A Vow of Thorns (Blackest Gold Book 3) Read online

  “You can’t break me, Tensley,” she whispered, pressing her lips to his clenched jaw.

  A growl left his mouth and his large, powerful hands gripped her ass cheeks, lifting her off the ground.

  “Sounds like a challenge, ciccia,” he said lowly. His teeth dragged along that damn mark of his, and she came undone.

  The bell signaled his floor, and without putting her down, or unlatching his mouth from her delicate mark, Tensley guided them to his bedroom.

  He pushed the door open with his hip and shifted them into the dark room.

  “This won’t be sweet, dolcezza,” he muttered into her sweaty flesh. “I’m going to be brutal, cruel, and ruthless to you tonight.”

  He placed her down on her feet, just inches from the bed, his toxic dark eyes flashing with delight and want.

  Molly’s heart went haywire at the stare alone, but when his hands skimmed her sides, over her ass cheeks, only to scoop up her dress, palming her skin, she moaned. He lowered, kneeling before her, his hot breath trailing along her stomach, still clothed, but she felt him. She lifted her head, panting, but willed herself to watch the man before her. On his knees for her.

  His strong fingers kneaded her round cheeks, slipping between her legs, and then he tugged. Hard. She gasped, gripping her throat. He bunched up her ruined black lacy panties and licked his lips, spreading her legs further.

  “As much as I want to eat your sweet pussy, dolcezza,” he said, darkly, and as if to test himself, his tongue flicked her core, and she clenched her fists from grabbing his thick dark hair, “it’ll have to wait.”

  With one single finger, he pressed her back onto the bed and climbed on top, his body heat torturing her.

  His fingers found her entrance and didn’t waste a moment, plunging knuckles deep to the spot Molly craved, arching her back off the bed and into him. The stretch. The burn. So familiar, but so brand new to her body.

  “I want you wet and hungry, fuck, only hungry for me, understood?” his voice raspy.

  Molly panted, her chest heaving with the unbridled excitement. God, she wanted him. Only just him.

  “Please, please, god fuck!” She bit her mouth, her head tossing back and forth on the sheets, gripping tighter as he worked her to a powerful bliss.

  “Fuck, I want to be inside of you now,” he hissed out, his hooded eyes watching her expression. He rocked himself against her, his cock hard and throbbing on her inner thigh.

  “Too many clothes,” Molly breathed and clutched at his jacket and black top. She needed skin on skin right now, or she’d lose her mind. Once his chest was bare, she slid her palms up his sculpted abs and powerful pecs, aching to kiss each scar. She tugged at his pants button next.

  He laughed harshly into her ear and groaned when she popped the button off and found his rigid length. “Jesus fucking Christ.” He bowed his head against her shoulder and bit into her skin.

  “Tensley!” she cried out, but he stole her moan in a feral kiss. One she grew vicious in.

  She squealed into his kiss as he lifted her up, spun her, and bent her over the bed. She glanced over her shoulder, breathless, watching him tower over her.

  Her zipper’s buzz was a whispered promise. He slipped her dress over her hips and down her thighs, taking his time feeling over her naked skin.

  Then silence, apart from both their breaths battling in the darken room.

  “You’re a fucking blessing and curse.” His growl sliced through her strength, and she braved a look over her shoulder. One hand worked his angry, thick length while the other spread her cheeks. “You’re soaked.” She knew he could see the glistening of her entrance, but she wanted him. So badly.

  “The man in me wants to be gentle, but the beast in me wants to ravish you. Which one do you want, dolcezza?” The thickness to his voice told her the beast was fighting for control.

  She bit her lip and groaned when he smacked her ass cheek hard. “All of you. I want all of you. Please, Tensley,” she said, trembling as he stroked her wetness with his blunt thumb.

  He leaned over her, the heat of his length poking into her. “You’re going to make me roar, dolcezza, right?”

  She nodded violently. “Yes.”

  Then he plunged deep, so deep, her body bowed into the bed, Tensley’s hand on her stomach the only thing keeping her from collapsing.

  He thrust endlessly against her, like a need inside of him craved her more than air, more than water, more than death. They breathed in the same ragged rhythm—the desire too brutal, the need to consume one another.

  Her heart beat for him. Every thump a song for only him, and she wanted him to hear it.

  Her hands curled into the sheets, groaning and panting, and crying out each time he swiveled his hips and dove deeper, deeper into an abyss she never knew existed inside of her.

  “You feel too good to be fucking real,” he grunted, rocking into her and his hands tangling into her locks, and then tugging. There was the power, the strength she gave him that no other being could offer. The energy he lacked for three weeks without her, and she was the one strengthening the god.

  He paused, flipping her around so she lay on her back. “I want to watch you as you come on my cock,” he demanded and penetrated her quick and hard. She squeezed her eyes shut on a moan, gripping his biceps on either side of her.

  She drank him in, the god above her, sinewy muscles bulging and twisting so beautifully it hurt to watch, the beads of sweat lining his tanned skin and wrinkled brow in concentration.

  She shifted beneath him, her hips adjusting to his brutal rhythm and wrapped her legs tight around him so her heels dug into his toned ass cheeks.

  “Don’t stop,” she managed out.

  A wildness took to his features, like a wild predator about to pounce and devour its prey. “I’m never letting you go.”

  Her hips moved fast, kissing the top of her mound to his defined pelvis. Her hands spread down his arched back and to the top of his ass, clenching there as he drove quicker.

  Thrust. Thrust. Thrust.

  So deep, so fast, the pleasure morphed to stardust.

  His cock slipped into her wetness and heat, consuming her, taking everything from her. His warring hips bruised her inner thighs, her back bowing off the bed, capturing his mouth just as she lost herself to the pleasure, the drug of Tensley Knight.

  He roared. Roared so loud she felt his pleasure. His back went ramrod straight, his hands clenching the sheets beside her face, his cock pulsing inside of her, the hotness warming her insides, and he roared like the beast he was.

  Their panting breaths became their music, their lullaby and her fingers lazily stroked his straight spine, the sweat pooling there.

  He rolled so both of them lay on their sides, his semi-hard length still inside of her. His thick powerful thighs cradled hers, so safe, so protected.

  “You’re all I thought about day and night,” he muttered, his hot breath fanning across her lashes. “My dolcezza.”

  She glanced up at him, catching his swollen lips and flushed skin, brow bent, beaded with sweat. The shadows casted half of his face in darkness, his grey eyes so full of moonlight they almost glowed. But instead she saw the adoration in them.

  His words settled into her chest and she smiled softly at him.

  “I’ve never been so horny in my life,” she whispered and giggled, shaking her head.

  Tensley chuckled and combed her hair out of her eyes, letting his thumb brush across his mark, causing her to shiver. “Must be the mark,” he reasoned, the dark lust in his eyes returning again.

  She shouldered herself deeper into his arms and pressed her cheek to his hard pec, kissing him there, the salty taste of his skin on her lips. “I want to sleep like this every night.”

  When he hummed, it vibrated through her, the best feeling in the world, and he kissed her hair. Her heart was full and open—open for him to hide in and take shelter.

  “Me and you, a big house, you in my arms eac
h night,” he said softly, painting the perfect picture. His calloused fingers were so soft on her skin, stroking her spine, lulling her to sleep in his strong arms. He kissed her slowly, a kiss full of devotion and quiet worship. One she would never forget. It was a soft, simple kiss, but it was imprinted into her skin, into her mind and soul.

  This man was her strength, her warrior and caretaker.

  Shadowed in the peaceful darkness of Paris, Molly fell deeper into the beast.

  MOLLY JOLTED out of her sleep, her stomach painfully tight and her throat tender. Tangled in Tensley’s arms, she didn’t want to leave, but the longer she stayed in his warmth, the more her stomach ached, the acid building in her throat.

  Oh, god.

  Molly slipped from Tensley’s grip and rushed to the bathroom, cupping her mouth.

  She fell to her knees in front of the toilet and expelled every single thing in her system. The acid rose and she couldn’t stop. The horrid noises of her gagging, the splash of water, the stench of acid.

  She sat back after she felt safe. She rubbed her sore stomach, but paused. What would have made her sick? She ate the same meal every day and she didn’t drink anything last night or eat dinner or—

  Dread set in fast and she glanced at her purse in the bedroom on the floor. Maybe Lance was right…maybe she was pregnant.

  She needed to take the test. To find out for sure and be done with this worrying.

  Maybe it’s just stress…

  She groaned and gripped her head.

  “Molly?” Tensley’s hoarse voice called from the other room, and before she could think of something to say, he appeared, naked in all his glory.

  He frowned at her on the marble floor and bent down.

  “What’s wrong?” His broad hand brushed across her wet forehead and into her hairline, his brow heavy with worry.

  She shook her head and flushed the toilet, standing up. “Must have been something I ate…”

  She chanced a look at Tensley, who had briefly glanced at her chest. It was then she realized she too was naked from last night. She didn’t need to wear anything through the night when she had a furnace like Tensley.

  “I need to brush my teeth,” Molly muttered, turning to the sink.

  “Here.” Tensley stepped behind her, his chest brushing her back, and she bit back a groan. Her nipples hardened, either from his touch or the cool air. Either way, she was still sensitive, still craving his hands or mouth on her. He opened the cabinet and pulled out his toothbrush, handing it to her.

  “Thank you,” she said and squeezed toothpaste onto the brush, soaking it under water. She brought it to her mouth, trying to erase the taste of bitter acid. When she spat out into the sink, she turned back to him, shyly glancing down at his thick length.

  “Come here,” Tensley whispered and scooped her up, walking back to the bed. He placed her down and bundled the covers up to her neck, tucking her in safe and sound. “Rest. I’ll order breakfast for us. Something for you to drink.”

  He rolled on his dress pants, but didn’t bother doing the belt up, leaving her to admire his dark happy trail that held secret promises.

  She smiled at him, unable not to watch the man make a simple phone call and find it absolutely sexy. The way he rubbed his jaw, his mouth a dead straight line, and his dark brows furrowed as if debating what to order for breakfast was an important business deal.

  She sighed into the warm sheets, blissfully happy.

  He was in Paris. The man who held her heart and didn’t even know it.

  “Merci,” he said into the phone and hung up, striding back to the bed.

  He climbed in behind her, wrapping her back in his strong arms and kissed her tensed temple.

  “They’ll bring up food in five minutes,” his raspy voice sung to her core, and she snuggled back into him, feeling his manhood stiffen. His hand found her bare breast, and when he simply left it there in his large palm, she giggled.

  “What are you doing?”

  He hummed and pecked her bare shoulder. “Resting. This is the most sleep I’ve gotten since you left.”

  Her lip dropped. “Well, you’re here now. We’re together.”

  “Hmm.”

  The last hum didn’t sit well with her, but before she could muster words, someone knocked at the door.

  He groaned, squeezed her breast one more time, and then stood, striding lazily, but somehow with power, to the door. She heard muffled words exchanged and then he returned, carrying two silver trays of food.

  Molly sat up, the sheets pooling around her waist, and she didn’t miss the way Tensley’s eyes darkened at her large breasts exposed.

  “Come eat something. You need something in your stomach,” he muttered as he placed the trays on a small iron table in front of the Juliet porch.

  She toyed with her lip and tiptoed over. “Can I wear your shirt?”

  His brows lifted, but he nodded.

  She lifted his tossed shirt off the desk and did the white buttons up, Tensley watching every one of her movements closely. It hung to just mid-thigh, innocent and teasing.

  She walked back over to the table and plopped herself down, smiling at his scowl. A scowl she loved just as much as his smiles.

  “Have some fruit and oatmeal,” he said, placing a steaming bowl of oatmeal in front of her and a small cup of fresh fruit.

  Looking at the messy oatmeal, her stomach churned, and she instead, picked up a strawberry, nibbling on its sweetness.

  “So,” she began, licking her lips.

  Tensley busied himself with black coffee and a newspaper in his lap in front of the small French iron bars of the balcony. The open windows let in the early sunrise and the smell of fresh baked goods filled the room. Molly placed a croissant on his plate, and he raised a brow, but didn’t say a word and took the offer. She smiled to herself. Too perfect, the two of them living together domestically.

  “How’s everything with Scorpios?” She knew how lame that sounded, how she hadn’t bothered to ask him about his life.

  His shoulders tensed and he sipped at his coffee. Once he settled back into his seat, he looked up at her. “Ares declared war.”

  Molly dropped her purple grape. “What?”

  He waved a dismissive hand and took another sip of his coffee. “Don’t worry. I have it under control. They’ll be ours by next week.”

  She fidgeted with his shirt hemline. The Ares deal had fallen through because of her. Ares had wanted Molly to be married off to one of their sons in exchange for Scorpios taking over their territory and group.

  Tensley broke that contract when he chose Molly over them.

  At Tensley’s dismissive tone, she decided to talk about something more pleasant. “I was thinking maybe tonight we could sightsee, maybe go out to supper after.”

  A muscle feathered in his cheek. “I have to leave by noon today.”

  Molly’s heart dropped into her stomach, and she let her shoulders follow after. “You’re leaving? But you just got here…”

  He pressed his lips hard together and sighed. “Scorpios need me back in New York. I was only able to sneak away for a bit and even this, I shouldn’t have done.” He tsked, more so at himself.

  Molly swallowed down her disappointment. She knew he had commitments, but after having him, she didn’t want him to go so soon.

  “I understand,” she whispered, shyly catching his eyes. “I’m just going to miss you.”

  Four more days. I can manage.

  His features shifted to one of softness, so rare, so sensitive she wanted to remember what his eyes looked like tender.

  Maybe, maybe now would be the best time to tell him about her fears. Of the pregnancy test. Of what Lance said.

  Together, they’d know the truth.

  She just feared his wrath. She had the tamed beast, as much as she liked him wild, his fury pointed at her was not what she wanted.

  Just as she opened her mouth, his phone rang.

  He glanced
at the caller ID. He frowned and answered the phone, pressing to his ear. “Father?”

  Molly’s ears perked.

  Tensley’s fingers bit into his phone, his body shaking, and Molly tasted the wave of aggressive pheromones suffocating the room.

  Something was wrong.

  She watched closely as whatever was said took hold of Tensley and ripped him to shreds.

  ANGER AND PANIC clogged Tensley’s throat, making it impossible to swallow.

  Mr. Rose’s voice echoed into his fractured mind, and Tensley gripped the phone tighter.

  “I’m coming,” he spat out and hung up.

  A vicious storm warred inside his chest, in his muscles and bones, and he wanted to destroy every single object in his path.

  “Tensley,” Molly exclaimed nervously as she gripped his bicep. Her eyes flared wide. “What’s wrong?”

  Tensley pocketed his phone and moved fast, grabbing a fresh dress shirt. “I need to leave. Now.”

  As he gathered the few items he had unpacked, he felt Molly’s presence behind him. He shoved his clothes into his small suitcase, his thoughts racing.

  What if it was Ares?

  Would he be able to keep Molly safe?

  His family needed him. Scorpios needed him. He felt violated, targeted.

  He growled, bracing himself on the bed, and took deep breaths, trying to ease the stress, ease the anxiety building in his chest.

  “Tensley,” she whispered, her hand stroking his back in soothing circles. “Please tell me.”

  He squeezed his eyes shut, to regain his composure in front of her. He stood up, yanked on his dress shirt, and turned to face her.

  She stared at him, those innocent eyes begging him to tell her. To understand him. It both terrified and thrilled him.

  “My father’s been poisoned.”

  His words were blunt, harsh, cold.

  Molly’s brows lifted to her hairline. “Is he okay?”

  He shook his head, settling his focus on his buttons. When his damn hands trembled, he cursed under his breath, blood boiling.

  “Hey, hey,” Molly muttered, touching his hands, and then found his cheeks, forcing his eyes to meet hers. “It’s okay.”