Page 48 of Flawed Revenge

Shifting his hold on his girl, he maneuvered them both so he could get down on his knees in the small bathroom. Kate giggled, clutching at his shoulders for balance, as he managed to keep himself inside her while also getting on one knee.

Once he had his girl perched on his knee, he reached behind him, undid the chain, and slid the ring off. “I can get you a new one if this one holds too many bad memories,” he offered as he held it in the palm of his hand.

“No!” Katie shouted. “I want this one. You risked your life for it, and somehow that seems to override any bad memories that might have existed.”

Picking up her hand, Lion brought it to his lips, pressed a kiss to it, then held out the ring. “My beautiful, strong, smart Katie-Bear. I messed up. I gave up the best thing to ever happen to me, and I've regretted it ever since, even though I knew I did what I had to do to make sure you were safe. I can't go back, or take back the things I said, but I can promise you I will never hurt you again. I will always be there for you. I don’t repeat my mistakes. I love you, Kate, with everything I have. It’s not what you deserve but⁠—”

“I get to say what I deserve,” Kate said, cutting him off. “And I think I couldn’t do any better than you. Neither could our daughter.”

“Love you so much, Katie-Bear. Will you do me the honor of agreeing to be my wife?”

“Yes. A million times yes.” Tears shimmered in her eyes, but she was smiling at him, that warm, soft smile that he loved.

Feeling his eyes getting a little misty, Lion slipped the ring onto her finger, and it felt like his fractured soul snapped back into place. His girl was his again, and while the things he’d said to her would always be between them, they weren't too big an obstacle for them to navigate their way over.

“Make love to me again, Leo.”

Brushing his lips across the bruises on her chest that he swore were darker now than they’d been just minutes ago when he stripped off her sweater, he shook his head. “Don’t want to hurt you.”

“I don’t care, Leo. Not going to lie and say it doesn’t hurt, it does. I think it might even be worse than giving birth, because at least there were some breaks between contractions, this hurts every time I breathe. But I want to feel you come inside me again, I want to make up for lost time, I want … you.”

Powerless to deny his girl anything, Lion palmed her backside to steady her, then pushed to his feet. Her tight, wet heat cocooning his length had him already growing hard again, and when she squeezed her internal muscles around him, he groaned.

“You feel so good, babe.”

“So do you,” Kate whispered, rolling her hips.

“Still think you can't come a third time?” he asked as he took her bud between his fingers, finding it slick and swollen.

“Pretty sure there isn’t anything I can't do when it comes to you.”

Chuckling, he set his girl on the counter and began thrusting into her as he played with her bundle of nerves. It didn't take long for him to feel pleasure flicker alight inside him, and from the way his girl’s internal muscles fluttered around him again, he knew he wasn't the only one.

“Harder, Leo. Faster. Want more. Need more,” Kate said, her voice breathy, her words ending on a moan.

“Hold onto me, babe,” he ordered. Just because Kate was prepared to take the pain for the pleasure, it didn't mean he wasn't going to try to minimize it as best as he could.

With her holding onto his shoulders, Lion allowed himself to let go, to let all his emotions come flooding out, emotions he’d been repressing for a decade, believing that he’d already lost everything he ever wanted. But now he had it back, and he wouldn't let anyone take it from him again.

“Time to fall apart for me, Katie-Bear,” he whispered as he dipped his head to take one of her breasts into his mouth and sucked hard on her nipple, scraping his teeth against the pebbled nub.

Like the perfect girl that she was, Kate combusted for him, and as she clamped around him, Lion let his release flood through him, biting lightly on her breast to contain the scream that wanted to break free since he knew Kate was embarrassed about being overheard.

As his girl sank down against him, sleepy and sated, content and happy, Leo dared River Gardner to come at him and his team and see where that got her. The woman was insane if she thought she could go up against his team and win. They were a formidable opponent even before Rose, then Cassandra, then Whitney, then Indigo, then Maya, and now Kate and Ariella had come into their lives. But now?

Now they were fighting not just for themselves, but for the other halves of their hearts, for the women they loved, for their futures.

Nothing and no one was going to beat them.

March 18th

3:06 A.M.

“Wake up, Kate.”

The urgent voice, accompanied by a sharp shake, jolted her from a deep sleep. The hand that had been resting on her hip when she and Leo climbed into bed last night, with their daughter snuggled between them, was gone.

“You with me, Katie-Bear?” Leo asked, and a hand smoothed down her hair.