Page 41 of Cerberus's Branding

Watching him closely, I rip off the paper and openthe box to see what is inside. My breath catches at the sight of the leather cut. It’s beautiful. Pulling it out with trembling fingers, my lip wobbles, and tears prick my eyes. On the back of it is ‘Property of Cerberus’.

“You don’t always have to wear it, Em, but now, when we’re on my bike or other people are around, they’ll know who you belong to.”

“I love it,” I tell him, smiling.

“Good, now here’s your other one.” He grins.

Smiling, I take it, unsure of what I’m going to find.

The moment I have it unwrapped, Cerberus takes the box from me, opens it, and shows it to me, while picking the gift up. “I don’t want you to be just my ol’ lady. I want you to marry me.” He slides the ring on my finger, and I look at the simple yet beautiful solitaire diamond.

“Yes,” I whisper, nodding, not taking my eyes off the ring.

“Good. ‘Cause I want you wearing my ring, my cut, and when we can make it happen, I’m gonna take you to get my branding.”

“Your branding?” I lift my gaze to cock a brow at him. “What exactly do you mean by that?”

“Want my name tatted on you as I’m gonna be getting yours on me,” he says.

He wants me to get a tattoo?

I always wanted one, but I never actually went through with it.

“Okay,” I agree and nod to my gift. “Now open my gift,” I tell him, anxiety ready to overwhelm me. I don’t know how he’s going to feel about this.

I watch his face the entire time as he lifts the box, rips the paper away, yanks off the lid, and tosses it to the side. First, he lifts the black chain bracelet I asked Stella to pick up for me. Cerberus used to have one he wore all the time and had given it to me to wear when we were dating. I ripped it off and broke it, but I never threw it out. I kept it. I asked her to have it fixed. Now, he has it back.

Leaning forward, I take the bracelet from him. “I never got rid of it,” I admit to him, feeling his intense gaze watching me clasp the chain around his wrist. Once it’s on him, I lean back against the headboard and nod to the box. “Keep going.”

Slowly, he lowers his gaze back to the box and pulls out the leather cut. It’s not a size either of us could wear, but it wasn’t meant for that. Cerberus’s body tenses as he pulls it up completely and reads the patches, ‘Property of Cerberus’.

His gaze comes to mine and he cocks a brow. “This real?”

I nod, watching him closely. “Yeah.”

“Fuck me,” he growls sets everything to the side, whips the sheets from my body and comes over me. “Was just inside you, now I’ve gotta fuck you all over again, baby. Best gift you could ever give me.”

I could hear the emotion in his voice.

Cerberus brings his lips to mine, claiming, branding, however you want to word it, it doesn’t matter because he was doing it all the same. I was branded inside and out by this man. No one else was ever going to be able to give me what he does, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I was finally getting my happily ever after, and I was doing it with the one bad boy I always wanted.

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