Because you’re a whipped bitch? I thought. But waited for him to go on.
“Because I lost the battle and won the war. There will be many moments you know to high heaven and back that you are right with evidence. None of that means shit to a pissed off woman and you’ll be dragged off to crazy land with them. In their minds you’re the dick who’s not getting pussy. So just lose. It’s easier. You’ll live longer.”
“Thank you for your wise advice. However, Ivy is different. She’s more rational—”
“Who are you talking to?” I heard my uncle Neal join him.
“Ethan. He believes his wife is different and rational.”
They both laughed, and I hung up. They should thank God they are family.
Dressed for bed, I walked into my bedroom and closed the blinds as the sun came up before walking over to my bed. I was just about to lie down when she knocked just as I knew she would.
Sighing, I pressed the button next to my desk table to open it.
“Glad to know you aren’t a—”
“YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” she hollered, throwing one of my own vases at me. It shattered over the bed and as the shards fell onto my bed I wondered two things. First, how the fuck did I think she was rational, and second, why the bloody hell were there vases in my room? Those were the only two thoughts I was able to have before she started to throw more shit at me and I was forced to dodge. “How the fuck can you just leave me outside!”
“I…” I ducked a book. “I told you to come inside!”
“ON YOUR TERMS!”
“IT’S MY FUCKING ROOM!”
“OUR FUCKING ROOM!”
“THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE COME INSIDE!”
“YOU PISS ME OFF!” Before she could grab anything else I caught her wrist, pushing her up against the door.
Taking a deep breath…why I was yelling, I had no idea…it hit me; I was in crazy land. Closing my eyes, I tried not to hear both of my uncles’ laughter in my head.
“ARE YOU—”
I kissed her, and she struggled until I pressed my body firmly up against hers. I wasn’t sure if she even realized, but she relaxed into me, her breasts brushing against my chest, her mouth opening more for me, but I pulled away. She stared up at me wide-eyed, somewhat dazed, and before she remembered she was pissed I spoke up.
“If this is about Klarissa—”
“It’s not about her!” She snapped.
And now I was confused. “What else if not her?”
“You really are slow.”
“Would you like to go back outside?” I couldn’t stop myself from saying.
“You—”
“Get on with it so I can sleep.” I fought out.
She just glared.
“Ivy.” I sighed, dropping my head. Lose the battle. “I’ll apologize, but I should know my mistake, dear.”
“You’re mocking me.”
“No. Just tired.” Tomorrow was back to war and I needed her to focus her rage elsewhere.
“It’s about me. I don’t have the time or the energy to be pissed for the sake of others. The most important person to me is me,” she declared, pulling her hands from my loosened grip and crossing them over her chest. I tried to ignore the fact that it made her breasts rise up, but they were hard not to notice.
“And what about you?”
Frowning, she muttered, “Never mind.”
KILL HER! I wanted to throw her out the damn window! What the fuck did she mean never mind? If it wasn’t important, what the bloody hell was all of this for?
Stepping back and away from her, I moved to sit at my desk, not sure if I should go to sleep when I had a maniac now sharing my room. She marched over to the bed, throwing her purse to the ground before stripping down completely. Grabbing the comforter, she flagged the broken shards onto my side of the bed before curling under. Just as my eyes were closing and I was relaxing into my chair, that was when the mad wench decided to find her voice.
“Would you kill me too?” she whispered.
“Not the wisest question right now.”
I expected her to flip out again, but instead she just lay there.
“If you didn’t need me for whatever plan you’re coming up with, you would have married Klarissa. However, you want too badly to win, so you’d rather stick to your plan and have her killed…so what about me? What happens when I’m not useful to your plan? What happens if you need some other woman for your support? Will I end up dying? I heard your uncle Neal…he killed his wife so—”
“Uncle Neal’s wife betrayed the family. She almost got the whole family killed from what I was told. He chose blood over her. She was in the wrong for making him make that choice,” I cut in before she actually did piss me off.
“Fine, but—”
“No buts. I married you. I chose you…I knew that meant till the day I die. I told Klarissa the first day she appeared in front of me that I was never going to marry her. That I would never love her. She dared to hope somehow I’d see the light and fall. However, I am a man of my word. Always have been.”
“A gangster with sophistication and morals.”
“If I knew you would keep repeating that I would have tried to make it catchier.” I yawned.
She snickered. “What is your word to me?”
She wasn’t serious.
Rising off the chair, I walked over to her side of the bed. She stared up at me and I down at her until I reached down and lifted her up, lying down on my back with her resting on top of my chest.
“When I put that ring on your finger I believe my exact words were: I bind my life to yours, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. It is a symbol of my eternal love, my everlasting friendship, and the promise of all my tomorrows. An outward reminder of our inner unity. I forsake all others, I chose you, until death do us part.”
She held her hand up for us both to look at. “It doesn’t count if there is a lie in it.”
“What lie?”
“When you say my eternal love and my everlasting friendship…when did you fall in love with me? And when did we become friends?”
Of all the women in the world… Sighing, I closed my eyes. “Ivy…no one is taking your spot at my side. I am not abandoning you, so for the love of God, shut up and let me sleep.”
IVY
He fell asleep just like that, with his arms wrapped around me.
“Who says you aren’t romantic?” I whispered softly.
Closing my eyes…and there was the familiar feeling in my chest. One that I hadn’t felt in a very long time.
Rolling over in his arms, I stared up at him. He looked so gentle when he slept. With those long eyelashes and his hair, a slight mess. Like he had not a care in the world. Even though his heart was right under my hands. Putting my head on it, I closed my eyes. He didn’t realize how scary it was…knowing that your lifeline was attached to one person and that person had no reservations in getting rid of people he found no use for.
But I believed him.
Or at the very least I wanted to believe him.
There was no other option but doubt and that led to pain and I was tired of pain.
SIXTEEN
“They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered.”
~ F. Scott Fitzgerald
ETHAN
BEEP.
BEEP.
BEEP.
“Make it stop,” she whispered, but since she was on top of me her lip brushed against my skin with each word. That and the feeling of her naked body pressed on mine didn’t really help my cock, which grew harder every time she shifted.
BEEP.
“Ahh,” she whined and then pouted, lifting her head and resting her chin on my chest. “Your phone.”
“You’ve pinned me down,” I told her and then glanced at the other side of the bed where my phone was.
Sighing, she sat up, either forgetting she was naked or not caring, and sitting on my waist she stretched out,
allowing me to watch her breasts rise up as she did. Brushing her messy hair behind her ears, she leaned over, and I knew then she was tempting me on purpose.
“Ahh.” She gasped when I bit her nipple. Licking and sucking, she jumped slightly when my hands gripped onto both of her breasts, squeezing them. “Oh…”
I didn’t stop, moving my mouth from one nipple to the other. Watching as they turned from pink to red, the more I bit and sucked, her moans filled my ears.
BEEP.
BEEP.
Releasing her breasts and removing my hands, I sat up, taking the phone from her hands.
“What is it?”
She sat on me in shock. Her blue eyes glanced down at her marked breasts, as if she wanted to make sure she hadn’t imagined it, then at me. Slowly, a wicked grin spread across her lips.
“Sir? Did you hear me?”
“I—”
She snatched the phone from me and spoke, “Thank you for calling Mr. Callahan. He’s currently on his honeymoon and will not be available…until he’s available. Please don’t bother him unless it’s an emergency. Thank you, bye.”
She threw my phone over her shoulder, sending it onto the ground. Wiggling herself from my waist onto my cock, however, she didn’t let me in her. Instead, I was tortured with the feeling of her pussy rubbing onto my cock.
“For all you know that…” I closed my eyes, inhaling at the feeling of her before speaking. “That could have been an emergency.”
“More of an emergency than your wife?” she said softly, placing her hands on my chest, leaning forward, her hips never stopping. “When you fell asleep I made a decision to get to know you better…right now I just want to know the many different ways you can make me cum.”
“It’s always about you, correct?”
She had declared so only an hour ago.
“Yes.” She kissed my lips softly. “I don’t care how you do it, husband...just make me cum.”
We were both dazed. Half asleep. Half awake…and horny. I knew that was the only reason why we were both like this…why I didn’t give a damn about whatever it was Toby had called to ask me…and why I wanted nothing more than to do exactly as she asked.
Flipping us over, pinning her underneath, she held her breath, the eagerness in her eyes only matching my own. Sitting up onto my knees, I lifted her hips to me. Her eyebrow rose and before she dared speak and further tempt my restraint, I lifted her thighs higher, so high her back came off the bed and her hands branded themselves on the sheets under her, as I placed her legs on my shoulders, licking her pussy, already wet for me. My tongue darted, teasing her slowly.
“Ahh…” She moaned, rocking into my mouth. Reaching up, I spread her wide to lick her clit, sliding my middle finger into her.
“E…”
Seeing the way she clenched onto my finger, she desperately wanted my cock instead and yet was paralyzed each time I sucked on her.
“Oh!” she cried out, and I ignored her, finger fucking her, teasing her with my tongue until all too quickly she came in my hands, crying out my name, “Ethan!”
Pulling out of her, letting her fall onto the bed, her chest and breasts rose as she tried to breathe. “That was quick, wife. Don’t ask for what you cannot handle.”
She opened her eyes, I was sure to bark at me, but froze when she watched me as I licked her off my finger. Surprising me, she pushed herself up off the bed, her hair already sticking to her body, and on her knees she licked my middle finger slowly before taking it into her warm mouth and slowly letting go of it.
Licking her lips, her eyes met mine as she spoke, “Don’t get cocky. My first one is always my easiest.”
I could feel her challenging me and reacted, pulling her hair back and to that she grinned, adding insult to injury by saying, “If you can bend me, then break me.”
The one thing I’d been trying not to do she’d just asked for by name.
Rising from the bed, I felt her eyes on me. Turning back, I offered her my hand. She took it, eyeing me, but said nothing as I led her to my closet. When she stood in the middle of the room, I left her, walking over to stop the cameras from recording. A dozen things went through my mind, but remembering she’d just left prison a little over a week ago and our minor confrontation only hours ago, made me realize that what her mouth said and what her mind was ready for were two different things. Thus…we’d need baby steps. Grabbing one of my re—yellow ties, red making me feel far too much like a cliché—I walked back over to her.
“What are you doing?”
“Breaking you.”
IVY
I felt my heartbeat quicken and time slowed as he walked back in front of me. The tie he had in his hands already spoke volumes to what was about to come next and…I kinda wanted to tell him I wasn’t 100 percent serious about the break me thing.
“Do you trust me?” he asked and the way he looked at me sent a chill down my spine. Like the whole world could fall away and he’d still be standing there looking at me like this.
Feeling a little awkward, I tried to lighten the mood and said, “Enough to sleep with you…and marry you.”
However, he wasn’t having it. “Yes or no, Ivy?”
“Yes,” I admitted even though I had no idea why.
“Good. Because I trust you.” He kissed my forehead.
I closed my eyes, preparing myself for whatever he was going to do. However, when I peeked them open to see what was happening, I wasn’t prepared at all for the sight of him taking the tie and wrapping his own eyes.
“Do your worst, wife.”
“This is breaking me?” I scoffed, not really sure what in the hell he was thinking.
“Yes, wife,” he answered directly.
I stood there, not sure what to do, and he just stood there too, like a naked Greek statue, perfectly relaxed.
“So I can do whatever I want to you?” I asked, stepping up, waving my hand in front of his face to really make sure he couldn’t see.
“Yes, wife.”
Grinning like an idiot, I really wanted to see if he’d do anything I wanted. “Kneel…and kiss my feet.”
His face was hard and he hesitated.
“I knew—”
Before I could get the words out he’d taken a step closer to me and forced me to look up at him until he put his hand gently at my waist and went down onto his knees. His hands trailed down until he touched my feet and he kissed them. The moment he did, for some reason, I felt my chest tighten and I wasn’t sure from what. He just waited, still kneeling.
He was Ethan, asshole, cocky, know-it-all, Mr. Center-of-the-World, big bad Callahan, and now he was kneeling at my feet, waiting for me to tell him what to do.
“Why are you doing this?” I whispered.
“Because you…we need it, wife,” he replied, calling me wife for the fourth time since doing this. “You need to feel like you control something. That you are different than every other woman. I need you to know you do. And you are. You control me, something no one else has ever done.”
It felt hard for me to breathe, so I had to look away from him, and I wished I hadn’t because it was then I saw his gun sitting on the center cabinet.
Reaching up, I placed my hand on his hair, which felt much softer now that I wasn’t tugging on it.
“You know I could kill you right now.”
He smiled. “If it makes you feel better, wife.”
WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM! My mind screamed and yet my body was shaking. Worst of all I was confused over whatever the hell I was feeling.
“Rough sex would have been just fine,” I muttered.
“Break your mind, wife, and your body will come soon enough.” He smiled.
“Thank you, Aristotle,” I mocked, not that he could see my face. Why was I the one all riled up? He was the one who was supposed to be listening to me. I didn’t have to keep thinking.
Leaning down over him, I wasn’t going to let him keep messing with me like this. “Kiss
me…passionately, like I’m your first, last, and only true love.”
I was expecting him to call me wife again, but instead he reached out, grabbing the side of my head and bringing my lips onto his hard. My mouth opened immediately for his tongue, rolling over mine, his free hand pulling me to his chest, where he wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly, preciously, his hands never moving down to grab my breast or my ass. He just kissed me with everything I’d asked for. I was defenseless even though I demanded for it. My body relaxed nto his and we both fell back to the floor of his closet. He rolled us onto our sides, my leg over his thigh, no space between our bodies. The passionate kiss he’d given me only seconds ago morphed into gentle ones. He’d break away slightly just to leave one soft kiss after another on my lips and each time he did I was eager for the next one.
“Make love to me,” I whispered against his lips.
“Show me how, wife,” he whispered back in the small distance between us. “I’ve never made love to anyone.”
He isn’t playing fair. I hadn’t even realized what I was asking until the words came out of my mouth and he replied. Because if I did I would have realized I didn’t know what that meant either…not until he kissed me.
Reaching up, I tugged on his tie until it came undone. He blinked a few times before his beautiful green eyes focused on mine. Swallowing back whatever sound was trying to come out of my throat, I smiled and replied, “Look at me like that, hold on to me like this, kiss me like you did, and take me slowly.”
“Yes, wife,” he said softly, shifting on top of me and kissing me again. Closing my eyes, my arms wrapped around his neck.
“Oh…” I moaned against his mouth when I felt him enter me as if I were a virgin…as he buried himself into me deeply, each time leaving me aching for more.