His number one.
And so, he coaxed her into sweetness by kissing the life out of her, not giving her room to breathe, even if she might slug him in the gut.
“I love you.” He said between kisses. “I fucking worship my goddess,” he groaned, biting her and then licking the sting away. His cock nearly caught fire when she gripped his hair tight and yanked.Oh, fuck, she made him hard. So hard, he was about to come if she pulled again. “I love you, sweetheart,” he repeated until he heard her whimpering into his mouth.
Splice didn’t let up on kissing, keeping Lisa against the wall; he was fighting for his life.
Nobody had ever been worth dying for to him before. Or to turn his world upside down. Those emotions weren’t in him.
Or so he thought.
And then Lisa.
Lisa was his period. His complete sentence. His entire manuscript.
To stop him this time, Lisa got her hand up to Splice’s throat, and she pushed hard enough into his Adam’s apple; their mouths detached, their breaths mingled like steam.
The anger had disappeared from her eyes, but the hurt remained, and Splice frowned, resting their foreheads together. He refused to relinquish the hold on her waist; he needed the connection, or he’d die.
The dramatic fucker that he was needed his grounding soul to keep him level. He’d been coming out of his skin without her.
“This reason better be the best reason the world’s ever heard, or I promise, Ryan, your life won’t be worth living. I will make you as miserable as I’ve felt,” she threatened, like she were seven feet tall instead of his pint-sized woman. His heart leaked all over, and he smiled, kissing her forehead.
She tried to disentangle herself from him.
Nah, that wasn’t happening.
Splice picked her up by the waist, plopped himself down on the side of the bed, and put Lisa over his lap.
“You looked right through me,” she mumbled. “You called me babe.” She poked him in the shoulder. He deserved it and more. “You let those women sit close to you. You let them touch you! I want to burn your clothes!”
“I’ll burn them all, I promise. It was all a ruse, sweetheart. I’m so fucking sorry for hurting you.”
She looked at him for a while before she cupped his cheek, and Splice felt at home again with her touch. He leaned in like an eager puppy.
Then she said. “Explain.”
“I found out who’s been harassing you.” He started as he meant to go on.
His voice was low to keep the conversation between them and to prevent eavesdropping. Every inch of anger he’d felt for the two days returned, and he rasped, “Brace, okay?” and then. “It was Vince.”
Yeah, the way Lisa was looking at him right now, with her confused look, that was how he’d felt when he’d realized.
It had been a gut punch of the worst kind.
He’d gone through a lifetime of people he’d crossed, or exes who might get a kick out of harassing Splice’s girlfriend, and never once would Splice have put Vince on the list of suspects.
It had taken seeing it with his own eyes, Primo calling the number, and Vince, standing outside his car dealership, answering the same call.
It had taken everything in Splice not to rush across the street and punch the fuck out of the man who’d been a second father to him his entire life, especially since his dad had died. Vince was Splice’s go-to guy for advice. He would have trusted his uncle with his life—worse, he would have trusted him with Lisa’s life. That’s how high he’d rated Vince.
This was the worst betrayal imaginable.
And yet, he still didn’t have a clue why ten years ago, Vince frightened Lisa so badly that she left. Or why was Vince attempting to do the same thing today?
“Vince?Your uncle Vince?” she asked incredulously. “But why?”
“That I don’t know yet.”
