Page 8 of Stained Honor

Now both of us are breathing hard with rage.

His grip tightens painfully around my arms while he growls, “I told you a thousand fucking times that bullshit like conscience and mercy gets people killed in the world you chose to stay in, but apparently none of it ever got through that thick skull of yours. Do you have any idea what happens if my men find out you were the one who helped Tony escape? Do you know they won’t stop until they avenge the soldiers who died because of this? Do you understand that?”

I struggle against his hold, but he drags me even closer until there’s barely an inch between our faces.

“You had to take it this far, huh?” His voice drops lower, rougher, more dangerous. “Far enough to put everything I spent my whole fucking life building at risk? Everything that matters to me?”

A bitter smile pulls at my lips as I choke out, “If you’re really that worried about your power and reputation, then hand me over to your soldiers, Carlo. If the price of protecting your empire is my death, then I’ll gladly pay it.”

The second the words leave my mouth, it’s like I shocked him.

His hands fall away from my arms instantly, and he actually steps back. There’s no rage on his face now. No hatred either. Just pure disbelief, like he’s staring at something impossible.

I hold his gaze, making no effort to hide the devastation inside me. I wipe at my tears and repeat more firmly, “I mean it. I’ll take responsibility for what I did—”

“Shut up.”

He lunges at me before I can finish.

His large hands slam onto my shoulders, driving me backward into the couch while his body cages mine beneath him. His mouth slams into mine in a brutal, burning kiss, devouring me with a violence that steals the air from my lungs.

“Just shut up, Emily,” he growls against my lips before kissing me again.

My arms wrap around his neck automatically while my other hand slides beneath his shirt, palming the hard muscle of his chest as I kiss him back just as desperately. He forces my thighs apart with his knees and settles his massive body between my legs.

His mouth tortures me from above while his hips grind against me through our clothes from below, dragging a helpless sound out of my throat. One arm braces beside my head to keep his weight from crushing me while his other hand strokes through my hair and across my cheek with unexpected softness.

By the time he finally pulls back, my lips ache from the force of his kisses.

He hovers over me, breathing hard into my face, fury still burning in his eyes.

“You’d die for my fucking empire, huh?”

Disbelief drips from every word.

I take a shaky breath and nod honestly.

“For the things you love.”

His fist tangles violently in my hair, pulling my head back despite the sound of pain that leaves me.

“The thing I love is you, you clueless fucking woman,” he snarls inches from my face. “Everything I built, everything I own, it’s all for you, Emily. So I can protect you and our son. The power? The money? I’d burn every last bit of it to the ground for you in a heartbeat.”

His grip loosens in my hair before he kisses me again, deep enough to steal the air from my lungs, and against my mouth he repeats fiercely, “For you, I’d burn it all. Everything.”

His hand fists my breast as he groans into my mouth. Then suddenly he jerks back from me and drops to his knees between my legs. He pops open the button of my jeans and yanks both my jeans and panties down in one rough pull, dragging my body across the leather couch with them until only my shoulders remain against the cushions while the rest of me hangs half suspended in the air. He throws the clothes somewhere across the room without even looking where they land, straightens me back up, then cages himself between my thighs again.

One forearm braces beside my body while the heat in his eyes practically burns through me. With his free hand, he unbuttons his jeans, pulls himself out, and without caring whether I’m ready enough or not, drives into me in one brutal thrust.

The thick heat of him stretches me open instantly, forcing a broken gasp from my lips when the head of his cock presses deep enough to brush against my cervix.

My eyes fall shut. My lips part wider while a muffled moan slips out of me before I can stop it.

A few seconds pass.

When he still doesn’t move, I slowly open my eyes again and look at him.

And suddenly all the rage inside those beautiful gray eyes is drowning beneath something else entirely. Deep, raw affection.