The pain flared again when he moved to her left breast, giving her the same treatment as before. He was her Master, giver of pain and pleasure and love and security and joy. He was the man who soothed her aches and understood her needs. He was the man who taught her to laugh though he was often so grave himself.
Her soul’s mate.
“Look at how pretty they are," he ordered.
She looked down and her nipples were a ruby red, deeper and more colorful than the normal rosy brown. Ian played with them, running his face along the soft skin of her breasts, his five-o’clock shadow bristling and making her skin the faintest pink.
Her hands found his sandy hair, holding him to her breast, letting her legs wind around him. “Please, Master. I need you.”
Playtime was fun, but this wasn’t play. This was reconnection. This felt sacred.
His head came up and he stared down, their eyes connecting, holding. “Charlie, you talked about your fate. I think you’re mine. There’s no fighting fate, baby.”
He lined his cock up.
God, he wasn’t wearing a condom. She gasped a little.
“Fate, Charlie.” He pressed in hard. No playing this time, just one long push of his body into hers. Her Master was taking what was his, giving her the promise she’d always longed for.
Nothing between them. The past behind them. And the promise of a future in his arms.
With an eager cry, she wrapped herself around him, holding him close as he completed the union.
“I love you, wife.” The words were a benediction. He might say he couldn’t forgive her, but she felt it in those words.
“I love you.” He was her everything.
He stroked into her, resting his body on hers, pressing her into the mattress. His cock never stopped moving even as he kissed her breathless, fusing their mouths together. His hands tangled in her hair, holding her for his passionate exploration.
She was pinned by him, surrounded by him, deliciously crushed by his weight, and this was where she’d longed to be. For the first time in years, she felt free.
“Take me, baby. Take everything I have.” He kissed her over and over as though he couldn’t get enough, couldn’t stand for any part of him to not be touching a part of her.
He twisted his hips, hitting her clit with every stroke, building the tension until she was a live wire waiting to go off. One more deep stroke and the orgasm crashed through her.
He halted her cry, drinking it down. “That’s what I want from you.”
Then he gave her what she wanted. He pressed deep, holding himself inside her as he gave up his come, his gorgeous face tightening as he came.
His body relaxed, lowering to her, his muscles losing their tension and sweet peace showing on his face. She’d given him that, and he’d given her a future.
“I would have done it, too, Charlie.” His cock was still inside her, and he made no move to roll off. He kissed her again, but this was a lazy, satiated seduction. “I would have chosen Sean.”
She squeezed him so tight. “You forgive me?”
“For choosing Chelsea? No. There’s nothing to forgive there. For not trusting me? Yes. There wasn’t enough time. But there is now. We have to choose each other. We have to pick each other. I trust you, Charlie. I’m sorry for even thinking about what that fucker said about you. You’re my wife. I believe you.”
That meant something to Ian Taggart. “I’ll put you above everyone, Ian. I’m yours now. Yours and no one else’s. I love my sister and I hope I can help her, but at the end of this life, I want to be beside you.”
A little smile curled up his lips. He thrust his hips again, proving he was already recovering. “And I want to be inside you. Three times a day, baby.”
His mouth took hers and he proceeded to prove his point.
Chapter Seventeen
The perpetual buzzing in his ear was starting to get to him.
“All right, that’s Kamdar’s boat pulling up on the beach,” Damon said through the communications device they were using.
“Thanks, I couldn’t tell that was a boat,” Ian shot back.
Damon seemed to think he needed a running commentary. The MI6 boys, Ten, and Simon had taken a perch high above the beach at the Cabo de Rama Fort. The fort was nothing but an interesting set of ruins surrounded by fruit trees and monkeys. It did, however, give them a good view of the beach and the exchange about to take place.
Jesse had been relegated to babysitting the brat and making sure she didn’t find a handy Internet connection. Chelsea seemed to have gone quiet, turning in on herself. He’d expected her to argue with him, but she’d simply nodded and gone back to watching the palm trees outside the hut. Hopefully she wouldn’t give Jesse too much trouble. Of course, he was also supposed to be watching Charlie, but Ian had other plans for his gorgeous wife.
He wasn’t leaving her behind with anyone. But the boys up at the fort didn’t need to know that until the time came.
Sean huffed a little as he sat back, his feet in the sand and the rest of him on a low-slung lounger. He was dressed formally for the beach in khakis and a polo, a camera bag by his side. “Do they think we can’t read?”
His brother’s voice dripped sarcasm. There was only one lightweight speedboat plowing up the sand, and it had an elaborately painted name on the side that read Little Kash.
Ian assumed that the massive yacht in the distance was Big Kash. The king obviously didn’t have self-esteem problems.
“Stop with the whining and listen up.” Baz’s voice came through this time. “According to everything we’ve been able to dig up in a short period of time, you should be safe. Kamdar’s security has always been tight with the exception of the women he sleeps with. However, they apparently don’t wear a lot of clothing so if you see a bird coming at you with an Uzi, you should duck.”
Yes, he needed humor right now. He was already in a bad position because he was running out of time. This was a calculated play on his part. Kamdar’s men were said to be terrifically loyal, and according to MI6 they had all been with the king for a long period of time.
This was his shot. The boat was larger, but contained. As long as the king’s guard was loyal, Charlie would likely be safer on that boat than she was out in the open.
A large man with a poorly concealed pistol in his pocket parked the boat and motioned toward the road. Immediately a group of men started hauling crates of what looked like liquor and food from a truck parked up on the road that ran along the beach.