Page 89 of Tyrant (The Villetti Chronicles)

“I want to because I shouldn’t keep you from him any longer.”

“But you can’t.”

“It’s complicated, Ari. If your father didn’t know mine…”

“I get it.”

He eyed me with wariness in his expression. I don’t know what changed, but it felt like he was making an effort not to hide behind his mask with me.

“Do you?”

I nodded, pulling my foot from his hands and shifting in the water. I crawled towards him, mounting his lap and setting my hands on his chest.

“My dad will probably tell yours. There is no way in hell Dad will approve of me being with you, not that he has a say, but it will be an issue. My point is, I get it.”

Zayn reached up and stroked my cheek with his wet thumb.

“Don’t you want to get married and have a family of your own?”

Well, that was a loaded fucking question. And one I had an instant answer to.

“No,” I whispered.I want you.

“I can’t give you those things.”

I leant closer until my mouth brushed against his. Didn’t he realise when he asked me to stay, I was agreeing to be with the man who’d already told me he found marriage abhorrent and had made sure he couldn’t have children? I hadn’t gone into a relationship with him blind.

“I grew up without a mother in a world where life is fleeting. I never dreamed of pretty white dresses, flowers and the end of an aisle. I spent my wishes on Dad coming home to me safe each night. All I’ve ever wanted was to take photographs and for those I love to survive. If that’s simple and unambitious, I don’t care. I don’t want the world and everything in it.”

I pressed my mouth against his briefly.

“If having you means it’s just you and me, that’s all I need, Zayn. You’re more than enough.”

He wrapped his tattooed hand around my throat. The way his eyes darkened, glittering with violent desire, had me trembling.

“My sweet little fairy,” he murmured. “You’re enough for me too.”

I reached between us in the water, gripping hold of his cock between my fingers and stroking down the length of it. I’d felt him harden against my stomach when I straddled his lap, clearly aroused by my proximity.

“I need gentle,” I whispered, pressing my mouth to his as I shifted, rubbing his cock against my pussy with my hand.

His grip on my throat tightened as his other hand wrapped around my back, steadying me.

“For you? Always.”

And with his words, I sunk down on his thick length, choking out a moan with the delicious ache. I needed to cement our words with the physical expression of our feelings. I wanted him to know I wouldn’t leave, no matter the cost to both of us. Because there was going to be a cost. I just wasn’t sure which one of us would end up paying the steepest price for wanting someone we should have never sought to have.

Thirty

Arianna

When the doorbell rang, I’d been in the blue bedroom, taking my clothes out of the wardrobe to transfer them into Zayn’s bedroom. He was downstairs in his office with Arlo. They were talking business, so I was keeping out of Zayn’s way. It had been a few days since the kidnapping incident. Blissful days of being with Zayn with nothing weighing on us. I’d pushed everything else to the back of my mind, like going back to my life before this and my future career prospects. They didn’t matter when I was finding my feet in a relationship with a man twelve years my senior who could afford to give me the space to work out what I was going to do next.

Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I crept out of the bedroom and hid behind the bannister as I spied Zayn going to open the front door. He was wearing his glasses today. For the most part, Zayn lived in contact lenses, but there were days when he didn’t bother with them if he wasn’t planning on leaving the house. I always appreciated those days because he was hot in those frames. He was hot at all times, but there was something about him in glasses that made my stomach get all fluttery.

Zayn pulled the door open. My butterflies turned to sickness when I saw who was standing on the threshold. Gennaro’s bodyguards didn’t wait for Zayn to let them in. They forced him back into the house, with Gennaro following them.

“What are you doing?” Zayn ground out, his expression souring.

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