Page 69 of Owned

“What do you mean you’ll go down too?” Rowan took a couple of steps toward me. “What did you do, Atlas?”

My chest tightened, anger simmering in my gut. “Only what needed to be done,” I said shortly. “But if my role is discovered, I’ll likely be charged and that will make Charlotte extremely happy.”

“Why would she be happy? I don’t understand.”

Of course, my beauty wouldn’t know. Her mother had escaped Charlotte’s clutches, but Charlotte had left hooks in Cait all the same. I didn’t doubt that all Cait’s issues stemmed from growing up a Hamilton, another good fucking reason to make sure my kid didn’t get sucked into that shitty family.

“Because then I won’t be around to make things difficult for her,” I explained. “She’s only doing this because Ten took her daughter, Juliana, away and married her against Charlotte’s wishes. Then Juliana died having Ten’s kid.”

“Oh,” Rowan murmured. “Oh, yes, Charlotte told me about that.”

I stared at her, surprised. “When?”

“When she first made contact with me.”

“Ah. Well, Charlotte then tried to get in touch with Ten’s kid, Isabel. But Ten knew from Juliana what a toxic family the Hamiltons were and didn’t want Isabel to have anything to do with them. But Isabel had other ideas.”

“Oh? She wanted contact with her mom’s family?”

“Yeah. Much to Ten’s anger. Isabel can’t be told though.” I gave Rowan a meaningful look. “Stubbornness runs in the family.”

Rowan didn’t even blink. “Now, I want to meet her.”

“You can meet her later,” I said. “I don’t need that kind of trouble in my life now, not while Charlotte wants this baby of ours.”

“Okay,” she said in the voice she used when it was clear she had no plans to do what she was told any time soon. “But what shall we do about Charlotte?” Her hand crept to her stomach in a protective gesture, and another burst of savage possessiveness went through me.

I reached out and pulled her in close, needing her body against mine and her safe within my arms. “Charlotte is my problem to deal with,” I growled. “It’s me she’s threatening and I’m not having her dragging you into her bullshit.”

Rowan put her palms flat to my chest and looked up at me. Her hands were warm, heat soaking through the cotton of my t-shirt, and naturally my dick reacted accordingly. Fuck, she only needed to get near me and I was primed and ready to go, ready to play with my little fuck toy. But of course she was more than that. She always had been, and now she was going to be the mother of my child, the Neanderthal in me wanted to stake another claim, to make sure she knew that she was mine and so was the baby inside her.

“She wanted me to attend an appointment this week,” Rowan said. “Her own pregnancy check.”

“You’re not going,” I said.

“Really? And how do you suggest I get out of it?”

Her nearness was making it difficult to think. I couldn’t believe how much my body craved hers. It had never happened to me before that sleeping with a woman didn’t scratch the itch, let alone making that itch become even more acute. It was like the more I had of her, the more I wanted, and even the thought of owning her completely wasn’t enough. It was as if I wanted her soul too.

She deserves more than being owned by you. You’ll crush her like your father crushed your mother.

Instinctively, I shoved the thought away. No, I wouldn’t do that, I’d never do that. I wasn’t him. I could let a woman breathe and be herself. I’d never do to her what he’d done to my poor mother. Besides, Rowan needed me to protect her now and doing anything else wasn’t an option.

I looked down into her lovely face, her eyes wide and dark and endless as the sea. Her voice had been steady, but I could see the fear there. As always with Rowan she locked everything down until she broke, and her on the bathroom floor, pale as death, was her breaking.

Putting my hands on her hips, I turned her around to the vanity and lifted her up onto it. Then I put my hands on her knees and spread them apart so I could stand between them. She took a startled breath that turned into a gasp as I slid my hands up her thighs and around to cup her butt, pulling her hard against my aching cock. “I’m going to make sure you’re protected,” I said. “Keep you here with some security. My friend Caleb has some contacts he’s consulting that might give us some dirt on the Hamiltons we could use.”

The heat of her pussy was pressed to the zipper of my jeans and I was suddenly harder than I’d ever been in my entire life.

Rowan shivered, her pupils dilating as I rubbed my hard-on gently against her. “I…could speak to her,” she said, her voice already taking on the sweet husky note the way it always did when she was aroused. “I mean, I’m her granddaughter after all. Maybe I could?—”

“Absolutely the fuck not,” I said flatly, because that wasn’t happening. She wasn’t getting anywhere near Charlotte Hamilton. “In fact, you’re not going anywhere. You’re staying here until Ten, Caleb and I figure out how to get to the fucking Hamiltons out of our lives for good.”

Rowan’s full mouth firmed and I could see the light of battle begin to flicker in her eyes. It made me even harder. I loved it when she fought me. Then I got to fuck her into submission, which was fast becoming my favorite thing to do.

I gripped the waistband of her panties and jerked them down her legs and off, then I slipped a hand between her thighs, feeling the slick, slippery flesh between them. She shuddered, her fingers digging into my biceps as I found her hard clit and stroked it. “H-how long will….oh…that t-take?” She stuttered.

“It will take as long as it takes.” I pinched her clit, watching the pleasure begin to take hold of her, which was always a beautiful thing to see. Her eyes would darken and her mouth would open, and all the resistance would bleed out of her. And then she wouldn’t be spiky, argumentative, uptight Rowan, but my passionate, demanding, sexy as fuck Rowan. “No arguments, beauty,” I said, easing a finger inside her, feeling her tight little pussy grip it hard. “You’re going to do what I tell you for a change.”

---