You were made to be mine.
I open my legs, welcoming him in, even as I brace for the flare of pain that will come when he enters me.
“Relax,” he whispers in my ear. I let his breath wash over me, and release the tension in my body. “Good girl. That’s my very good girl.”
I warm at the praise as he gently nudges my entrance. Excitement trills though me when he gently glides in. He stretches me slowly, and it hurts, but at the same time, as our bodies connect and pulse and vibrate with need and awareness, it feels as if he’s putting me together, like we’re meant for this moment.
I expected to feel a tearing, I expected to bleed. I was prepared for anything but this, this moment of utter connection and purpose defined. Lachlan and I were designed for this, like the very first human beings on earth. Imperfect, fallible, but created for one another.
I wrap my arms around him as he gently rocks his hips.
“Y’alright?” he whispers in my ear.
“Never been better,” I murmur back. I want to memorize every detail of this moment. Skin to skin, heart to heart, our breathing mingled. So full I ache, while I yearn for more. His low moans of ecstasy when my pussy hugs his cock. His mouth meets mine as he lifts and strokes, each thrust a fraction firmer than the one before.
I’m moaning in his mouth when my body keens with pleasure. He holds me to him like I’m precious, thrusting in me with purpose. My pulse races with every thrust of his hips, my fingers digging into his muscular arms and powerful back. My mouth parts as I near release and his movements quicken.
“I love you,” he says on a groan as spasms of pleasure grip me.
“I love you,” I whisper as I climax. Ecstasy fills me at the sound of his own moans of pleasure. We chase our pleasure together. As one. He rocks his hips and I grip him tightly. My breathing hitches, and he groans with ecstasy. I close my eyes, lost to sensation, cradled in his warmth, riding waves of pleasure.
Finally, when we’re spent, his movements slow until he stills. He holds me and whispers in my ear, “Mine.”
Chapter 14
Lachlan
I never let myself imagine what this would be like. In her.
Fierce possession seizes me now that I’ve claimed her. After we made love for the first time, I held her to my chest. Cleaned us both up, thankful her first time wasn’t bloody and painful like it could have been. Somehow, it’s like the universe knew she’s had her fill of hurt and her first time with me should be blissful. She fell asleep with her head and hand on my chest. I held her for a long time, basking in the glow of owning her fully. Of knowing she was safe.
The next morning, I want to take her again and she damn near begs me to, but I don’t want to hurt her. Now that we have the Boston guard to defend us, I feel mildly better about her safety. I try to remind myself she’s here for school, not just to be with me. We use the private entrance and exit to our hotel, and she uses my being in town to explain to her friend why she isn’t at the dorm.
She won’t ever go to the dorm, and we both know that now. She’s far safer under my protection. If she wants a normal college experience, I can give her that, and I’ll do my very best, but the reality is, she outgrew dorm life ages ago.
It’s far from normal, what we’re doing. I can’t take her out to dinner or even walk the streets freely, but she does see Aisling while Tiernan and I investigate about the blokes they saw their first night here. We can’t find who they are, probably hired by whoever’s out to hurt us.
Keenan keeps close tabs on us, and Nolan calls several times a day. I tell Nolan as much as he needs to know, and keep silent on things he doesn’t. Yes, she’s safe. Our visit to Boston’s inner city nightclub? That he doesn’t need to know, and Sheena needs to know even less.
Nothing of consequence happens over the weekend, but I wonder if we’re being lulled into a place of complacency now that we’ve gotten the Boston mob on our side. I do my job and Fiona prepares for class, but it seems like we’re in a sort of holding pattern.
“What’s on your mind, Lach?” Fiona says Monday morning. She comes to me holding a steaming cup of tea. I’m sitting by the balcony window, looking out over the harbor, contemplating another way to draw out those who may threaten us.
I often hold myself back from her. I don’t tell her my fears or concerns. I want to shield her from all of it, but I know now that I can’t always do that. She’s no child.
“The sea isn’t the same,” I finally tell her. “The water’s darker here. Tamer. And hell, it’s even a different color, isn’t it?”
She slides onto my lap and wraps her arm around my neck, and I breathe easier than I did before. “Aye,” she says with a sigh. “I’m homesick, too.”
Until she said that, I didn’t realize I was.
“Have you heard from Keenan?” she asks. “Is Maeve better?”
I frown, disappointed in myself. I completely forgot she was ill. “I haven’t. I’ll call him today.”
“I’ve got a nagging suspicion, Lachlan,” she says as she looks out at the harbor. “If she isn’t better, I wonder, is someone trying to hurt her?”
“What? Why would you think such a thing.”
She frowns. “Think about it. Have any of you men been attacked?”
I do think about it. “The guards, aye, but none of the men of the Clan.”
“I don’t know,” she says. “Something’s not right.”
Of course it isn’t. It’s why I keep her within sight at all times, and why I’ve damn near signed my soul to the devil to align ourselves with the Boston mob.
“It isn’t,” I tell her. “But for today, let’s talk about your plans.”
She nods. “Right, then. I’ve got Early Childhood Development at nine, followed by Calculus at eleven, and Modern World History at one.”
“Sounds thrilling,” I mutter.
She playfully smacks my shoulder, then sighs. “It seems such a waste to have a man like you who’s so powerful within the Clan, sitting around outside my classes like a babysitter.”
I frown. “Bodyguard,” I amend. “Sounds much better.”
She shrugs and smiles. “Suppose. But still, I feel like your time’s being waste.”
I nudge her shoulder with my nose and inhale her sweet scent. “Protecting you is never a waste of time.”
Soon, our tea’s forgotten and I carry her to bed. I roll her on her back and kiss her until she arches for more. At her pleading, I take her again. I glide into her as gently as I can, my troubles forgotten in the heat of making love to her.
We walk hand in hand to campus an hour later, no trace of a threat to either of us in sight. She meets Aisling at the coffee shop, and I take my position outside her classroom.
Nothing seems out of place, but my conscience isn’t easy. Someone or something’s lurking.
Fiona comes out of her first class and comes straight to me. She’s either oblivious of the stares of others or doesn’t care what they think when she walks up to me, puts her arms around my neck, and kisses me. “I missed you,” she whispers in my ear.