“That’s it?” Izzy’s eyes are wide with a mixture of disbelief and hope as she searches my face for the truth. “It’s really over?”

“Over and done, for good and for all,” I promise.

“He gave up just like that?” she asks incredulously.

“Well, he needed a bit of persuasion.”

“What kind of persuasion?”

“The kind he uses on you.”

Her eyes widen.

“It’s safe to say he will not be bothering you ever again.”

“How can you be so sure?” she asks, chewing her lip worriedly.

“I’m sure. We’ll just leave it at that.”

“Oh, no.” She cups the side of my face with her hand. “You didn’t kill him, did you?”

“Not yet.”

“That’s not even funny.”

“All right. I won’t lie. I wanted to, but I didn’t. He’s still very much alive. Just a bit … unconscious when I left him. He’ll heal up, just like you will.” I touch her face, then let my hands gently find her waist. “He won’t hurt you anymore. Ever, ever again. I already got confirmation from his father that he’ll keep him in check for me.”

She looks at me with narrowed eyes. “Why would he do that? He adores Tony. Tony can do no wrong in his eyes.”

“Believe me,” I add with a rueful smile, “it’s in his best interest for him to keep him away from my woman.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t know what to think about all this. It’s all too much to take in at once. I’m struggling to get it through my head that he would stay away because of a beating. If I know him he will be itching to take his revenge.”

“Take it one day at a time,” I murmur, kissing her forehead, then the tip of her nose. “We’re all set now.”

Her eyes swim with tears. “You’re my knight in shining armor”

Her mother enters the room with baby Christopher on her hip.

“Mom,” she says. “It’s over.”

Her mother looks at me, her mouth agape.

“Can I?” I ask, suddenly choked up, holding my arms out for my son. She moves forward and stands in front of me.

For the first time in my life I look into my son’s eyes. His eyes are blue, but a different shade than mine, deeper and with a starburst in them. I smile at him and he gives me a big grin. His teeth are tiny and his gums a clean pink.

“Da, da,” he cries.

I hold out both my hands in front of him and he raises both his arms and wriggles his body to get out of his grandmother’s grip.

I grab him around his solid body and hold him to my chest, marveling at the feel of his strong, sturdy little body. His skin is so soft. His blue eyes look straight into mine, and I’m hooked.

I hear the sound of Izzy crying softly with joy as I touch my lips to the side of his head. I whisper in his little ear, “I’m your daddy, Christopher.”

* * *

I drive them back to Suffolk, but as soon as we enter the driveway I feel sick. I can’t never again live here. Not without my horses. I stop the car and turn around.

“Why are we turning around?” Izzy asks.

“We’ll stay in a hotel tonight, okay?”

“Oh, okay,” she says uncertainly. “But I really wanted to see your horses.”

My hands clench on the steering wheel. Later tonight I’ll tell her about my horses, but right now, I can’t deal with the emotions. When I was running on autopilot I was numb, but now that the protective numbness is gone, the loss is indescribable. We drive to a hotel and check in. Her mother goes to her room, which is next door to ours, and the staff bring in a cot for Christopher. Very gently, I lower him into his cot. We stand next to each other looking down at him.

“We’re so lucky, aren’t we?”

I turn to look at her. “I’m the luckiest man on earth.”

I pull her along until we are standing next to the wall. As gently as I can, I start to undress her. She clasps my hands.

“I don’t look so good,” she says.

“You’ll be beautiful when you’re big with my next child, when you’re old and full of wrinkles, when you’re sick, when you put on weight, or lose weight. To me you’ll always be the woman who turned my brain to jelly. The most beautiful woman on earth. Always perfect.”

Her mouth forms an O.

“Now, let me see what is mine.”

Her hands drop away. I take off her top. Her bra. Her shoes. Her trousers. Her panties. Her body is black and blue and yellow. My mind takes a picture of her like this because I will never again see her this way. My mouth finds her nipple. It’s pink and it belongs in my mouth. I swirl my tongue around it, the ache for her astonishing. I need to lose myself completely in this woman.

“Tyson,” she gasps.

I suck the bud and it hardens in my mouth. I let my lips travel across to her other breast and enclose that nipple inside my wet, hot mouth. Her body arches sensuously. I look into her eyes as my mouth trails down to her stomach, gently licking at the swollen discolored flesh I find on my way. I travel down past her hips to the insides of her thighs. As my tongue skims the delicate skin she draws her breath sharply. I trap her legs with my hands and press my mouth against her pussy.

“You’re so fucking wet, baby,” I growl.

Her hips move, asking for more. “I want you inside me,” she whispers.

“I’ll be inside you soon enough.” Licking her sweet slit gently, I massage her clit with my thumb. My eyes swivel up and lock on hers. She is trying not to moan too loudly. Each time my tongue drags across her clit or swirls around it she shudders. Her eyelids flutter when I slip two fingers inside her hot folds.

“Ahhh …” she groans.

I hate that she has to control herself. I want the whole goddamn world to know that only I can make her sound like that. I lift her right leg and drape it over my shoulder so her pussy is splayed open for me. It is dripping, the little hole pulsating with excitement. I grasp her thigh so she cannot move at all.

Then, without any warning, I bury my head in her pussy and fucking devour her. Fuck, it feels like I haven’t eaten her pussy in ages. Plunging my tongue deeper and deeper, I lick the sweet taste from the inside of her walls, savoring the honeyed flavor. It’s addictive. My tongue is going to be in this pussy as often as it can. Her hands drop to my head and she grabs fistfuls of my hair. I take her clit in a deep kiss, sucking and nibbling. I want her to cum on my tongue. Her pussy clenches and throbs against my mouth as I bring her to an orgasm.

I place soft kisses on her pussy as she comes down from her high. She touches my face gently. “Holy fuck, Tyson. That was so beautiful. Thank you.”

My cock is straining and so hard, it hurts. “I want to come inside you. I want to fill you with my cum.” The truth is like an animal I want to mark her. I want to wash away all traces of him. I want to own her pussy.

She nods. I stand up and take her to the edge of the bed. I remove my clothes quickly then I sit on the edge of the bed. Tenderly, I pull her so she is sitting astride my thighs.

“I want you to ride me until I come inside you. I want to see you grind on me.”

“Yes,” she moans, staring at my cock. She is so turned on her clit is protruding out of its hood.

I position her entrance on my thick cock and push her shoulders down, and watch her sink onto my cock. I watch her pussy swallow my cock inch by inch. The further she slips down the shaft the more she moans. When she finally reaches the root, and she is fully impaled, she stops and allows her body to adjust to my size.

“Ride me, Izzy. Fucking ride me until I fill your sweet pussy up with my cum.”

She lifts herself and drops down on my shaft, but I see her wince with pain so I hold on to her thighs and lift and drop her along my shaft. Over and over.

“Oh Tyyyy …” she gasps hoarsely. “You feel so good. I’m about to come.”

“Not yet,” I growl, but she can’t stop. Her orgasm has already started. Her pussy clenches around my cock. I feel the tight tension build in my balls and rise up my shaft and I start to come with her. Her body falls forward. Her breath is warm, heavy and content. I feel the hot spurts shoot into her, and her pussy milks my cock beautifully.

This pussy is mine. Forever.