CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CAIN
“What are you doing here?”
She stood in the entrance of my tattoo parlor dressed in a tight black dress with laced up heels, looking fucking edible. It had been nearly a month since everything went down, a month since I’d seen her last.
I had visited her in the hospital. She had been sleeping when I arrived, and had looked so damn peaceful that I preferred not to wake her. I did make sure she was cared for by the nurses, and before I left I paid all her bills. I left an envelope tucked into the new clothes I had Jade buy her, making sure I left her with enough money for when she was released.
I had Diesel use his connections to place protection on her and I even had Riggs set up cameras in her apartment so I could watch her. My obsession with her ran deep, and I couldn’t help but monitor her every move. I received weekly reports on her. I knew where she was staying and where she was working. I even knew she had stopped dancing and had gotten a job as a receptionist at a nearby woman’s shelter. She was doing well now that she was on her own, and that gave me some peace of mind.
What I didn’t expect, was her return. The last thing I wanted was to see her again, and having her sultry presence hovering in the entrance hit me hard, square in the chest.
“I came to see you.”
“I told you I didn’t want to see you anymore.”
“But I had to see you. I know you’ve been following me, Cain.”
I turned my back to her and continued cleaning up my station. “I’m not following you. I placed protection on you.”
“I can’t…I can’t do this anymore, Cain. I can’t live without you anymore.”
I threw the tattoo gun I was holding back on the tray, clattering everything to the floor. The noise caused her to flinch and I took the few steps towards her. Reaching out for her, my hand shook as I stopped myself from caressing her cheek.
“You fucking lied to me,” my voice quaked in anger and hurt.
“I never betrayed you. I swear…”
My hand finally gripped her throat lightly, but she didn’t struggle. She just stood there allowing me to put my hands on her. “You lied to me,” I seethed.
“I love you,” she breathed.
I scowled and gritted my teeth in angst. I grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her to me. I inhaled her perfume and pressed my forehead to hers. “I can’t trust you.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!”She sobbed and gripped my waist.
I shoved her away and she stumbled back a few steps. “I asked you to tell me the truth!”
“I was afraid to lose you!”
“Goddammit, Sophia! I fucking told you about my past! You fucking knew I’d been lied to before!” I stepped up to her and slammed my palm against my chest. “I fucking gave you my heart!”
Her trembling hands came up to touch my face, but I pulled away.
“Please, Cain. Please. I…you’re my everything! Please,” she sobbed and teardrops, the size of crystal pearls, slid down her cheeks. “I love you. I love you, Cain.”
My heart ached, but I couldn’t bear to see her cry like that. Her pain was clear, but so was mine. “Get out.”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Get out!”
“No!”
I took the short steps up to her and as I did, she shoved a piece of paper at my chest. “I want this. On my body. And you’re the only one I want to do it,” she said earnestly, as she wiped the tears from her face.
I narrowed my eyes at her for a moment, but slowly reached out for the sketch. It was a picture of a heart locket. A thin chain hung around it and dangled down, connecting to a key. On the side of the key, in small script, it read Cain’s. I stared at the tattoo for a long time before I could bring myself to look at her.
“Mark me, Cain. I beg you,” she whispered, taking a step closer to me.
I continued to stare down at the intricate sketch. It held more meaning than I could fathom. Slowly, I brought myself to look up at her. Her eyes said it all, but I kept myself very still.
“I…Sophia, I…” I couldn’t think of anything to say to her.
She swept past me and made her way to the chair in the far back. She turned to me and as she held my gaze, she unzipped the dress and let it pool at her feet. She trailed her fingertips along her soft golden skin and the side of her hip.
“I want the heart right here,” she tapped her lower abdomen. “and I want the chain to dangle here,” she traced her pelvis, “and the key to land right here,” her fingertips dipped under the seam of her thong.
My eyes travelled across her soft skin, taking in the sheer black lace of her thong and bra, the curves of her body accentuated by the soft material.
“Ink me, Cain. You’re the only one I’d allow to touch my body.”
I came up to her and couldn’t help but sweep my hands across her soft, unmarked skin. I trailed my fingertips along her abdomen and she sucked in a breath. I pushed her gently into the chair and she fell back, her legs propping open for me.
Her eyes met mine in the sexiest most inviting look I’ve ever gotten. But she wasn’t here for that, and although I craved her, I wasn’t going to give in that easily. Wordlessly, I turned and started preparing everything for her. When I rolled my chair up to her side, she looked over at me.
“Be gentle with me. It’s my first time.”
“Fuck,” I whispered under my breath, as I felt my cock swell in my jeans. This woman was going to be the death of me.
I rubbed the alcohol on her soft skin and she moaned. I ignored it and focused on what I was doing. I grabbed the stencil and placed it where she wanted it, applying slight pressure. The muscles on her abdomen rippled and her breath hitched as my fingers grazed her skin. Her reaction to my touch only made me want to mark her even more, to carve my name on her body so that everyone knew who she belonged to.
As I grabbed my tattoo gun, she reached for my wrist. My eyes met hers.
“Will it hurt,” she whispered.
I smirked. “That depends.”
“On what?”
“On how wet it makes you,” I whispered repeating the same words I had when she had first asked me about pain, so long ago.
She licked her lips and I saw her swallow nervously. I placed my hand on her pelvis and stroked her. “I’ll go slow for you.”
She leaned her head back onto the headrest and sighed. “Do it.”
At the first touch of the needle she hissed and gripped the chair’s soft leather. As I kept working her breath slowed down and her hands began to stroke the armrests.
“How are you doing?” I asked, after about an hour. I was focused on the chains that wrapped around the heart.
“I’ll be okay,” she breathed.
I smiled. “You like this, don’t you?”
She smiled. “If you mean your hands on me, then yes.”
I grunted. “You’re unbelievable, you know that.”
“I’m unbelievably in love with you.”
I looked up into her chocolate brown eyes. “This doesn’t mean I forgive you. I hope you know that.”
She gripped my wrist and I stopped the gun and set it down. “I love you, Cain. I can’t be without you. I know that at first, what I did was wrong. But I never let Ramon in. I never gave him the information he wanted. I swear to you. It’s why he came looking for me. I’d stopped going to him. He was angry with me. He wanted to give me up. He wanted me gone.”
“Son of a bitch,” I growled in anger.
“I don’t care if you don’t forgive me. Just don’t shut me out. Give me a chance.”
I cupped her cheeks in my hands and pressed my forehead to hers. “You drive me crazy.”
“Is that a yes?”
I stared at her pretty glimmering eyes and the love and desperation that shone in them melted any anger I felt. As much as I wanted to fight it, I needed her as much as she needed me. She was right. I couldn’t live without her, shit I could barely breathe without her. The last few weeks had been torturous not having her in my life, in my bed.
But she had returned to me. She had put everything on the line to come see me, and I was not going to let her go this time. This time she was going to stay mine, forever.
I leaned in and took her lips in mine, dragging my tongue along hers and savoring her flavor, savoring her scent. She was beautiful, and she was mine. She moaned and gripped my shoulders as I plundered her mouth, taking her in and enjoying her warmth.
She sat up quickly, breaking the kiss. I felt her hands slipping into my pants, and as she raised her eyes to meet mine, she undid my zipper, leaned forward, and swallowed me whole.
“Fuck, Sophia!” I hissed and gripped her hair, pulling it to the side so I can watch as she wrapped her lips around my swollen head.
She moaned and hummed around my pole, shooting shocks of electricity up my spine. She was perfect, and as I felt my cock slip to the back of her throat, and then I felt her muscles contract around it, I knew I was in fucking heaven. She sucked my cock up as if it were the best meal she’d ever had. I’d never seen a woman so insatiable before.
As I felt it swell and throb, I gently pulled her off me. If I was cumming I was going to do it in that sweet pussy of hers. Biting my lip, I grunted at the erotic sight of her saliva connecting her rosy lips to my cock. I bent over and kissed her hard. I moved over to the end of the chair and dragged her down to me, taking care not to touch her fresh tattoo. She winced as I moved her, but I stroked her legs, opening them for me.
“I’m never letting you go Sophia. Never again!” I yanked the thin material of her thong off her and without warning I dipped my cock into her wet folds. She screamed out and arched her back off the chair. The movement only made my cock slam deeper into her.
I grabbed her hands and held them above her head. Hovering above her, I pressed my lips to her ear. “Don’t you ever fucking lie to me again,” I gritted out.
She shook her head. “Never... Never again. Now make me feel you, and only you.”
“Fuck!” It had been too long and her greedy body was clenching me so tight. She writhed and clung to me and as I felt her pussy throb around me, I looked down at her.
“Cum for me, Sophia. Now!” Her body convulsed, and watching her come undone beneath me I roared my own release, shaking from the power of it.
As our bodies came down from the sex high, I hovered over her and stared down at her pretty face. “You lie to me again, and I’ll fucking kill you.”
She stared back at me wide-eyed with a little fear traced behind her eyes. “I’ll never lie to you. I promise you.”
I nodded and slipped out of her. Straightening my pants, I sat down next to her and prepared to continue on her tattoo. She went to close her thighs, but I placed my hand on her knee. “Don’t you dare! That pussy’s mine to look upon whenever I please. Understood?”
A glint of pleasure shone in her eye and she nodded as she spread her legs for me. I dipped my hand along her inner thigh and smacked it, making her jump. “Good, girl.”
I dipped my head back down, focusing on the piece of art that was starting to form on her skin. I enjoyed the deep groan that emanated from her body as my gun penetrated her soft flesh. Each deep stroke just brought us closer and closer together. My girl was back home where she belonged, and I was going to make sure she never left again.