366 She Swooned

Because Katherine didn't know how to respond to his "Yours", she pressed her lips to his and pulled him closer. His familiar, tasty scent wafted her nose and she wanted to never pull away, enveloping herself with his warmth.

She never thought she could be this bare with him. She had all her clothes on yet she felt that she had already stripped her protective layers for him to see a side of her that she had never shown others before. 

A part of her that she was so afraid for him to know. 

A part of her that she was ashamed of—only to find out that he welcomed her with his arms wide open. Just like what he told her months ago when they first got together:

"But I'm afraid that if I fall for you... I might fall so hard and get myself hurt. Will you catch me?"

Not even blinking—in a heartbeat, he told her, "With arms wide open."

It had been half a year since then but true to his word, he's still here, accepting her with arms wide open. And she wanted to do the same for him. She accepted him for who and what he was… But the question laid on whether her parents—wherever they were now—could also accept him. She didn't allow herself to linger on that thought, shoving it at the back of her head.

She let him pull her up the counter and he settled between her legs. He broke the kiss after pressing one more on the corner of her mouth, "So… How do we decide who won?"

Katherine, who was still slightly flushed from locking lips, fluttered her eyes open and met his. Cocking her brow up, she answered with a question, "What do you mean? I clearly won."

"Only 'cause I gave you the chance." The mirth in his eyes was contagious. Katherine started laughing.

"You tricked me."

"So did you."

"Fine. How about we both agree to be winners?" she said as she played with the buttons on his dark grey Henley shirt, doing and undoing them with her fingers while she wondered if she could just rip his shirt off him—tear it to pieces and ravish him right now. Her fingers paused and she cleared her throat to brush off the lewdness in her thoughts. 

She was just about to lower her hands when he caught both and placed a kiss on each of them. "I don't mind. So… My Queen, what's your first order?" He playfully bit the knuckles on her left fist, his moist lips brushed on her skin made her hot and bothered.

"First, help me get off here and then show me around your company. I want to see what else is in this place," she said as she tried to distract herself from his moves.

"Your wish is my command." He gave her a chaste kiss on the lips before he gave her a bow and genuflected like a servant would to his queen.

After he helped her down the counter, the two put away the guns and ammos back to their places in the control booth and they left the shooting range.

Katherine watched him go through the security check and wondered what that was for. Whatever was behind that door must be really important for him to have that kind of security. Her interest was piqued. After several seconds, the LED indicator on the security panel turned green and a click was heard.

"Come." He pulled her inside with him and when they entered, the room lit up automatically. White fluorescent lights brightened up the space which was nearly as huge as the shooting range. Katherine's eyes went wide upon seeing rows and rows of weapons, ranging from knives to long guns and handguns. If she hadn't been in Shadow, she would have probably fainted to see the weapons that filled the room.

"Holy hell…" she muttered in shock as she continued to scan the room. Taking in the different types and functions of the weapons around her, she recognized a lot of them but there were several new ones that hadn't reached the market, yet it was there in his arsenal. She never thought that Damien would have this kind of collection. It was as though she suddenly didn't know him anymore—yet still feel oh so familiar.

Damien studied the expression on her face and thought that he must have been way too casual about showing this area of the company. She had a shocked expression and was unreadable, it made his heart race. Did he make a mistake?

"What… Wh—Damien… this…" She swallowed, unsure of how to react to what she's seeing. It's not the first time that she had been to an armory as Castle—Shadow's Base, had a huge space dedicated to it. But associating Damien with this armory was quite new to her that it made her speechless.

"Maybe I shouldn't have brought you here…" he regretted.

Realizing that she wasn't making any sense, Katherine composed herself and let out a sigh. "No… I'm just… surprised. That's all…" Walking towards the nearest shelf to her right, her hands carefully skimmed the different sizes of handguns. "How could you have all of these?" Obviously he had a private security company but the idea still stunned her. After all, she only knew about Maverick Security an hour ago.

"They're all legally owned. Every single one has a license and every detail has a permit to carry, as long as they're on duty. Permits to conceal carry and open carry isn't a problem in Esmea."

Right. How could she forget? In Esmea, anyone could purchase and own a gun but carrying them is a different matter. Given that Damien has connections and has a legitimate business, this wasn't a problem for him. The information that's swimming in her head made her oddly excited, especially as she strolled a little further down the aisle as if she was window shopping.

"I know I already told you this… but for someone who hates guns, you sure are really good at using them. And…" her hands waved the whole lot and shrugged as she added, "...you even have an arsenal."

Seeing her reaction, Damien was finally relieved. She was only initially surprised and had quickly wrapped her head around the whole thing. Softly chuckling, he told her, "And like I told you, I don't like them… but it doesn't mean I don't know how to use 'em. This is a necessity." He gestured at the weapons. "I receive threats almost everyday. But that's not why we're here… Follow me." He nodded towards the left corner of the room.

Her brows furrowed upon hearing him say that he 'receives threats daily'. Being at the top of his field and a billionaire at that really isn't easy. Katherine followed him and watched as he stopped in front of a selection of daggers in different forms and sizes—long ones, short ones, and even shurikens or ninja stars.

Damien retrieved a locked wooden case from the top shelf and he handed it to her after opening it. "What's this?" she asked and was again surprised at what she saw inside—two very high-quality knife knuckles.

"I've had them for a while. It was actually a gift from my father a few months before he passed. I want you to have them."

While other gentlemen gave chocolates and flowers to their women, this gentleman right here—gave her knives. And damn if that didn't make her swoon.