Page 92 of House of Scarlett
I dip my forehead to hers. “I’m not scared of how you feel, Scarlett. I just don’t deserve it. But I will. Give me some time.”
The urge to return her words is so fucking strong that they’re practically jumping off my tongue. But I can’t say them. Not yet. Not until I’m the man she needs me to be. Instead, I press kisses to her eyelids, the tip of her nose, and her forehead.
“I want you inside me,” she says, lifting her hips until the wetness from her pussy slicks across my dick.
“That’s exactly what you’re gonna get. All of me.” I push forward, sinking into her tight, wet heat with her name on my tongue and my chest so fucking full that I think it might burst.
After she screams out “I love you” and falls asleep in my arms, it’s no one’s business but mine that I hold her, listening to her heartbeat, when I should have long since closed my eyes.
I can’t fall asleep until I say it, even if she can’t hear me.
I pitch my voice low, so it’s almost inaudible. “I love you too, ladybug. And I’m going to prove it to you.”
Fifty-Six
Legend
“I would gowith you if I could, but I promise Gunter is super cool. He’s the only person I trust in the city to get you set up right in this short a time. I’ve known him since I was five,” Scarlett says as I drop her off in front of Curated the next morning.
Our breakfast conversation consisted of her finally giving in on having O’Halloran drive her and act as discreet security. But, in exchange, I have to go get fitted for a tux that somehow will magically be ready in two days, and I’m not allowed to pay for it. I don’t like that she’s calling in favors for me too, but she held firm on the bargain.
She even spit on the handshake.
“I’ll be fine. I got the address.” I give her a kiss. “Go get ’em today, killer. Sell all the shit. I mean stuff. Your stuff’s not shit.”
I’m tripping over my words like a kid who just got his first blow job, and I know it’s because she said those three little words to me last night. I can’t help but look at her differently.She’s mine.
It’s a great fucking feeling, but that doesn’t mean I’m used to it yet.
“I know what you mean.” She presses another kiss to my lips. “I’ll call you later.”
I watch her walk up the sidewalk to the front door of her building and wait until she disappears inside.
She’s safe now, and by the time we leave for the gala on Saturday, O’Halloran will be on duty, and I’ll finally be able to rest easy about leaving her alone.
* * *
After a quick workout at the gym that tells me—loud and fucking clear—I need to start busting my ass if I’m going to be ready for a fight with Bodhi, I shower at the club and then head to the address Scarlett gave me.
It’s a black door that has a sign that readsgunterand a pair of scissors below his name.Is this dude like Madonna? Only going by one name?
I ring the buzzer and wait for a few minutes until I hear footsteps. The black door opens, and a guy I’d guess is in his sixties stands there with perfectly styled silver hair.
He doesn’t say anything for a moment as he surveys me. “Only for Scarlett or her dearly departed mother would I do this. Come in. We have work to do.”
I follow him inside and up a set of stairs to the second floor. He unlocks another black door and opens it to reveal a pretty bomb-ass loft with a massive bay window over the street. There’s shit everywhere, though. Four massive tables are covered in books and fabric and crap. It’s like every flat surface has been taken up with more and more shit.
“I’m Gabriel Legend.”
He whips a look over his shoulder. “I know exactly who you are, you beautiful brute. Leave it to Scarlett to take a walk on the wild side. You’re quite rough around the edges for her taste, but—”
I don’t wait for another word before I turn on my heel and head for the door.Fuck this judgmental asshole.
“And where do you think you’re going? You need a tux, and no one can get you a decent custom one in less than forty-eight hours in this city, except for me.”
I look over my shoulder and see him standing with his arms crossed in a beam of sunlight from the window.
“You want to talk shit about me, you don’t fucking do it to my face unless you want a busted nose in return. But you never,and I mean fucking never, say a goddamn negative word about Scarlett to anyone, anywhere, or for any reason. You hear me?”
