Page 70 of Down the Aisle
In a flash, his hand shot and wrapped around my neck, holding me down as he pressed his body weight against me. Adrenaline surged through my body, burning through my veins like lava as I struggled against him, attempting to throw him off. My hands clamped themselves around his wrist and forearm, clawing and prying at it. "Adam, you're scaring me," I whimpered through my quickened breaths.
His face leans down close to mine, looming a mere inch from me to where every inhale was a lungful of him. A chilling shudder choked my body out when I caught the way his sharp eyes softened in a split second. "Eliza darling, I'm not going to hurt you, nor am I angry or upset at you." His thumb slowly stroked at my pulsating neck, making me calm a little instinctively.
Letting out a controlled breath, he uttered a single command, "Settle." Instinctively, every fiber in my being snapped until notan ounce of tension remained. "Talk to me,mia rosa." His hand released my neck, and he stroked my tear-stained cheek with the back of his finger. "Let me in," he pleaded with a needy and broken voice. "It's okay. It will all be okay. Nothing you say will change my love for you," he assured me with a genuine smile full of ardor.
An ache twisted my lips into a frown. "You can't say that." My voice croaked and cracked as my throat felt like it was closing in on itself. "You love the person I wanted you to love, not—"
His hard grip on my jaw made it impossible to move it. "Elisabella Stone." The sound of my legal name made my body freeze up with shock. "I love you, Elisabella Stone, and I love you, Eliza Huyen." The depth of the fondness in his voice was as endless as the warmth in his stony orbs. "I love the woman you have bloomed into. All those smiles, the laughs and giggles, the wonderful and doting mother, the amazing girlfriend who only ever looks at me with pure happiness and gratitude."
All the turbulent fear and emotional turmoil simmered out the more I fell into his comfort. "Who you were before doesn't matter to me because you are here with me now." Soft waves of warmth rippled throughout my body from his touch against my cheek. "I love my Eliza, the one who has been around me all this time." Leaning down, he kissed my cheek. "My Eliza darling." Then, a kiss on the edge of my lips. "My little rose." A deep one right against my lips, one that steals my whole soul away. "And don't you try to deny any of it either. I know it's easy to act and fake things, but there is no way to imitate genuine emotions in the eyes or hide micro expressions or any of those natural and instinctual things."
There was no denying or arguing with him because he was right. I lied to him about my real identity, but my true self was something I couldn't hide from him. Thinking back on itall, as much as I tried to deny it to myself, it was impossible. Everything from his lips hit the truth right on the head.
"How can you love me? If you know the truth somehow or anything about my past, then you should very well know that I am nothing but broken goods." The next wave of words caught in my throat for a moment until I forced my nerves back down. "I am nothing but a used body full of baggage."
The next few seconds blurred by, and nothing hit me until I felt Adam's hand on my bare bottom. It felt like everything happened in a blink of an eye. One second, I was on the couch. Then the next, I was hauled up by my neck and bent over Adam's knee with my dress thrown up around my waist and panties bunched up between my ass crack.
It wasn't until the third crack that I snapped out of my stupor entirely. Craning my head back, I looked at Adam with wide eyes filled with disbelief. "Adam! We are having a—ah!"
Another spank from his rough hand promptly shut me up. "We're not done with our conversation, not by far, but we're going to finish it with you over my knee." I barely caught his breath hitching with the next smack that jerked my body. "Just because we are talking doesn't mean you get to berate yourself like that, so punishment is in order for you breaking that rule."
Kicking my legs and grunting in frustration, I lightly hit his thigh with my fists. "You jerk!" I huffed, growling softly with a displeased scowl.
Glowering at the ground didn't last long, not with how he fisted the back of my hair and yanked my head back to look up at him. His stern eyes bore into me, but not in a disappointed or upset way, but in a tough love kind of manner. "You are none of those, and you never will be. Just because you had a rough few years doesn't make you any less of a person, even if it may seem like it. The only people who are trash are deplorable criminals."
Another set of sharp stings bit my ass cheeks, and another yelp jolted out of my body in response. I snapped at Adam through my tears. "There's nothing about me to love, though! I am nothing but a fucking liar! A coward! A bag of useless nothing!" Gripping at his thigh, I chewed at my bottom lip, muffling my pained moans when he spanked me again a few times. "I'm useless. I can't do anything with my life because I'm on the fucking run from my stupid ex. I live in constant paranoia, afraid that the next time I blink, then he'll be right there in front of me."
Once I started, I couldn't stop. All the words spilled from my mouth like the tears from my eyes. "I'm just a useless college dropout with dead dreams and aspirations. I'm not even myself after ten fucking years with James. Ten years of constant pain and suffering, all because I was too fucking stupid to see and admit the truth." Talking became impossible with how my voice kept cracking and hitching with my sobs.
The pressure against the back of my head eased in an instant when he released my hair. A quick spin of the room, I found myself seated in Adam's lap, nestled tightly against him in his arms. "Oh,mia rosa, no, no, no," he shushed me soothingly, running his fingers through my long locks. "You are so much more than you think," he said while rocking me softly. "You may see yourself as some failure, but I don't. Nor would anyone else if they were to find out." He paused for a second to take in a deep breath and press a kiss against my temple. "You are everything to me. I don't see some broken person whenever I look at you. All I ever see is my wonderful woman, who is going to be my wife one day. My wonderful wife-to-be, who is the best and most amazing mother ever. My Eliza darling, who is too stubborn and independent for her own good, but those are qualities I fucking love about you."
His body trembled with his chuckle before a warmth of peace blanketed us for a moment. "I only see my little rose blooming every day." A finger curled under my chin, lifting my face to a pair of loving lips. "Little by little, you blossom better and better. You might have been lost before, but now you have direction." He dazes me with another kiss before continuing, "You have me now, and I want nothing but the best for you and our family."
A minute of solace embraced us as we became lost in each other's never-ending wonder and adoration. "You went through Hell, but you pulled yourself out. Not everyone can do that, so you have to praise yourself there," he told me with a proud smile while brushing my hair out of my face. "You work your ass off for Asher, and that's another thing to be proud of right there." His smile grew with his words as his fingers stroked my cheek and jawline. "You are a wonderful woman, Eliza, and I am going to make you see it by making you love yourself as much as you love me."
I couldn't help but giggle and roll my eyes in response to his cockiness. On most men, it was annoying, but Adam had a charming way about his arrogance that made it work in his favor.
Adam's face lit up with a victorious grin at my little sound. "There's my Eliza darling." He quickly stole my breath away with a quick kiss before speaking again in a very warm and affectionate voice, "I will be the sunlight to warm you back up, the water to nourish you, the fresh and healthy soil you need for a new life, and I'll be the keeper that protects you and preserves your unique beauty for all of eternity."
Unable to help myself again, I rolled my eyes at him. "You and your roses," I teased with a chuckle. "But thank you." I didn't know what else to say in the situation.
Smiling gratefully in return, Adam shook his head. "No, don't thank me when it's supposed to be me kissing your feet forallowing me into your life." The awe and joy in his eyes made me melt with a wide smile. "Never thank me for giving you the bare minimum and what you deserve."
Chuckling softly, I let myself relax against him. "Well, it's not like you gave me much of a choice with how you barged into my life and basically set up camp," I remarked, looking up at me with a playful smirk. "But as flustered as it made me… I needed it." Otherwise, we wouldn't be here right now.
"Hey, I couldn't let you slip away from me, so I needed to encroach on you a bit." He grinned smugly with a cheeky chuckle. "But, I know, that's why I'm a little firmer with you compared to others in my past. You need the guidance, the firm hand, and you thrive off of it." The pad of his thumb arched across my cheekbone slowly. "But, back to the point of everything. You are worth everything, and you will see the greatness that is you and accept it."
Resting his forehead against mine, he smiled against my lips. "I will be there to drag you through it all until you do. When you are down, I will pick you up and carry you through until you can walk on your two feet again. Even then, I will be right next to you or behind you to guide you and protect you." A sweet kiss graces my lips, melting my whole heart and being into Adam.
I fucking loved how true his smile was as he beamed at me. "You are an amazing woman, Eliza, and I am so proud to call you as mine." Kissing me deeply for a long moment, he softly attacked my lips until they ached and swelled up. "I will always love you, no matter what. Even when you can't find it within yourself to appreciate yourself, I will do it for you because I am wholly devoted to you."
Swallowing the reluctance, I fisted the front of his shirt before kissing him with trembling lips. "I can't handle being broken again, so please, don't smash whatever is left of me," Iwhispered in a broken voice, letting my stray tears run down my cheeks.
Taking my face into his hands, he wipes the tears away with his thumbs before planting a promising kiss firmly against my lips. "Never. I will never hurt you. I'd rather take a thousand bullets to my body before putting a scratch on you."
God, I love this man. I truly, with my whole heart and soul, love Adam.
Never has such a thought and feeling felt so right. Such raw devotion and adoration that felt so natural, like breathing, had always been so foreign to me—a mere dream.
