Page 207 of SINS & Riley
I stare at him. “I don’t understand,” I whisper.
“I’m botching this.” He runs his hand through his hair. “Seamus will tell me everything he knows about my father’s disappearance. But only if his daughter has the D’Angelo name.”
My heart hits the floor. I swallow hard, blinking.
To keep us a family, I could live in a cage. But to stand in the way of Dante finding his father? I can’t.
My lips start to tremble. “So, that’s it. You have to marry someone else?”
“What? No.” His gaze locks on mine, fire blazing in his eyes. “You are my world, Riley.”
I shake my head and step back. “I can’t hold you back from this. You have to find out what happened to your father.”
“And I will.”
“You will?” Something in his eyes cracks me open. I know he’ll find this girl. Rescuing people is in the D’Angelo DNA. But he’s chased his father’s ghost so long it’s worn holes through his heart. If he doesn’t find him, it won’t just hurt. A part of him will break.
“Dillon and Mateo are leading the rescue.” He shrugs. “I promise, we’ll figure it out.”
“You need to find your father.”
“I need you, Pom. I’m marrying you or no one. Period.”
He cups my face with both hands; his eyes smolder with something fierce and terrible and honest.
“I love you, Pom. Me. Your beast. I’ll fight every one of your battles. I’ll burn the world down for you. Always. And I will never let you go.”
“I love you, too.” My voice breaks. Tears blur the edges of the room. Business like, I hold up my pinky. “Swear it’ll be all right.”
I lift my pinky. His hooks with mine. “I swear.”
His mouth crashes down on mine, rough and urgent, and for the first time, I let myself fall. No safety net. Pure trust.
Total love.
His hands anchor me, his heart a brutal, steady drum against my palm. The rest of the world burns away until there’s nothing left but heat and this truth: us.
My belly is huge, and almost impossible to get around. But the way he holds me, I don’t feel exposed.
I feel beautiful, and wanted.
I feel loved.
His lips trail lower as he strips me bare, clothes falling piece by piece until only my bra is left. For all the insecurities I carry about my body, I’m strangely at peace with my breasts.
They’re fuller now, heavier, sensitive, and he worships them like a man starved. His tongue and teeth, his suck and bite, each drag leaving me closer to unraveling.
A moan tears out of me as his hand slides between my thighs. I want more. God, I want all of him.
I’ve missed this.
I’ve missed him.
“I need you,” I whimper.
In a breath, we’re naked. He sweeps me to pool table.
Because, right, we need a surface that can hold me up.
