Page 49 of Painless
“Tessa told me something interesting today.” I sat naked on the bed and continued rubbing the towel over my wet hair.
“Yeah?”
“She said this last pregnancy was the most painless out of all of them.” I patted the towel over my back where my tattoo had started to itch. “I think it had to do with Freyja being there.”
Reaper paused in his rummaging and turned to look at me, brows furrowed. “You think so?”
“I can’t remember, but,” I rubbed my forehead, “Freyja is a sex and fertility goddess, I think? I read about it so long ago.”
“Well, in that case,” he grinned wolfishly, “no wonder you can handle all three of us.”
“Just barely.” I stuck my tongue out at him.
He came over to sit next to me on the bed, holding something just out of view on his opposite side. “I’m glad you and Gun had a good day together, and that he finally got his head out of his ass.” He slid a hand around the back of my neck, thumb circling gently. “And when all three of us get up in here? Damn, sugar. You’re gonna be wrecked.”
“Tell me about it,” I groaned, but smiled wickedly at the thought. Getting lost in the hands, mouths, cocks, and firm bodies of my men sounded like utter heaven.
“But I’m glad it’s just me and you tonight.” Reaper’s hand fell to clasp my fingers on the mattress. His gaze darted away. He was nervous again.
“Me too.” I leaned in to plant a peck on his lips. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” he laughed sheepishly, meeting my gaze again. “I love you, Mari. So fucking much.”
“Oh, Reap.” I somehow managed to wrap my arms around his neck, despite melting into a puddle. “I love you, too. So fucking much.”
“I can’t marry you,” he blurted out. “Not legally anyway, but I was hoping…” His words trailed off as he showed me the small, velvet box he’d been hiding.
“Oh my God, Reaper.” I slapped a hand to my chest. “Is this…a proposal?”
“If you have to ask that question, I’m doing a bang-up fuckin’ job,” he muttered. “Look, let me do it this way.”
He lowered one knee to the floor, and opened the ring box to show a beautiful stone in a dazzling array of colors. It sat in a simple, silver bezel with a twisted rope design on the band.
“Mari, will you be mine forever?” He swallowed thickly. “And only fuck other guys that I approve of?”
The crude second half of his proposal made me giggle, but the fearsome Steel Demons president looked dead serious, if even afraid.
I held the sides of his face and kissed him deeply. “I’m yours forever,” I repeated back to him. “It’s beautiful, but ring or no ring, I will always be yours.”
His grin was equal parts joy and relief. “Put it on, then. I want to make sure I guessed your size right.”
I extended my left hand, and he slid the artfully crafted band over my ring finger knuckles with little resistance. It fit comfortably, with a noticeable weight to it. Once on my hand, I noticed the R and M stamped into opposite sides of the stone.
“It’s beautiful, Reap.” I tilted my hand back and forth to admire the color shifting in the light. “Did you get this at the market?”
“I had a metalsmith there put it all together, but I already had the stone and the setting.” He swallowed again, staring at the ring on my hand. “They were my mother’s. She used to make jewelry.”
“Reaper.” I fought back tears as I brought my hands to the sides of his neck, beyond touched at the significance of what he just gave me. “Are you sure you want to give me this?”
“Never been more sure of anything in my life.” His green eyes lifted to mine, somehow hard and serious, while filled with so much emotion. “It was my mom’s dream, for me to give one of her pieces to the woman I’d give my heart to forever.” He laughed softly. “I was such a dumbass. I told her I’d never get locked down, never do something as cheesy as that. But fucking look at me now.”
“I like you cheesy,” I chuckled. “And I love how you love me. I’ll never abuse that, Rory. I was always yours first. I’ll love you until the end.”
For once, he didn’t balk at me using his birth name. For once, I wasn’t making fun of him. He must have understood I was speaking to the man his mother named and raised, the person he was before becoming Reaper, the Steel Demons president. I loved them both—who he was before and now. They blended into each other to make an incredible, complex person—one capable of loving and caring so deeply, while striking fear in the hearts of all who threatened him.
One did not cancel out the other. And I loved it all.
“Mari,” he groaned, hands sliding to my waist as his torso moved between my legs. “In a world that has gone so fucking wrong, you are the one thing that’s right.”
