Page 49 of Magic or Madness

“Yes, but not with him.” She tangles her hands in my hair, and shoots me a playful grin, those doe-like eyes captivating me just like every time before.

“I knew she was justthatloud.” Journey laughs, and the energy in the room – and Fallon’s body language – instantly shifts with his comment.

Fallon clears her throat and scooches closer to me, while I have to fight the urge to smack the smile off his smug face. His obsession with my Bambi is beginning to cross lines, and the further he inches toward her, the more I want to wring his neck with my bare hands.

“I think that’s enough peeping Tom for me tonight, Ozzy?” Fallon stands up, holding her hand out to me.

“After you,Principessa.”

She leads me to our room, and I protectively shield her with my body. She was right about this dress attracting the creeps, but I didn’t realize the biggest one would be one of mybrothers.

Her heels click against the concrete floor until we reach the carpet, and I lock the door behind us.

Journey’s comment obviously made her uncomfortable, and I can’t stand how far his infatuation with her has gone already. I want to shield her from this, from all the men out there who think a woman is only here for their entertainment. She’s had enough of that in her life before we found each other, and I’ll be damned if she can’t find a safe space to land when she’s with me.

“Are you okay?”

She sits on the bed, fumbling with the clasp on her shoe, and I kneel down to help her take them off.

“I’m fine. He’s cruisin’ for a bruisin’,” she cackles, and I can’t help but laugh with her.

“You did not just say that, Fallon Mariano.” She shrugs nonchalantly, the obvious corny dad joke still lingering in the air between us.

“Well, it’s better than saying you’re going to murder him.” She has a point, and a way of reading my mind, because I absolutely want to murder Journey for how he’s been acting around Fallon.

My patience is so thin, I might snap the next time I catch him fucking her with his eyes.

“Unzip me? I need to get this dress off.” She asks, spinning around on the bed so her ass is at my face level.

I grab both her cheeks, kneading them with my fingers and leaving soft bite marks on her flesh until she’s swatting me away. Her body is a work of art, and I’m merely an admirer, a lucky fucking man who gets to worship her like the Goddess she is.

“Fuck,” I breathe, watching as the shiny fabric falls to the floor, and she spins to face me in nothing but her bra and panties.

“See something you like?” She teases, sliding onto my lap and draping her arms lazily around my neck.

Her confidence has only risen since we’ve been together, and I love this side of her – the side where she takes charge and asserts her position in this Kingdom we’re building.

“Come here,my beautiful girl,” I whisper, bringing her lips close to mine.

“I love you, Ozzy,” she breathes, her curves fitting perfectly against my midsection, uniting us as the last two pieces of a puzzle.

“Go to sleep, Fallon. I love you more than life itself.” I kiss her shoulder, lowering her onto the side of the mattress reserved for her, and tucking her under the covers.

The snoring I’ve learned to love will come shortly, and even though we promised to make love all night until the morning sun, this is the perfect way to end a night I’ll never forget with my girl.

I’ve told Fallon not to be nervous when I’m on a job, but truthfully, I’ve been hiding my own reservations from her so she doesn't worry. In reality, I’m fucking terrified for tomorrow.

Anything could go wrong on a job, but now that I have someone waiting for me on the other side, every move I make will be heightened. There are real consequences now, and I feel the weight of having a significant other as I’m preparing to head off into something that could very well break us apart.

I have faith in our plans – and my crew – but for the first time, there’s a voice in the back of my head that’s almost begging me to stay behind.

Unfortunately, that’s not an option, and after she leaves tomorrow I have to turn myself into the criminal I’ve warned her about, knowing that the beast inside me will prevail every single time.

Doc raised us to be wolves, to crave the hunt and the kill, and that’s the mindset we go into every job with.

Tomorrow, I’ll become something she’s never seen before, and when I come back from the job, I’m terrified that she’ll notice the difference.

She’s quickly become more important to me than these jobs, and if it were to come down to it, I would choose herevery single time.

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