All the Wrong Choices by C.A. Harms

Chapter Forty-Two

Danielle

"You've been hereevery day since I stole you from those horrible people."

"Stole me?" I can't help the laughter that falls from my lips. Jonah is adorable at times.

"Yes," he narrows his eyes in his playful manner, and I know he is relaxed and in the carefree mood of his I love. "Shh, this is my story."

I say nothing, allowing him to talk because, quite frankly, I know challenging him will only fuel him. Which, yes, I'll admit, does sound slightly intriguing. When I question him, he tends to get a little demanding and caveman-like, and I greatly enjoy those moods when we are naked and in bed together.

Chills cover my arms and neck as the visions of what may happen swarm my mind. Then Jonah starts talking again and breaks through the haze.

"I swooped in, rescued you from the demonic event you were trapped in and brought you back to my castle." Again I laugh when he leans in closer and starts to kiss over the side of my neck. "You're happy here. You can't deny it. My home has become your home, whether you want to admit it or not, so like I said, when can we move your things in?"

I don't reply right away, as my concentration is a little compromised by the feeling of his tongue along my earlobe before he sucks gently. When he releases it and leans away from me to look at me, my mind clears, and I remember an important detail. "My lease still has four months left on it."

"So I'll buy it out."

"No," I shift my body to face him, looking him in the eyes. I know what I am about to suggest is going to drive him crazy. "After four months, if you still want me to live here, then I'll give up my apartment."

"Four months?" He says this like I've just told him it is four years.

"Yes," I try not to laugh at the sour look on his face. He appears offended by my words which, again, I find humorous.

"And in the meantime, what we keep living in sin while your apartment remains empty?" Living in sin, as if me moving in here is going to change the sin part. Being sinful with Jonah is my favorite part.

"No, I think maybe I should go home," immediately, I feel an ache in my chest from the thought of sleeping a single night without his body pressing to mine.

"But this is home." He almost pouts.

"I don't want you to regret you—" he moves so quick I try to shift away but am unsuccessful. His lips press to mine. I'm sure a kiss meant to shut me up, which works.

"Now you hold on a minute, woman," rolling me to my back, he positions his body over mine, and I accept him, parting my legs. He pins my hands to the mattress above my head. "There is no way I would ever regret asking you to move in here. No way, I would regret asking you to marry me." My eyes widen, and he smirks. "I'm not asking yet, babe, but you should prepare yourself because that time is coming."

My heart races, and I panic for a moment, which he immensely enjoys. But words have escaped me, and I know my eyes are wide with surprise.

"I refuse to wait four months to have you in this bed with me permanently, so you decide now if you're going to contact the landlord of your building, or am I. One way or the other, babe, your lease is being bought out, and we are moving all your things here to your new home."

"When did you get so bossy?" I love this side of him.

"I've always been bossy. I think you've mistaken it for my charm."

My smile grows more significant, and he wiggles his way farther in between my thighs. He is slowly shifting his growing erection against me, my lips part when I match his movements.

"If you go home, then how are we going to be able to do this in the middle of the night when you wake up wanting me?"

"I always want you."

"Exactly, which is just one of the many reasons why you belong right here with me." Before I have the chance to agree or even argue, he pushes forward and slips inside me before he begins to move at a slow and determined pace. And gone is the argument, but honestly, my things are just things. I've mentally already made this place my home. Jonah is home; in his arms is where I belong. I think I knew it from the start, but fear outweighed everything, and I was nothing more than a fool to believe I'd be okay without him.

* * *

"Where does this one go?"I look back over my shoulder to find Tucker, Avery's fiancé, holding a box marked for Jonah on the outside in big, bold letters, and I laugh. My cheeks heat when the idea of what Tucker is holding hits me. Hurrying toward him, I grab the box, and he looks at me as if I've lost my mind.

"I'll take that," backing away, I feel like an idiot, but honestly, I have no idea how this particular box got mixed in with everything else. Tucked away safely in Jonah’s trunk is where it was supposed to be. I told him to hide it before everyone showed up to load the U-Haul.

"Is it like a severed head or something?" Tucker doesn't back down as he steps toward me, reaching for the top. "Maybe a collection of fingers and toes, or wait—"

"It says Jonah on the box." Holding my breath when Jonah's cousin Tripp walks into the living room carrying a pile of blankets. "If it's anything, its teeth, maybe a collection he's pieced together in some morbid fucked up way. Like one from each of his victims."

"You're right," Tucker nods, and then they both turn their attention to me and the box I'm holding onto with a death grip.

"Let us have a peek," Tucker says, taking another step toward me. I realize I only have one of two things I can do here. I can dart to the left and climb over the back of the loveseat in an attempt to escape, or I can scream and hope Jonah can hear me. Either way, I know one thing for sure, they are not looking in this box.

"What the fuck are you two doing?" Relief washes over me when I hear Jonah's deep growl echo over the living room. No need for yelling; he came on his own.

Looking around the two men who block my path to him, I watch as his gaze shifts downward and a smirk covers his face. A familiar heat in his eyes, I know without a doubt had we been alone, Jonah would have had my pants around my ankles and pinned to the nearest wall or bent over said loveseat I'd contemplated jumping.

"Is it teeth?" Tripp breaks the silence, and Jonah looks at his cousin with a confused look on his face. "It says Jonah, so it means whatever inside belongs to you."

"It does," he smirks, and I narrow my eyes at him.

"So what is it?"

I will kill him if he says a single word. Straight up, I will smother him and then hide the body.

"It's a present for Dani," I narrow my eyes at him, and both men catch me glaring at Jonah.

"Then why does she look like she's about to kill you?" Tucker is less than convinced.

"Because she's been begging me to give it to her." The way he is saying give it to her screams sexual innuendo, and my nostrils flare. Jonah does not seem to care at all, though. "I keep telling her I will, but she's impatient, and she wants it now."

"Jonah," I step forward, and for only a split second, I let down my guard. But that is all it takes, one single second for Tucker to react.

He reaches out snags the box, and as if in slow motion, both Tucker and Tripp begin to fight over the box. The tugging force shifts the box, and falling right out of the bottom and spilling onto the floor is nothing but a nightmare.

Racy panties, lots and lots of panties, and two dildos fall, making a thug noise against the hardwood floor. The pink one rolls over and bumps into the leg of the coffee table. The smaller of the two, the one with the two ears that come up off the top and what Jonah calls the happy button tickler, remains in the center of the floor. Its bright blue coloring looks like a beacon against the dark wood beneath it.

The room is silent, and I'm afraid to look up.

"Damn," one of the guys, not Jonah, mumbles, and my cheeks heat. "Now that's hot," kill me now, I want to shrivel up and disappear.

"Oh my," immediately my head lifts when a feminine voice fills the air, and I feel my knees go weak. Stella and Avery both stand in the living room entryway, looking down at the embarrassing items that now litter the floor. Stella's eyes are wide with shock, and Avery, well, she is smiling so big it makes my cheeks hurt.

"I have one of those," she announces without an ounce of embarrassment. "But mine is purple, right, Tuck?"

He nods enthusiastically. As if having a dildo conversation in the presence of his future mother-in-law is no big deal. I am, however, humiliated.