Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
“We didn’t use protection.” Her tone is flat. The bluntness of her statement hangs heavy in the air.
“No. We didn’t.” I don’t blink. Zero hesitation in my voice.
“Dante, I’m not on birth control,” she continues, her brow furrowing as reality sets in. “Not right now. My prescription lapsed last month, and I’ve been too busy with work to set up an appointment in order to renew it. Which means…” She trails off. Her bottom lip catches between her teeth as she bites down on it.
A low grunt escapes my throat, a deep possessiveness flaring hot in my gut. The image hits me hard and fast—Alexandria, round and heavy with my child, carrying a little boy or girl, binding her to me in a way that no court or legal document can ever break. The thought should feel premature. We’ve been married for less than forty-eight hours, and half of that time, she spent away from me. But let’s be real here. I knew what I was after the very second I laid eyes on her in the hotel lounge in Vegas. Especially since we were alone, none of our friends around, and neither were any work colleagues.
Christ, I remember every single detail of that night. I’d been sitting in a VIP booth, nursing a bourbon, when she walked into the bar. Sexy little dress, sky-high heels, looking impossibly gorgeous and out for a good time after a long-as-fuck meeting on my part and convention of sorts on hers. She sat on a barstool, taking long sips of her champagne. That’s not the only reason she caught my attention and made my cock hard as rocks. It was the slick bartender leaning over the counter, laughing a little too loudly and flirting way too much with her while he poured her drinks.
I didn’t like it, not one fucking bit. It’s a good thing money can buy anything. All it took was a quiet word with the lounge manager, accompanied by a hefty stack of bills to have the bartender reassigned to the service bar in the back.
The second he cleared the space, I slid in. Alexandria was already two glasses deep by the time I sat next to her, and I quickly noticed there wasn’t a single plate of food in sight. I ordered more champagne, the expensive stuff, along with a spread of food to keep her distracted and entirely focused on me. By the time she was ready to leave, I knew she was tipsy. What I hadn’t realized until we got back to her room was that she was completely blitzed, that her inhibitions were stripped bare, laughing, daring, and agreeing to tie herself to me forever.
Another reason I should feel like an overbearing asshole, I stacked the deck of cards in my favor, but in the end, I got the woman. Even if the play was underhanded, at the end of the day, she’s in my bed, wearing my ring and carrying my name.
“Dante?” Alexandria’s voice drags me back to the present. She’s staring at me, waiting for a response, her eyes wide with panic. “Did you hear what I said? I could end up pregnant.”
“I heard you.” My thumb strokes the side of her hip.
“And that doesn’t concern you?” She pushes against my chest, attempting to sit up, her movement sharp and defensive. “We barely know each other! I don’t even know your middle name, and now we might be…”
“Thiago,” I supply. My grip on her waist tightens in order to keep her from pulling away. “My middle name is Thiago.”
“That’s not the point.” She attempts to scramble backward, her knees digging into the mattress as she tries to crawl out of my bed and create distance between us.
Not a fucking chance.
Before she can get her legs over the side of the mattress, my arm shoots out. I wrap my forearm around her waist, cutting off her exit and yanking her back into the center of the bed beneath me.
“Dante!” I pin her body, bracing my weight on my elbows, planting my hands on either side of her head, and locking her in place. My legs slide between hers, and my thick cock lies hot and heavy against her drenched cunt. She gasps when she feels the hard ridge of my shaft sliding against the lips of her pussy, my tip grazing her clit setting off a spark of heat that makes her hips lift up to meet me.
“Where do you think you’re going?” My head drops, my lips pressing to hers.
“I need... I need space to think,” she pants. Her hands push at my shoulders, though she doesn’t have the leverage to budge me away from her. “You’re suffocating me.”
“You don’t need space,” I murmur. My lips move to her jaw, my tongue licking down the sensitive skin of her throat. “You know me, we have mutual friends, we’re not strangers, and you need to stop running.”