King of Masters by Brynn Ford

CHAPTER 35

Stella

THREE DAYS.

My love, my heart, my soul…he’s been gone for three days, and it may as well be a lifetime. A quick glance at my phone screen tells me it’s one o’clock in the morning, and though I’m exhausted, I haven’t slept a minute.

I roll onto my side and slip my arm beneath his pillow, hugging it close and inhaling deeply. I can still smell the sweet peppermint of his aftershave and I’m grateful that the scent remains. I cling to it, but the longer I breathe in his scent, the stronger my emotions grow and the deeper the pain burrows into my soul, and it all fucking hurts.

He turned himself into the authorities just so he could spill the secrets of the four families and bring them down…all because I asked him to change for me.

A selfish part of me almost wishes he hadn’t changed—that part wishes everything remained as it was when he first stole me away from my life and made me his unwilling bride. It still takes my breath away to think about how far we’ve come since then, all the factories he’s closed and the work he’s done to chip away at the power the families hold from within.

He’s done nothing but amaze me for the last two years. He became my whole world, everything I wanted and needed.

And now he’s gone.

He’s gone and I don’t know how I’m supposed to live without him.

The tears come again, for the millionth time in so many days, and I can’t fight them no matter how hard I try. They spill onto his pillow as I sob, as my soul splinters and cracks, and it rips my heart in two.

I don’t know how much time passes. I almost feel tired as the tears gradually let go of me. I let my eyes fall shut, hoping sleep will take me away from this pain, but I know it won’t.

I hear a click at the door, the old familiar beep as the lock code is entered. Bailey barks once, popping her head up from where she lays behind me on the bed. Declan’s been in to check on me every few hours since Murphy left and each time, he’s found me a sobbing mess. I hate that he’s left to deal with me, because I know he’s hurting too, and I can’t comfort him. I can’t even comfort myself.

“I’m fine, Declan,” I whisper into the darkness of the room as the door pushes open slowly, then clicks shut again. “Go to bed. You must be exhausted.”

“I’m fucking knackered, but there’s no way I’m sleeping tonight.”

I jack-knife, shooting up from my prone position at the sound of his voice. “Murphy?” I scramble for my glasses on the bedside table and slip them on.

Bailey leaps over me, yelping and barreling across the room. The lights flick on, and I flinch at the sudden burst of light through the room. I blink as my eyes come into focus.

It’s him.

He’s here!

“What…How?”

I don’t even care if he responds. I toss off the covers, leap from the bed, and run to him.

We collide with each other, just as our souls had.

He lifts me to meet him, and I lock my legs around his waist. I kiss him deeper than I had before he left, desperately, achingly. I paint kisses across his cheeks and over the wrinkles of his crow’s feet as he smiles the most spectacular smile.

I wrap my arms around his neck and hug him tight. “How are you here?”

“A miracle.”

I drag my head back to look at him, locking my fingers behind his neck to hold myself up. “A fucking miracle.” I grin. “What miracle?” My face falls. “Are they going to take you back? Will they arrest you?”

He swallows the sadness behind his eyes as they lock onto mine, burrowing into my soul. “Maybe someday. But not now and not for a while.”

“What do you mean?”

He lowers me to my feet, but I don’t let go of him, my fingers coming around to grip the collar of his shirt which is unbuttoned at the top.

“The men that my family have paid off over the years were quite surprised at my arrival and confession. I spent hours locked with them in a small room trying to help them understand that the family will soon be out of money to buy them off. They were rather upset by this news, only because it puts them on the line if I’m prosecuted.” He sighs. “It took us a full day to put together a plan, another to settle it, and the last to get back home to you.”

I grin at him, shaking my head. “Well, what’s the plan?”

“Immunity in exchange for information about the four families.” He smiles. “Takes us all off the hook, because as far as anyone else knows, Detectives Walsh and Byrne had never met me before I turned myself in.”

“It can’t possibly be that easy.”

“It’s not. The process will be complicated, and we’ll have to be diligent about how we move forward.” He puts his hands on my shoulders, rubbing down my arms and back up again. “But I’m confident that it will all work out given what’s at stake for Detectives Walsh and Byrne.”

“I’m confused. Are you home to stay or not? Do we have to live in fear you’ll be arrested?”

“No. No fear, sweetheart. If all goes according to plan, and I’m confident it will, I’ll never be prosecuted. If I am, then we’ll at least have some notice to prepare for it. Either way,” he bends and lifts the cuff of his pants, revealing a little black box with a blinking red light attached to his ankle, “we will be homebound for quite some time.”

He grins at me, happy and carefree. Though the potential for him to be arrested in the future weighs heavily on my heart, I trust the joy in his expression and let worry drip from me like melting icicles. “We can be homebound forever as long as I have you here.”

His eyes glance down at my mouth as I smile, and he licks his lips with intention. “You’ll have me, sweetheart. And I think I’ll have you now, too.”

He bends to kiss me, his lips sparking against mine, striking like a lightning bolt. Electricity prickles along my skin, lifting the hairs on the backs of my arms, lassoing around my heart, and shocking me back to life…back to passion.

I jerk back and swat his chest. “I thought I’d never see you again. I thought I’d never kiss you again.” I tighten my grip on his collar and tug him to meet my lips again.

He moves as he kisses me, forcing me to walk backward toward the bathroom behind me. He walks me until we’re both stepping onto cold tile that sends a creeping shiver up through my bare feet. He breaks away, but only long enough to reach inside the glass-enclosed shower to turn the water on.

“I thought I’d never be able to touch you again…” My voice sounds sadder than I meant it to be, but it’s the raw truth that slips out from between my lips. “Why didn’t you make love to me one last time before you turned yourself in?”

I feel anger toward him rising in my chest, because it hurt that he hadn’t left any time for us once he’d made the decision. He told me and then he left.

He stops and stills in front of me, his transcendent gray-green eyes scanning my features. His forehead creases and he tilts his head. “If I had, I wouldn’t have been able to leave you. I would’ve been selfish, and I would’ve stayed.”

My breath catches in my throat as tears rise and burn behind my eyes. “You could’ve stayed.”

He shakes his head slowly, cupping my cheek in his palm. “I had to finish what we started. We both know I had to do it.” His other hand comes up and he holds my head steady as he bends closer, heat spreading between us. “The fact that I’m here with you right now is proof that it was the right thing to do. The universe knows we belong together, but I had to do this to deserve you. I did what was right and it brought me back to you. It’s why I have faith that you and I will be together forever.”

He kisses me softly, his pillowy lips pressing into mine, gently encouraging mine to part for him. His tongue seeks mine for a sensual dance, and I taste the essence of him as he feeds me his love. His heat flows inside me, spreading across my body and melting me to desire. I moan and my knees sink as the kiss deepens, as my back arches while he bends over me.

His hands fall away from my face to grip my hips, turning me sideways and pushing me backward. He takes me into the shower, where the water is already warm and steam swirls at our feet. I gasp as he pushes me past the flow of water and soaks us both in our clothes. Our kiss breaks, but our need grows.

My back slams against the wall and he pins me there with his body as his lips drop to my neck, frantically kissing along the curve. I quickly remove my fogged-up glasses and fumble to set them awkwardly on the built-in shelf beside me. He grips the hem of my tank top, lifting and tugging it off over my head.

He dips to lavish my breasts with his need, kissing, licking, dragging his teeth, as if he’s starving for me.

We’re both starving for each other.

I reach for the buttons on his shirt, my fingers working as quickly as they can to unbutton the fabric. He groans his impatience, grips the two sides of his shirt, and with a sharp yank, tears it open. A button bounces off the tile as he quickly pulls his wet shirt from his shoulders and tosses it away.

My lips part to let out a heated breath as my head falls back against the wall. I lift my hands to his chest and rub my palms over his pecs, caressing his skin and tracing the lines of his tattoos—lingering over the purple rose on his heart, recalling the day I drew it for him.

It seems so long ago now that he asked for this tattoo that matches the rose on my hip. We hardly knew each other then. He must have known from the beginning that we were meant for each other.

Our eyes lock as he removes the rest of his clothing, watching each other with heated, anticipatory breaths. He grabs hold of my gray sweatpants and slowly peels them down, his body lowering with them until they’re around my ankles and he’s on his knees in front of me.

“Murphy,” I beg for him as I step out and he tosses the last barrier of clothing aside.

His large hands land on my thighs, fingers digging in painfully, passionately, as he pulls at them, encouraging them to part. My chest heaves as I watch him on his knees in front of me, like a sinner praying at the altar, preparing to worship.

I spread my legs for him and he dives between my thighs, his thick tongue sticking all the way out to lick me from the back of my pussy all the way to my aching clit.

“Oh, my God,” I moan, my fingers digging into his hair and holding him against me.

He groans as he licks me, alternating between long, lavish strokes of his tongue and quick flicks over my clit. I’m sinking, slipping, falling into the pleasure he builds deep down in my core. His fingers curl, gripping my thighs tighter as he frantically tastes me.

“I thought I’d never taste you again,” he says against my pussy. “I’d die without your perfect cunt.”

My grip tightens in his hair and I yank his head away, forcing him to look up at me. He pants on his knees, my wetness glistening on his lips, streaking his beard.

“You know I hate that word,” I tell him with a small smile.

He grins and it’s positively devilish. “I know.”

“But I love the way you say it.” I lick my lips, craving his perfect filth—the kind of filth I could only love with him.

He lets go of my thighs and pushes to his feet, making me lose my grip on his hair. “Taste it,” he says before kissing me so deeply that he steals my breath.

I fade away into his touch, my mind intoxicated by the way he makes my body feel. I’m only half-aware of what’s happening as I’m lifted from the tile floor. My arms and legs wrap around him purely by instinct as he hoists me high and then lowers me slowly.

It’s like pure fucking magic the way he can move us so precisely, so perfectly, angling me just right so he can slide inside me before settling me against his hips.

I’m pinned against the wall, trapped by his strong body, and I feel overwhelmed in the best way possible. My hips move, rocking into him slowly as he grips my ass.

He buries his face in my neck as he pushes me harder to the wall, his hips pushing forward and up, sinking deep enough to make me ache. He starts to pull out, but I stop him, my arms and legs tensing around him, locking him against me.

“No,” I moan, “don’t move. Hold me up and let me fuck you.”

He groans, biting into my neck, then licking across it to soothe the sting. His lips brush the shell of my ear. “Make yourself come on my cock like a good girl. Welcome me home, sweetheart.”

My hips move, rocking against his hardness, which is buried painfully deep within me. Pleasure coils low in my belly, promising me a quick climax from this position. He holds me up so strongly that I can grind easily, rocking and thrusting my hips frantically to chase the high of coming undone in his hold.

My cheek touches his as I hug myself around him, tightening my grip and letting tension build. “I love you so much,” I whisper. “Don’t ever leave us again…”

Us.

I’ve been so lost to despair the last few days that the fact that I’m pregnant truthfully keeps slipping from my mind.

He pulls his head away to look at me, his expression an odd mixture of love, fear, and gratitude. He lets his head fall forward and our foreheads touch as I move, driving myself toward the release I so desperately need.

“I love you,” he says. “Fuck, I’m so in love with you, Stella.”

I whimper, his eyes and voice reaching inside me, tugging on the cord of my climax, tugging and tugging as I fuck him.

“Oh,” I breathe out, my body curling around my center, my womb dragging tension from the rest of my body into a heavy ball that sinks, then drops through my core and bursts through my pussy. “Murphy!”

He groans with my climax and trembles with me, his jaw setting as his hardness leaves me, only to thrust inside me again. “That’s my good girl, always my good girl,” he says as he fucks me. “Hold still, sweetheart. Hold still and let me take from you.”

I can’t hold still as my body trembles from the powerful release. The relief of it is so pure, so carnal, so satisfying that it floods me with emotions that threaten to spill from my eyes.

Murphy pounds into my flesh, fucking me with lust and filling me with passion. I need his aggression, his violent desire, his obsessive possession.

“Take me,” I whisper. “Take me as hard as you love me.”

A rumbling groan vibrates through his chest, and he moves fast. My feet hit the floor and he turns me toward the back wall, shoving me forward against it. He pushes into me, his cock hard at my back as he pins me in place. “Hands on the wall,” he demands, and I obey.

He grabs my hips and pulls them back harshly, forcing me to arch my back as he pulls my ass away from the wall. I bend for him, pressing my palms to the tile. Though my knees shake, I fight through the post-orgasm weakness to hold my position for him because I need to feel him fuck me viciously.

His fingers curl around my hip bones, digging in harshly as he rubs his cock along my crack, teasing me and brushing over my wetness. I moan, my pussy pulsing to be filled again. He lines up and plunges deep, thrusting into me so brutally hard that I have to lock my elbows to keep myself from slamming into the tile.

He fucks me, thrust after thrust, but I need more.

“Harder,” I beg. “Make it hurt.”

He grabs my arms, swiftly yanking them from the wall. I gasp at the sensation of falling, but he keeps me upright, twisting my arms behind me and locking them with bent elbows behind my back. His hands snap around me to squeeze my breasts, and he bends us forward, holding me to his chest.

One of his brutal hands rises, quickly crawling up my chest. I sigh as he reaches my throat and pinches the sides. My eyes flutter shut, my body relaxing into his hold as he chokes me into a breathless high.

“You’re so fucking beautiful like this,” he says against my ear. “Breathless, wet, and at my mercy.”

He thrusts, his cock driving deep, making me gasp. My lips part with a smile as my pussy clenches around his hardness, suddenly begging for another release. His fingers circle my nipple, rubbing across it, rolling, pinching, tugging. My insides melt to liquid, sending a mad rush of molten heat to my core.

Words pop into my mind as I suddenly remember something he once told me…

“There never was a choice for you. Not from the moment we met each other.”

The truth of that fills me with more joy than I ever hoped I could have in this life.

“There was never a choice for me to be yours,” I whisper as we pant together, as he finds a steady rhythm that quickly drives us both toward a perfect release. “Not from the moment we met each other.”

He groans and fucks me faster, pounding into me as his hand on my breast drops lower, dips between my legs, and circles my sensitive clit.

My eyes pop wide as another sharp climax takes hold of me. He grunts and groans as he swells inside me, as my pussy clenches around his cock. We come together—a perfectly unplanned, synchronous orgasm that tears through our flesh and cuts into our soul.

Oursoul—the mended product of our two lost souls coming together.

I’m unaware of the movement as I come down through the high, but suddenly, I’m facing him, limp and lax in his arms as he holds me against his naked chest. I breathe deeply, my eyes fluttering shut in ecstasy to focus on this perfect moment.

“We never stood a chance,” he breathes, kissing the top of my head. “We were made to save each other.”

I find peace in knowing that no matter what comes for us, we’ll be saving each other for the rest of our perfectly unknown days.