Page 38 of Venomous Vows

But I’d never take back the way I protected her. I revel in pride that she became who she is today because I protected her from the men who frequented my father’s home.

“One kiss,” Elena warns me as if I’d take or ask for another. “That’s it.”

“One kiss,” I pledge and if she believes I’m going to stop her from doing another, she has me fucked up yet again.

She rises on her tiptoes to reach my lips, slowly taking her time and maybe working up the courage to do it. I’m all but present in this moment. The way my body floats over hers and how close she’s sandwiched into me, I’m impatient. I want nothing more than to shove her harder into this door and take her in a way that will make both of our fucking heads spin.

Yet I pause and wait.

I hold back any restlessness and resume the torturous pause that my future wife gives me. And when she lightly presses her lips to mine, all memories rear up and take hold of what this woman used to be to me.

Strong.

Resilient.

Headstrong.

And something I could never have or want to draw attention to.

I’ve dreamed of this girl. I’ve had jealousy rip through my body when she got older and Zane was the only one she wantedanything to do with. It was a reality I needed to face. One of us had to do it and it sure as fuck wasn’t going to be my younger, immature brother.

The kiss is gentle but tense. I can feel Elena still hold onto her pride, the shit I used to play, but my resolve snaps and I permit my desire to take hold for the first time.

Coaxing her lips wider, I curl my fingers resting on the door into a tight ball to keep my hands off her. Nothingcasualwill come out of touching Elena and I’m afraid of how far I’d take it if she didn’t freely offer it to me.

Elena is mine.

Whether she wants to be or not. Every day with her in my home, every moment I get alone with her only fuels that idea.

That thought.

The one I forged and forced to become my new reality.

Slipping my tongue inside her mouth, Elena tastes like bitter coffee and something sweet. It does nothing but fortify my need to own. And when Elena releases a soft little exhale, followed by a groan, I lose all my self-control.

My chest sandwiches her body against the two hard surfaces she’s between and I begin to slowly eat her alive. I steadily bring her forward on my side to show I’m not all that bad—ish—for the most part, and that she doesn’t have to be so unruly with me.

I could give her everything she wants.

The whole fucking world if that’s what she desires. I just need her to give me her soul so that I always know it’s mine for the keeping.

Through another lapse of my tongue, my mind is a foggy haze except for what we’re doing together, when Elena suddenly turns her head and breaks the kiss.

Her unsteady breathing alludes that it was intense and more than what she planned to give, but I have to say that I don’t regret a moment of it.

Not for one fucking second.

“That’s more than enough,” she mutters, placing her palm on my chest. “You got what you wanted.”

I haven’t nearly received that much, but it’ll do.

For now.

“You’re delicious,piccola diavola,” I acknowledge wholeheartedly. “Almost fuckin’ addicting.

“Don’t,” she carps back but with barely any steel in her tone. “You’ll disappoint yourself if you give your brain any crazy ideas.”

“I think you need a reminder of what we just did.”

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