The thought shreds something in me until it’s painful.
“You’re my destiny, Fiona.” The words scrape out low, rough-edged. “You always were. From the moment I saw you across that courtroom, fire in your eyes.”
A soft laugh escapes her, and it makes my chest tighten.
“Even then, I think some part of me already knew.”
“Did you, though?” A playful spark lights her expression. “Because I swear you wanted to kill me a few times.”
“Just a few times?” I chuckle, and that lands me an elbow to my ribs.
“Blyat, woman, you’re strong.”
“That’s right, I am.”
Her arms cinch around my neck, and I draw her in, palms gliding up her back, gathering her close like I can shield her from the entire world if I just hold her tightly enough.
“I’ll love you until the last breath leaves my body, moya zhena. Moya zhizn.”My wife. My life.
There are moments when I could swear this is some cruel trick, or maybe some dream I haven’t woken up from. That she’s here with me, loving me back. That I haven’t broken her too badly to reach this point. But here she is, peering back at me like she sees the man I’m trying to be. Like she believes in him.
It is why I had to give her the vineyard. I didn’t want to chain her to me. I needed her choice, needed to know that when she stayed, it was because she wanted to, not because I backed her into a corner. I needed to know I was enough.
And right now, with her arms around me, her eyes glistening as she looks down at me, I start to believe that maybe I am.
Pulling back, she reaches for the strawberries, mischief dancing in those eyes I’d burn down the world for. One glides along her finger, crushed slightly at the edge, and she drags it across my mouth with a soft hum, smearing juice along my bottom lip.
I bite it straight from her fingers, eyes fastened on hers. Before the last of the berry is gone, I lean in and kiss her, letting her taste the sweetness on my tongue. She moans, her body writhing like she needs this just as badly as I do.
When I finally pull back, her lips are flushed, her hair a mess around her face, and I take her in like I’m starving.
How the hell did I ever live without this?
“What?” She watches me curiously.
“I am just wondering why it took me this long to realize how obsessed I am with you.”
Her grin sparks, her fingers brushing the back of my neck. “Obsession’s not very healthy, you know.”
“That’s right, Mrs. Marinova. It is quite the disease.”
“For which there’s no antidote?”
“I don’t want an antidote.” I brush my nose along hers. “I want you. Every minute of every day, until my very last breath.”
“Aleksei…” Her voice frays.
I flip her onto her back in one fluid motion, her sundress riding up those soft thighs, her laughter breaking in her throat. The sunlight bounces across her skin, and I swear I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.
“I love you, detka.”
Her fingers tug through my hair, massaging my scalp, and she lets out a low, lustful sound as she rolls her hips over my cock, slow enough to wreck me.
“You said that already.”
My hand drifts to her thigh, gliding up that soft skin I can never get enough of. “What? A man can’t tell you he loves you more than once?”
I tug her panties aside and let my fingers trace the slick warmth between her legs before sliding one inside, her body opening for me.
