Dahlia brings the flute of champagne to her lips, wearing a teasing smile. “And that would be?”
I incline my upper body toward her, stealing a kiss. “Keep my hands, mouth, and cock off you.”
I raise my flute in a toast, and she giggles.
After sipping the bubbly contents, she places the glass on the table.
She leans into my side, relaxing as I caress her back. “This is my favorite position to recharge.”
“Am I exhausting you?” I ask, worry threading through my gravelly voice.
“In the best way possible,” she sighs contentedly.
That eases me a bit, and she continues, her hand palming my chest, “I feel alive, Mika.”
Me too, baby girl. Me too.
She lifts her gaze, tilting her head. “Am I exhausting?”
“Such a curious kitten.”
She grins, terribly proud of undoing me.
I wink at her. “Body, mind, heart.”
She closes her eyes for a moment and murmurs, “I need you more than music.”
“I need you more than violence,” I confess.
Both our coping mechanisms and the things we excel at made it easier to navigate the lives we were dealt.
And I am sure we just saidI love you.
She smiles at me so beautifully broken, the sight pierces my chest.
“Mika?”
“Yes, baby girl?”
“At the end of this, I want you to live. I want you to find the woman who can give you what I can’t.”
My hand stops on her back as she continues. “You don’t owe me a life. You’re the reason I have one.”
“Dahlia.” The thought alone repulses me, bile rising in my throat.
Tears well in her eyes, and she places a finger on my lips. “You’ll need an heir. You’ll need someone to make the darkness bearable. I want you to be happy. And with me gone, maybe… I don’t want to pressure you anymore… to?—”
“Love you?”
She gives a small nod, the sigh passing her lips wrecking me.
An epiphany lights up my brain, and I palm her face. My eyes bore into her so she can see the truth embedded there.
“Love? That doesn’t even begin to describe what I feel for you. It doesn’t cover a smidgeon of how crazy I am about you, how fucking obsessed I am with you. How much I crave you. How deeply I long for you. Every breath I take carries you in it. Every beat of my heart pumps your name.” I inhale deeply, pressing my forehead to hers. “There are days when you’re the only one keeping me going. Seeing you reminds me that my heart beats. That my life carries meaning. That beneath the skin of a monster lies a man in love. A man who will do the unthinkable repeatedly if someone even dares to upset you.”
My happiness begins and ends with her. I could never even dream of being a husband or a father if it’s not with her, be with someone other than her.
“Not even death could change that. Do you get it? You could be on another continent, in another dimension, and no one else could replace you. I’d search for you for an eternity with one unwavering goal. Find my woman. My home. I pledged more than my loyalty to you on the day I brought you back. I pledged my life and my heart to you. I’m fucking yours. My life. Yours. My kingdom. Yours. My heart. Yours. All of it.”
