Taming the Bitch (COMPLETED)

Chapter XXVI - The Boy Who Lived

"Wake up, sleepyhead... we're running late."

A warm, decidedly masculine hand shook her shoulder—far too gently to deserve her rising temper, yet far too insistently for this ungodly hour. Gabrielle groaned into the pillow. Who, in the name of all things holy, was disturbing her sleep? Was it truly so outrageous to wish for a long lie-in?

"Bella..."
Not hands this time—soft kisses, tracing the line of her bare back to the delicate curve of her neck.

"Wake up, munchkin... the children are waiting." His whisper was warm against her skin, and then his mouth closed around her earlobe in a sinful tease.

"If you don't wake up within ten seconds," he murmured, lips skimming her neck, "I'll pin you to this bed and make our own babies."
And then he began to count, the outrageous man.

"One..." His nose buried itself in her hair, inhaling her scent like it was oxygen.

"Two..." The bridge of his nose brushed behind her ear. A stampede of butterflies erupted in her stomach.

"Three..." Feather-light kisses grazed her ear.

"Four..." And—good Lord—was that his tongue?

"Five..." The mattress dipped as he slid in behind her, an arm curling around her.

"Six... hmm..." He moaned softly, pulling her flush against the warm breadth of his chest, his face pressed against her neck.

"Seven..." His hand slipped beneath the satin hem of her nightdress, caressing her stomach with infuriating tenderness.

"You truly won't wake up, Bella?" he murmured, tightening his hold as he continued to eight.

"Nine..." His hand drifted lower, pausing with firm, possessive warmth over her womb. And then, with no effort whatsoever, he turned her to face him.

Her eyes flew open.

Vince.
Smirking down at her like the most devastatingly handsome sin she'd ever encountered.

"Ten..." he breathed, closing the distance and pressing his lips to hers.

At first, he simply rested there, unmoving—until the faintest shift, then a seductive nip. And suddenly the kiss turned demanding, breath-stealing. She gasped, only for him to seize that moment, sliding his tongue past her lips and deepening the kiss until her head spun.

She moaned as his arms snaked around her waist, one palm travelling down to cup her backside—slow, reverent, maddening. His other hand hooked behind her knee, lifting her leg to his hip.

"I want you so badly..." he said against her lips, grinding the hard line of his desire against her satin-covered heat.

"Wake up, or I truly will put a baby in your womb..." His whisper was ragged, his grip on her tighter, his hips drawing slow circles that had her breath stuttering.

"V–Vince...!" she gasped, overwhelmed by the sensation of him.

"Stop me now," he warned, panting softly, "or I won't stop myself."

"V-Vince..."
Her head tipped back, lips parted, her voice breathy and too close to pleading.

"Bella... I want to feel you clench around me..."
His palm cupped her breast through the thin fabric.

"V-Vince—stop—!" She pushed at him weakly, her leg stubbornly hooking tighter around his hip as if her treacherous body had designs of its own.

"Please... stop..." she said again, even as his mouth travelled down her neck to her collarbones, setting sparks alight beneath her skin.