled a hefty supply of air into my lungs and lifted my bound wrists to show him. “Then break me.”

Chapter 34

Danestaredintomyeyes for so long, I wasn’t sure he’d heard me, and then his gaze dipped to my hands. The hitching of his breath was the only indication he was affected.

I stood like a statue as he unbuttoned the cuffs of his white shirt, his brown eyes locked onto mine. Then he slowly shrugged it off one shoulder and then the other, revealing his thick arms before removing it and folding it with all the precision of a high-end men’s store clerk. The muscles of his arms and torso bunched, even with the simple act of carefully placing the folded shirt on the top of the black lacquered dresser.

My teeth sank into my bottom lip when Dane’s hands dropped to his belt and unbuckled it. With aching slowness, he pulled it from the loops, rolled it around one fist, and prowled toward me like a man on the hunt.

He dominated the room with each measured stride, each ripple of muscle, each dark look. Though he radiated danger, I wasn’t afraid of him.

“Eden.” My name was a vow on his perfect, full lips. He lifted the back of his leather-wrapped fist and rubbed it against my face. It felt cool against my cheek, or maybe that was due to the fever of my skin. His voice was low and gritty when he asked, “Who is in control tonight?”

“You,” I said instantly, and Dane shook his head and gave me a disappointed smile.

“Try again.”

“By process of elimination, I’ll say me.”

I could tell he was fighting a smile. “Correct. I may tell you what to do, but you’re ultimately the boss. You’re in control, okay?”

“Okay,” I agreed, moving my face against the leather. He knew how much that word—control—meant to me. Once it had been taken from you, you treasured it that much more when someone gave it back.

“Good girl,” he said, making my nipples tighten, and like he had some kind of nipple radar, his gaze dropped immediately to my chest.

“Take off your dress for me,” he ordered as he unwound the robe tie from my wrists. Taking a page from his seduction notebook, I reached for the hem and lifted it slowly, inching the pink dress upward, revealing my bare body to my husband. His voice went hoarse as I dropped the garment to the floor. “Fuck, you make my heart full, baby girl.”

He reached down to my butt and picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around him as his mouth descended on mine. In one hand he held the soft tie from the robe, but he had the leather belt wrapped around his other hand. The dichotomy of those two dueling sensations against my ass cheeks made me wet, and he groaned when my wetness leaked onto his stomach.

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