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TATUM
Raw ownership pounded through me. I didn’t expect much out of life. Nothing had been handed to me on a silver platter, and being dogged with secrets my entire life, I knew that my world could implode at any time. But the moment I’d taken Clara’s virginity would be etched in my memory, in my fucking body and soul, forever. If I didn’t have to stay alive to protect her and the women in my family, I could’ve died a happy man right then and there.
I’d battled her and won her surrender. Broke her apart and put her back together. Her utter and total abandon was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Ever seen a queen surrender? Well, I had, and I was an addict after the first hit. I yearned to see her break, time and again. And I would. There was no way she was getting away from me now.
Cuddling her into me, I draped myself around her like a wrapper around a sweet piece of candy. Her honeyed hair, with streaks of sunlight and gold, spread over my chest like streamers. Her fragrance, the beach scent of the hot sand and salty seawater of California enveloped me. She smelled like the warm, sunny future.
Eventually, she stirred in my arms, saying she had to use the bathroom, and I reluctantly loosened my hold on her.
She slid to the edge of the mattress, slipped down, and landed on her feet. Her knees wobbled like a newborn foal. Abruptly, she crumpled to the floor, her naked thigh hitting the carpet with a harsh thud. She let out a cry, a tear tracking down her cheek. Horrified, I jumped from the bed to help her.
The dominant and perfectionist inside me railed against what had happened. Her adrenaline spiked and now her body was crashing. I knew I’d broken her wide open, but this confirmed it. I should’ve known it’d been too soon for her to get up on her own. Scooping her up, I seated her gently on the bed, positioned myself with my back to the headboard, and dragged her over my lap. Securing her to my chest, I snagged a blanket and covered her naked, trembling body.
Then I breathed evenly, shushing her gently, praising her as beautiful, as my good girl. The last compliment did the most to settle her shivering body.
Softly, I brushed off the strands of her hair stuck to her wet cheek. She covered her eyes in embarrassment.
Firmly removing her hands, I warned her, “Don’t hide from me, beautiful queen.”
“I’m not a queen anymore,” she sniffed.
I huffed. “You may not be the Virgin Queen, but you’re undoubtedly the Hagi queen. Only a queen has the inner strength to give herself to me the way you did. You’re as regal as ever, and you’ll always be my queen.”
She pouted.
“Plus, your pussy’s worth more than your weight in gold.”
She let out a little giggle and slapped my chest lightly.
My heart sang.
“Exaggerate much?”
“Hell no,” I rejoined. “I rarely joke, and certainly never about the power of pussy.”
She cuddled into my arms.
“Are you regretting it?” I asked tentatively, my body tensing as I waited for her response.
“No,” she retorted, a little too quickly.
“Because you can, you know,” I proposed. “You can’t take it back, obviously, but you can feel regret. You can have more than one reaction. You’ve disobeyed your father, violated his rule—”
“A rule I’m beginning to question,” she clipped out. “I don’t even understand where the rule that women have to be virgins when they get married comes from. It’s positively medieval.”
“That it is,” I said, then softened my tone. “But it doesn’t take away the fact that you broke a fundamental rule, regardless of how absurd it may be, and you defied your father’s wishes. Neither are easy things to do.”
She pressed her pouty lips together in a firm line. She drew her brows together, a notch etched between them. She looked downright adorable.
“I wanted to lose it to you,” she said vehemently. “I chose you. I could’ve stayed strong—”
Cutting in, I waggled my eyebrows and said, “You’re sure about that?”
She grasped an errant lock of hair and tugged on it. “Hush. Yes, I could have. At least, for a little while longer.”
“You’re like Alex in that you’re resilient. Tough. Maybe it goes hand in hand with the drive to be a leader, but you know, you’re allowed to be a human. It’s something I remind him of all the time.”
“I can’t, though, can I?” she argued.
