Page 65 of King of Deception

“Gris?”

“I love you, Arabella.”

“I…”

I lean in and then place a soft kiss on her mouth. She trembles as I kiss her again. Setting the container on the nightstand, I pull her into my lap. “Tell me that you feel the same.”

“Gris,” she whispers, sounding pained. “Don’t play with me. Not tonight. You’ll wreck me.”

“I’m not playing you. I’m in love with you. We’re going to get married and make babies, really pretty ones.”

A tear slips down her cheek as she looks up at me. “I…”

“We can leave Vegas, like I said. Live in England. Buy a villa in Italy. We don’t need Smith Brothers and we don’t need Kincaid Enterprises. It can just be me and you.”

She burrows into me then, her arms wrapping around my neck. “Oh, Gris.”

Is that good or bad? I hold her tight. Then she tips her head back and looks up into my eyes. “I love you too.”

I kiss her then, her tears salty on my tongue. When I lift my head, her warm brown eyes meet mine. “Make love to me.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Arabella

“Sweetheart,”he groans close to my ear. “You’re too hurt tonight.”

His hands skim down my back, the touch so comforting, it’s enough to make me ache. I’ve always trusted Gris implicitly when it comes to my body.

It’s like my skin understood before my brain, that Gris was a man I could trust.

Tonight he was at my side when I needed him most, I sent out a distress signal and he?—

“How did you get here so fast?”

He grins at me. “Mrs. Gillette called me the moment Preston started yelling.”

My mouth hangs open. When I called, thinking I was calling Luke, he was already on his way.

I don’t ask him to make love to me again, instead, I kiss him. It’s long and deep, my tongue sliding between his lips.

He kisses me back, the passion climbing between us, until he breaks away. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t,” I say simply, I know any pain I feel will be nothing compared to the pleasure.

“Arabella,” he groans and kisses me again. “You’re killing me.”

I skim my fingers over his neck. I know he’s conflicted, but I’m not at all. I’ve never wanted to be closer to someone more than I do him. Right here. Right now.

“This is about me and you, correct?”

“Correct.”

“Then I say we seal the deal, Gris. I want to give myself to you the way I’ve never given myself to anyone else before.”

“Fuck, Arabella. How could I say no to that?”

That’s the whole point. He’s not supposed to say no. I kiss him again, slow, languid, but with plenty of tongue.

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