Free Inked Ever After by Elle Aycart

one, because it was true.
    “You got to be shitting me,” he finally let out, his head
shaking.
    She felt too exposed lying on the sofa, so she scrambled to
sit up. Then she glanced at him, so big and imposing, and she hurried to her
feet.
    “This is what this is all about?” he asked, turning to her.
“You think you don’t deserve me?”
    “I don’t think I don’t deserve you, James. I know for a fact
I don’t.”
    Most days she looked at him, and for the life of her she
couldn’t figure out why he was with her. He could have about anyone in the
world, and he didn’t need all her drama.
    James didn’t like her answer. At all. His expression
tightened further; his lips pressed into a hard line. The room crackled with
tension.
    “I can’t fucking believe this,” he muttered as he began
pacing, anger oozing from him in strong waves. “I don’t even know where to
start. Of all the stupid things to think—”
    It wasn’t stupid. She hadn’t wanted to worry him with her
shit, so she’d tried to keep up a front, true, but it lay underneath
everything, her fear he would figure out how out of her league she was and how
much of a burden she was.
    Tears were flowing freely now. She tried mopping them, but
it was a losing battle. “I didn’t want you to realize it. That’s why I didn’t
come to you. That’s why all the pretenses. I wanted to be the perfect
bride-to-be. The one you deserve. One you could be proud of.” Not this fuckup of a person who, by the
looks of it, couldn’t get anything right.
    “I see.” James stopped his pacing and turned to her, his
body and stance exuding dominance. “And who are you to say what I deserve and
what I don’t?”
    “What?” She floundered, taken aback.
    James narrowed his eyes at her. “I asked, ‘Who are you to
say what I deserve and what I don’t,’” he repeated very slowly as he moved to
her and grabbed her upper arms. “Waiting for an answer, princess.”
    She really didn’t have one. He was looming over her now. If
she’d been at a disadvantage on the sofa, this was worse. “I’m no one,” she
finally answered.
    “Wrong,” he all but growled. “You’re my woman. And you
should know better. I will not allow you throwing this kind of crap my way.”
    “James—”
    “What about what I want, princess? Have you stopped to think
about that? Don’t I deserve to get what I want, what I need?” The anger in his
words slammed against her, leaving her breathless. She nodded. Of course he
deserved that. His hair was all mussed from him running his hands through it.
She wanted to reach for him and smooth the waves, calm him, but she didn’t
dare. “Well, you are what I want and what I need. So fucking deal with it.
There is no way in hell I’m going to let you use this bullshit about not being
good enough for me as an excuse to hide and not give me what I want.”
    It wasn’t an excuse. She was already shaking her head and
about to respond when he cupped her neck and brought his lips to her, kissing
her protests away. It was not a gentle kiss; he forced her mouth open and
ruthlessly thrust his tongue inside, showing her who was in charge.
    When he let them both up for air, he wasn’t any mellower. “I
don’t want to hear any more moronities. So shut it and listen, because you
really need to get this. You’re mine, and I will not give you up. Not today,
not tomorrow, not fucking ever. You do not tell me what I deserve. You do not
lie to me. You do not hide. You do not put up a front for my benefit. And you
do not put yourself down. Are we clear? Nod if we are.”
    She nodded. God she’d made a mess of things. “I’m sorry,
James. I didn’t want to lose you. I couldn’t live without you.”
    He closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were softer.
“You won’t lose me. There is nothing in this world that matters more to me than
you. Absolutely nothing. You come first. Always. I love you. I don’t think you
realize how much. Or how