Page 100 of Corrupted Bride

That convinces me more than anything else.

“I’ll talk to her,” I grudgingly say. “I don’t like this, but I can see the logic.”

“I don’t fully trust her either, but she saved me from going in to Ruben. That has to mean something, right?”

I approach and pull her against me. “That’s the only reason I’m even considering it.” I kiss her gently and slowly, because I’d been so fucking close to losing her, and I don’t know if I can handle it a second time.

Dario’s death nearly destroyed our family. It definitely cost us my father. He was a wreck afterward and slowly wasted away, keeling over from a heart attack one sunny afternoon. My mother always said it was a broken heart that killed him. I’ve never been convinced he was capable of that level of feeling.

But everyone struggled in the wake of his loss. I was a shadow of a person for a long time, right up until I had to take over the business. My brothers handled their grief in different ways: Nico turned to self-medication while Vince threw himself into work and tried to hide from the pain. Lia was little, but she still has echoes of the horrible tragedy.

That’s where I am now. So fully down for her that I can’t imagine my life without her in it anymore. It kills me, my chest contracts and aches, and the thought of her stepping foot near Ruben is like a knife to my guts. It both sends pangs of agony down my spine, but it also galvanizes me.

“He has to die.” I tug her closer and snake my fingers through her hair. I tighten my grip, not hard enough to hurt, but skating on the edge. She sucks in a breath, staring into my eyes. “He has to die, Marisol. That’s the only way.”

“I know.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes. I swear on my life.”

“I know you will.”

“But this is the last time you are going to put yourself in danger.”

“Bass—”

“No, listen to me.” I tighten, harder now. She gasps. “I love you, Marisol, and I can’t win this fight if I’m constantly worried you’re going to do something stupid.”

“It’s not stupid to want to protect my brother.”

“No, it’s not, but the way you went about it was. You have to trust me. I need your faith now more than ever. I can save Cruz. I can bring him home. And I swear that I will. But you have to believe.”

She glares at me briefly, defiance hot in her expression, and it only makes me love her more. This is the side of her that has been rebelling against her family for years, the girl that would rather run away and start over than submit herself to the whims of the Escalante. She’s so beautiful it makes my chest ache, and I want to be like her more than ever, both independent but also able to love. I’ve never admired someone so deeply before.

“I trust you,” she whispers, tilting her chin up toward me. “I trust you, Bastiano. And I love you.”

I bury her mouth with mine. I’ve never felt this kind of hunger before. I kiss her and claim her, my tongue in her mouth, a fire burning through me, so hot it’s painful. I lift her onto my desk, devouring her, stripping her clothes off in a frenzy. I don’t want foreplay, I don’t want gentle. I need her body, her gasps and moans, her whimpers and her desire.

“Fuck!” she cries out when I throw her dark sweatshirt onto the floor and bite her nipples, sucking them and tugging off her pants. “Oh, shit, Bass.”

I breathe in her smell and worship her taste. I’m so hard it hurts. The thought of losing her mixes with my intense, physical need to possess her, and it’s like I’m crumbling to pieces as I rip her panties off her hips, twisting them down to her ankles, making her spread her legs wide as she kicks them to the floor.

“Goddamn, I need you so badly, Marisol.” I have barely enough self-control to glaze the tip of my cock with her wetness, grinding it up and down her clit, before thrusting deep inside.

“Fuck!” She arches, head thrown back, fingers digging into my shoulders. “Oh god, yes, more.” She bites me as I thrust into her, animalistic and intense, insane with my desire for her.

“You feel so fucking good,” I groan, filling her over and over. “This is what I need, love, I need it so fucking badly.” I slam into her pussy, her tightness like heaven, her bites like hell. I fist her hair harder, grip her hip with my free hand, and drive into her mercilessly.

There’s nothing soft, nothing gentle in the way I fuck her. There’s nothing weak and yielding in the way she takes me. We fuck together, grinding and taking each other despite all the hell surrounding us, despite the pain and the frustration, despite the whole damn world. I fill her to the brim and moan into her mouth as she meets mine, biting my lip, nibbling, sucking, and I feel like I’m going to shatter as I dip my face down to take her nipple into my mouth.

I suck it hard, grinding deep, pounding relentlessly. She moans my name and spreads her legs wider, begging for more, bucking against me, rolling into my hips, and the desk shakes as I continue to slam into her tight cunt. I feel it building in my core and I beg her to come for me, riding that edge, not sure if I can hold back another second.

“Oh fuck, Bass!” She throws her head back, her mouth opening as her pussy clenches down. “Oh fuck me!”

She comes so hard it breaks my will and I can’t hold out anymore. I spill inside her pussy in heavy spurts, moaning, whimpering, coming until I nearly black out. I pull her into my arms as I finish, kissing her, telling her she’s a good girl and how much I love her, and every promise I make is the truth.

“I’ll stay,” she whispers, breathing hard. Tears roll down her cheeks. I kiss them away. “I promise, Bass. I won’t run away ever again.”

“I know, baby, and I won’t stop you if you want to.”