Page 27 of Midnight Salvation

“Is it normally as busy as this?” I asked.

“Nope,” Ash replied. “This is a masquerade event, so some of the people who only frequent the Midnight Rooms have come out to play.”

I chewed the inside of my mouth. “You’re sure Xavier and Jordan won’t be here?”

His grin made me want to strangle him. “You afraid they’ll see your ass?”

I deliberately narrowed my eyes and his grin grew. Ash bent his head so that his lips brushed my ear. “Is that not the entire point of tonight? That others can see you but none of them can touch?”

He was right, the only problem being was that now I was here, my courage was fast deserting me. The women here oozed a sexual confidence that was making me quake in my stilettos. Their movements and the way they touched people was a sensual artform and I felt like I’d missed the class for it. I watched the way their bodies tilted into the people they were chatting to in open invitation and I glanced down at my own body almost hiding behind Ash.

Slowly, I straightened my back, my fingers threading through his until I stood beside him instead of behind him. His hand squeezed mine as he sensed my reaction beside him. Ash needed an equal as a wife, not a terrified little girl. I brought my head up until we stood together as a couple.

Ash’s shoulder touched mine when he leaned in toward me, instinctively claiming me with the same body language I saw in others. We moved through the people gathered, stopping every so often so Ash could talk to people. He was obviously known here, but I garnered several quizzical stares.

When I attended events with Papa, I allowed my Italian accent to be more pronounced, but I was educated at a boarding school in England. No one would ever know that I was the same woman since my features were disguised and my accent different.

“Good evening.” A man stopped us by walking into our path. His blatant stare moved down my body. “What activity are you participating in tonight?”

Ash straightened to his full height. “We haven’t decided yet.” He made an attempt to move on.

The man stepped into our path again. “Perhaps I can join you?” His finger touched the strap of my dress and panic unfurled deep in my chest to send an adrenalin shot through my system. Touching was definitely not permitted.

“Perhaps you could keep your hands off my wife,” Ash replied in a low, cold tone. “It expressly states consensual touch only in the contracts.”

“I was only being friendly,” the man quipped. “No need for this to be anything but a playful interlude.”

A smile that I’d come to recognise as Ash’s devious one played on his mouth. “No hard feelings, man.” We moved on and Ash wandered toward a door to the side. “One second.” He held a finger up and opened it to walk inside.

Two security officers in black suits sat inside. There were monitors on the walls watching over the main communal areas inside and some outside the perimeter of the building.

Ash stepped forward and pointed to the man who’d stopped us on the monitor. He made a cutting motion across his throat. One of the security officers nodded and left the room. I watched on the monitor as he approached the man and indicated that he follow him. Ash left the room, tugging me behind him.

“Was that necessary?” I asked in a low tone.

“Did you want blood on your new dress?” he countered.

“No.”

“Then it was necessary.”

The violence brewing in the depths of his blue eyes should terrify me, but instead it lit a fire deep in my belly that turned to molten lust. He had killed that man in Papa’s cellar without a second thought. Now he’d had a patron of his club removed for daring to touch me. My husband took being possessive to an entirely different level.

“You don’t have to lose business because of me,” I whispered.

His grip on me tightened on my hand as he manoeuvred us across the room to another doorway. He swung me inside and my back hit the wall. His hand on my throat tipped my head back so that there was nowhere for me to run and he was the only sight in my line of vision. His other hand lifted my left hand up.

“This ring wasn’t an idle gesture, Angel. It means that you belong to me alone. No one else gets to touch your soft skin. No other man gets to fuck you, even in his head. And those pouty lips will only ever belong on mine or wrapped around my cock. Understand?”

All the moisture had evaporated from my mouth. I tried to nod, but his hand had contracted around my throat.

Ash leaned forward until his breath fanned my ear. “That man is lucky to still be able to walk after daring to touch you.”

A shiver trickled down my spine. The timbre of his voice and the way he held me spoke louder than any words. I used to balk at reading possessive characters, thinking that they were trying to steal the power of others. That simply wasn’t true anymore. It meant that I was the most important person in Ash’s world and that ignited a blaze deep inside me that burned only for him.

His soft lips trailed down the side of my neck to bite that sensitive area where my shoulder and neck met. His knee pressed between my legs to pin me into position before his mouth ghosted over mine in the promise of a kiss.

Everything else evaporated because I craved his touch. There was no one else in this building but the two of us, the heat of his body smouldering into mine. Ash’s eyes were blazing with emotions behind his mask, holding me in place more than his hands that were gripping me.

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