Page 103 of Savage Don

“Looks like I made the right choice.” Ray’s deep voice comes from just outside the closet. It’s close enough that I nearly jump out of my skin, let alone the dress.

Usually, I’m better about letting people sneak up on me. But without my trusty old creaky floorboards, there was no warning that this beast was approaching.

“You chose this?” I ask. My voice feels so small next to his.

“That’s right. I thought it would look good on you.”

“Well, you were right.”

My confidence seems to excite Ray.

“Glad to see Domenico hasn’t extinguished your fire yet,” he says, stepping close enough that I can see him in the mirror.

Fuck. He’s so hot I can’t fucking take it.

Ray stands behind me like a mountain looming over a valley rose. His broad shoulders block out the light, and I’m covered in his shadow.

But this darkness isn’t cold. In fact, it’s so warm that I feel like I could start sweating.

“I survived twenty years in that mansion prison, I wasn’t going to let another few days destroy me.”

“You weren’t exactly in the best of shape when I picked you up,” Ray says, his eyes studying my ass from behind. Then, his gaze floats up to the mirror and our eyes meet.

The intensity in his stare is so overwhelming that I want to look away, but I have enough energy after my nap that I can fight that urge… as well as another.

There’s no bra to hide my tenting nipples. Ray would only have to look down from my eyes and he would see just how turned on I am by his presence.

Yet, he doesn’t break my gaze.

“I’ve been through worse,” I whisper, my eyes beginning to water from our little stare down.

“You deserve better than that,” Ray tells me, his voice surprisingly tender.

“Is that why you’re trying to force me to have your baby? Or do I deserve better than that, too?”

Shaking his head, Ray runs a hand through his salt and pepper hair. “It would be our child, kitten. Not just mine.”

A warm tingle washes over my skin when he calls me kitten. Fuck. I missed that.

Part of me just wants Ray to rip me out of this dress and get it over with.

Impregnate me already, then, you beast!

But I hold fast, and force myself to maintain eye contact with the hulking older man.

“I’m not ready to be a mother,” I say, grabbing my wrist. It makes me look like a little girl, but it gives me enough strength to tell him the truth.

“I’ll make sure you’re ready. To be a mother. To be a queen. To be a leader.”

“I’m not any of those things.”

Ray takes one long step forward, and suddenly the heat of his body has engulfed me .

“Not yet. But you will be. I’ll make sure of it.”

“And what if I don’t want to be any of those things?” I ask, fear winding through my body like thorny vines.

“Then you will learn to.”