BONUS SCENE ‘THE GIFT’
Melissa
“Babe! Izzy’s on the phone!” Greg yells from the kitchen.
I roll my eyes, hurrying down the hallway and into the kitchen.
“Would it be so hard to, I don’t know, walk to where I am when the phone is for me? I don’t think Izzy likes your caveman brand of man.” I smile at my husband, taking the phone from him before giving him a small kiss.
“You need to do better than that, Beauty. I’m off for the day with Cohen for some manly bonding.” He doesn’t even give me a second to tell Izzy to hold on before hooking me behind the neck and crushing his lips to mine. His kiss, hard and possessive, never fails to turn my body into a tightly strung mess.
God, I love my Beast.
He pulls away, giving me one of his devilish smiles before walking out of the kitchen. It takes me a second to recover from his kiss and remember that Izzy is waiting for me. When I place the phone to my ears, I can hear her soft giggles coming over the line.
“Oh my God, Izzy! I’m so sorry!” I laugh.
“It’s nothing, Meli! You don’t think I’m used to all of that alpha hotness? Ax would probably have had me bent over the kitchen island before I had a chance to end the phone call. I swear these men are just something else.”
We both laugh, because honestly, she isn’t wrong. Our guys are as alpha male as it comes—and it is delicious.
“So, I’ve got a favor to ask,” she says. Her voice is unusually hesitant.
“What’s up, Iz?”
“Do you have any free time today?” she questions, again hesitant.
“Yeah . . . Greg’s going to be gone all day with Cohen and then we’ve got date night later tonight. I planned on just catching up on the house stuff and all of that, but if you need me, I’m there.”
“Well . . . Okay, I don’t know if I’m nuts or what, but I want to go get something for Ax today and you’re the only one I know who can help me out.”
“Izzy, I’m dying here! What has got you acting like a freak?” I giggle. It’s so unusual for her to be so timid.
“I need to go to Smudge. You know, the tattoo place over on Pike? Anyway . . . it’s the only place I know of because I had my nipples pierced there, you know? Okay, I’m freaking out here just thinking about it, but Ax is going to be gone all day with Nate and I want to go get something I’ve been thinking about for a while now.”
“Ohhhkay? I’m assuming it’s either a tattoo are another piercing.” I laugh. “Izzy, you know I only have some ink, right? Greg’s the one with all the piercing know-how.” My giggles are full force now. Just the thought of her asking Greg for piercing advice when she’s all shy about asking me for help is hilarious.
“Don’t be a bitch, Mel!” she snaps, huffing through the phone.
“Okay, okay . . . I’m sorry! Just tell me what you need and I’ll help however I can.”
“Iwannagetatattoo,” she rushes out so quickly that it sounds like one long word.
“You want to get a tattoo?”
“Yeah,” she breathes.
“And I’m guessing you know what you want?” I smile. Lord, this girl is never this shy.
“God yes, Meli! I’ve been thinking about this forever. You know how we didn’t have the best start to our love story, right?” She doesn’t even give me a second to respond before she starts talking again. “Okay, so he’s got this amazing angel tattoo. Not even kidding, it is beautiful. Let’s just say that tattoo means the world to me, and I know it does to him as well. So, I want to go get my back done. I know I’m crazy for wanting something so big as my first tattoo, but I have to do this . . . I just have to.”
“Iz, I would be honored to help you out, babe. You sound like you’ve through it through, and my biggest advice when it comes to permanently marking your skin is that you are one hundred percent sure you want it. There is no way you could regret a tattoo that holds such a powerful meaning to you.” I smile, thinking about my own tattoo I have to memorialize my late sister. Yeah, you don’t regret the ones that hold your heart so close to the surface.
We finish up our call with the promise of me picking her up shortly before heading out to the local tattoo parlor, Smudge. I don’t know much about the place, but a few of the ladies I work with speak highly of the place. My mind is already swirling with the possibility of picking up some new ink while I’m there . . . and I know exactly what I want.
And I have a feeling that, just like Izzy, Greg is going to love it.
Almost eight hours later, I’m rushing home. Greg’s been blowing up my phone since I sent him a text that I wouldn’t be home for dinner. I’m hoping that my little surprise will be enough to defuse his annoyance that he’s been sitting at home—alone—for the last three hours.
“Are you excited for Axel’s reaction?” I ask a silent Izzy.
Poor girl was a trooper, but there is no way she’s feeling good right now. She just spent hours having a whole back piece done. It’s not even complete yet, but the detail is out-of-this-world amazing.
“I really am. I can’t believe I did it, Meli. I just know that if there was one thing I could have gotten that means just as much to me as it does to him, it was this.”
When she told me the story of Axel’s angel tattoo, I knew instantly that she had picked well and Axel was going to love it. Her whole back from the top of her shoulders to the top of her ass was done in an almost realistic set of angel wings.
It was simply stunning.
“You know, you make me feel like I took the easy road with mine. I didn’t have to sit still for hours.” She laughs lightly at my joke. Poor girl is crashing from all her adrenaline finally crashing.
We continue the rest of the ride in silence. When I pull into her driveway, Axel is waiting at the doorway, the lights from their house spilling out into the darkness and his massive arms crossed over his chest.
He nods his head at my wave but doesn’t move until Izzy is standing in front of him. I watch them have a few words, she nods her head a few times, and then he gently turns her around and lifts the hem of her shirt up. I smile to myself when I catch a glimpse of pure lust cross over his face.
I don’t waste any more time, pulling out of their drive. They wouldn’t have noticed my saying goodbye anyway.
It doesn’t take me long to get home, and just like Axel, my man is standing front and center waiting for me. He must have been pacing the damn front windows, waiting for my car before taking his place in the doorway.
I swear, these men.
I smile sweetly and give him a little wave.
His scowl deepens.
I blow him a kiss.
His eyes narrow.
Shaking my head at my husband’s impossible ways, I climb out of the car, mindful to the area that pulls slightly with my movements. The small bite of tenderness reminds me that my little detour from our date night is about to be worth every second.
“Hello, Gregory.”
He doesn’t even flinch when I walk up to him and stand on the step under the one he’s throwing his man fit on.
“Babe, did you forget we had plans? Or did you just think I wouldn’t worry when all I hear from you all day is ‘I’m busy. I’ll be home late. Don’t wake up.’ Because I’m not really sure why our boy is spending the night out with Maddox for me to sit here by my damn self all night.” His low gruff rumble rolls over my body, starting the slow burn before the blaze. It’s been like this since the first day I met him. His voice could set my panties on fire.
“Did you really think I would leave you home all alone tonight, my Beast?”
He grumbles, shaking his head before moving so I can walk past him.
I know he’s going to follow me, so I make my way to our bedroom, my steps lazy but my heart thundering in my chest.
I hear the sounds of him locking up the house and setting the alarm echo around me before I hear his booted steps getting closer to where I’m waiting. Each step causes me to heat up a little more, my pulse hammering and my blood flowing a little quicker. I swear I can feel my clit pulsing in tune with each one of those damn steps.
By the time he walks into the room, every inch of my body is craving his touch. His beautiful blue eyes darken instantly when he takes one look at me. I’m sure I look as flushed and as turned on as I feel.
“I can smell how bad you want me, Beauty,” he whispers.
“Are you going to do anything about it, Beast, or just stand there?”
His low growl is the only warning I get before he prowls forward, hooking me under the arms and lifting me up his body. His lips feel like heaven against my own, our tongues mating with practiced rhythm. I feel his hands hit my ass, squeezing and kneading, and his large erection is pressing against my soaked center. If we didn’t have a few layers of clothing separating us, I know he would be inside me by now.
My back hits the wall and he grinds his cock into my pussy, making me moan with pleasure. God, he feels so damn good.
“All night, Melissa. I’ve been waiting here for you all night. There no little eyes around waiting to catch us every damn time I’m craving sinking deep into your body, but you still aren’t here. I’ve sat here waiting for you, baby, waiting to take you hard enough that you’re screaming the walls down.”
I moan louder with his words, wetness soaking my panties.
He rolls his hips harder against me, one hand coming off my ass and slowly running up my side as he kisses his way down my neck.
The second he takes my breast into his hand, I whimper. He pulls back, giving me a look of confusion.
“Melissa?” he questions.
I just smile shyly, my earlier bravado leaving my quickly now that I’m faced with the big unveiling.
“Is there a reason your tit hurts?”
“Yeah,” I whisper.
“And that would be what?” His brow furrows as he pulls his hips back to help me find my footing.
Once my feet are firmly on the ground, he doesn’t waste a second. His hands go to my shirt, pulling it swiftly over my head. I take a deep breath and help him remove the one thing standing between him and his surprise.
With the shirt still halfway over my head, I hear him. His sharp hiss and stilled movements are all I need to know he’s looking right where I want him to.
Since he clearly isn’t going to finish removing my shirt, I pull it the rest of the way off before dropping my arms and taking in his handsome face. Waiting for some clue as to what is going through his mind right now.
When I finished my tattoo I had to forgo my bra. Because of the placement, I wanted to keep the underwire off, so when I lifted my arms to remove my shirt and my chest lifted higher, I know he had a clear view of the five letters beautifully placed right under the curve of my left breast.
BEAST.
I couldn’t think of a better way to brand myself with my man than that. And I have a feeling that, when his shock wears off, I’m going to enjoy when he lets his beast come out to play.
His hand comes up, lifting the heavy globe, while his other hand lightly caresses the skin around the letters and a low animalistic rumble comes from his chest. His eyes flash up to mine, and in just one look, I get it all—his appreciation, desire, and love.
“Beauty,” he says harshly, and before I can even open my mouth, he dips low, his shoulder going into my stomach, and I’m lifted clear off the floor. “You put me on your skin? My name is on this body. Mine, Melissa. Mine. Goddamn, Beauty, you have no idea what that does to me.”
“Yes. Yours.”
“You let someone else touch those beautiful tits, baby, and as much as I fucking love that my name is on your body forever, I can’t stand that someone else touched what. Is. MINE.”
I am caught off guard when he stops next to the bed, bending slightly before tossing me over his shoulder and onto the mattress. He stands there, his eyes on fire. I lift myself up to rest my weight on my shoulders, watching as his hands flex and his chest continues to rise rapidly.
“I’m going to fuck you hard, Beauty. Take that tight pussy and remind you why you love your beast. Why you are mine. And then, I’m going to come deep inside you before I take you again . . . and again. Don’t get me wrong. I love seeing my name on your body, but the next time you’re itching to have someone tattoo this skin, I’m going to be there for every goddamn second.”
And that’s all the warning I have before he’s on me. My jeans are roughly pulled from my legs, my panties ripped from my skin, and his fingers deep inside me. I’m so worked up from his reaction from seeing his name on my skin that it takes me seconds to scream in pleasure, wetness coating his fingers.
“You want my dick, Beauty? Do you want me to fuck you raw, so hard that you will feel me for days?”
“God, yes!” I scream.
His fingers continue to push deep, hooking at just the right spot to have a rush of my arousal flood out of my body . . . drenching his hand.
“Fuck me,” he whispers harshly. “You just came so hard, Beauty.” He pulls his fingers from my body, dragging his knuckles up my lips and around my clit before pushing them into his mouth, licking my wetness from his fingers.
“I love how you taste against my tongue,” he moans.
“Please fuck me, Greg. Please . . .”
His eyes, those stunning baby blues that I love so much, darken even further until they are almost so dark they appear navy.
“Oh yeah, my Beauty. I’m going to fuck you.”
His jeans come off quickly. His elbows hook me behind the knees before pulling me roughly towards his hips. I feel the tip of his dick and the coolness of his piercings before he’s pushing to the hilt and taking my body in a pace that is almost savage.
And just like he promised, I’m screaming his name over and over.
It is a few days later, as I am folding laundry and watching Cohen run around the backyard, that Greg surprises me with a present of his own. He walks in the garage door with a big smile on his face, comes right over to me, and pulls his shirt over his head. Right over his heart are six letters that have me smiling huge.
BEAUTY.
And that night, I show him just how much I appreciate being his.