Keeping his bride

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DOMINGO IS WAITING for us when we get back to the compound. Aria and I spent a long time on the beach after our little fuckfest. We even watched the sun set like a normal couple. If someone would have told me even a few months ago that I would be watching sunsets on beaches with a woman I have feelings for, I probably would have shot them for even suggesting such blasphemy. I never thought I would be doing these things…or feeling the things I am. Aria has changed me. For the better, I suppose. I know now that I wasn’t living before her. I was merely existing.

She’s still my greatest weakness, but I can’t let her go. The only thing I can do is become even more possessive, keep her close and hope that nothing ever tears us apart.

Pressing my lips to Aria’s ear, I whisper for her to go upstairs and change. I can’t stand the thought of my uncle ogling her when she’s wearing next to nothing.

Domingo clears his throat, having trouble wiping the smirk off his face. “My men told me you gave them quite the show this afternoon. They were just disappointed that you fucked her in the shack instead of on the beach. They could only hear her cries and not actually see her.”

“Your men are lucky to be alive,” I growl at him. “I overhead them talking about Aria.”

“One of my guards said you shot him in the arm for saying something inappropriate?” he prompts, his eyes narrowing. He’s pissed off. With good reason.

“Just a flesh wound,” I say with a small shrug. “I consider it a small inconvenience considering the alternative of being six feet under,” I tell him.

“So possessive of your little prisoner, aren’t you?”

Even though his use of the word prisoner irritates me, I guess deep down she is. Would she be free to leave anytime she wanted? No. I wouldn’t be able to let her go. I’m going to keep her for as long as I can and pray to all that is holy that it’s forever. “She’s mine,” I tell my uncle through clenched teeth.

“But for how long?” he says cryptically. I stare him down, wondering what he means by that, but then a smile appears on his face, and he changes the subject by saying, “Dinner will be served soon. I expect that the two of you will be joining me?”

I give him a nod before I go upstairs to seek out Aria. There’s something off about my uncle, and it’s been continuously sending up red flags in the back of my mind. Ever since his visit down in Mexico, he has been acting differently. It’s making me question…well, everything. Even the past. Why he wasn’t at my parents’ estate the day my family was murdered. How he escaped it all unscathed and then conveniently showed up in the aftermath. I can still remember the look on his face when he realized I was still alive while I laid in a pool of my own blood. It wasn’t one of relief. It was almost like he was surprised.

Moving my neck from side to side until I hear a few satisfying cracks, I push my way into the room. Aria is standing there naked, and she turns quickly, grabbing the comforter from the bed to cover her body. When she realizes it’s me, she drops the blanket and gives me a shy smile.

And I don’t know what hits me just then, but it feels like a ton of bricks slamming into my body all at once. I realize that I’ve fallen head over heels in love with my little captive. It was gradual, her slowly filtering into my veins, infecting me to the point of no return. And now I know there is no cure for my obsession with her nor do I want one. I will possess her until the end of time and well into the afterlife. I have no doubt of that. She is mine in every sense of the word, and I am hers. Utterly and completely hers.

“What did Domingo say?” Aria asks as I approach her.

I ignore her question and press my mouth to hers. “Let’s shower,” I breathe against her lips before leading her into the bathroom.

Under the cascade of warm water, I take her gently, fucking her against the tiled wall until she cries out my name. Our lovemaking lasts for hours until the water begins to turn cold and her teeth begin to chatter. Even then I don’t want it to end, but I don’t want her to get hypothermia.

Drying her off with a towel, I realize something has changed. No, everything has changed. I’ve never felt this way about someone before. I know that I would do anything to protect her even if that meant giving my own life in exchange for hers. And if that isn’t love, then I don’t know what is.

As I stare down at Aria, I can imagine us walking down the aisle. I can imagine her pregnant with my child. I can imagine us growing old together and me carrying her to bed when she’s too tired to walk.

I never thought about any of those things before Aria. The person I was before her was cold, distant and cut off from the world around him. I only cared about revenge for my family and my empire. This new version of me is capable of loving her, taking care of her, protecting her at all costs.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Aria asks me as she stares up at me with those familiar honey-colored eyes that I’ve grown to love. She can perhaps sense the change in me. I’m sure my conflicting emotions are written all over my face.

“Nothing,” I lie. “We’re late for dinner,” I say instead, hating myself for being too much of a coward to tell her how I really feel.