Page 23 of Her Wedding Night

How could he have money for this if he didn’t know it was going to happen?

Hannah returns in the blink of an eye, dragging a heavy bag.

Oh. Shit.

Gabriel yanks it out of her hands, barely acknowledging her before he unzips it and tosses it on the poker table. Bundles of bills tumble out, many more visible in the open bag.

“Shit,” Gilly says. “No way Ethan can beat that. How much is it?”

“It’s enough,” Gabriel grinds out.

Forrest twirls his gun in an alarmingly casual way. “Then on the condition that you fucking take her in front of us, you win the virgin bride, Daddy.”

CHAPTER 14

GABRIEL

If anyone had ever asked me if I could get hard while a gun was pointed at me, I’d have laughed. No. Fuck, no.

I’ve been in a lot of hot spots in my life, and I’m pretty sure my balls lived inside my body until the firefight was over every fucking time. If my cock could retract itself inside, too, it would.

But right now? As Lucy warily, carefully makes her way toward me?

God fucking damn, I want her.

And I cannot have her. Not like that. Not really.

But I can put on a show. Because that’s what these little shitheads want. This isn’t about Lucy. This is about them getting their jollies off, projecting their fantasies onto girls. Ethan is the only one dangerously obsessed with Lucy’s actual virginity, so he’s the only real threat to her.

The others I can manage by keeping them enthralled until the boat’s autopilot gets us close to shore again.

And then what, genius?

And then I’ll figure out the next step of the plan.

Her footsteps falter as she nears me. She’s looking down, her dark red curls spilling forward. The confident girl whoconfronted me on the bridge is gone now, replaced by someone timid and uncertain. Is that an act like her playing dumb?

Of course it’s not an act, she’s petrified.

I reach out and hook my fingers in the blue satin ribbon around her waist and tug her right against me.

She starts to cry. “He dressed me up like a bride. I didn’t see it, I didn’t know?—”

I cover her mouth with my thumb. Silence is protection, because they can’t know she trusts me. They can’t know I’m the best of the worst options in front of her.

“I know,” I rasp quietly. I give her a fierce look to say the rest.I missed it, too. This is on us both.“Ignore them,” I say louder. “You’re mine tonight. That’s all that matters.”

I lift her up onto the table. The gauzy fabric rides up her legs, revealing smooth, soft thighs.

They’re going to want to see her naked. There’s no way around that, but I can distract them by being even more naked than her.

I strip my clothes off, not caring who sees the big, hard planes of my body, or the jut of my cock. It’s important for them to see it, feel small and insignificant next to it, so they let me climb on top of her and have my way with her uninterrupted.

They need to know they will never match up to me in every way. That is how I keep Lucy safe.

But it means when I step between her thighs and hook my fingers into the waistband of her bikini bottoms, there’s no hiding how much my body likes being in this position. That there is no level of violence or depravity that would stop me from wanting her.

“You’re hard,” she whispers, her voice catching. “Why are you hard?”

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