His shirt joins my dress on the floor, followed by his pants and my remaining scraps of lace. When we finally tumble onto the bed, there’s nothing between us but skin and promises.
This time is different from all the others.
There’s no desperation driving us, no fear or danger or unresolved conflict. Just two people who chose each other completely, celebrating that choice with their bodies. Tony kisses me slowly, taking his time, mapping every inch of my mouth with his tongue. I arch into him and let my hands explore the planes of his back, the scars that tell stories I now know by heart.
He trails his lips down my throat and between my breasts, worshipping every curve and hollow. When he reaches the apex of my thighs, he looks up at me with eyes full of love.
“I want to taste every part of you,” he says. “I want to memorize how you sound when you come apart for me.”
I spread my legs wider in invitation, and he accepts with a groan. His mouth finds my center, and his tongue flicks and flattens in patterns that make me gasp and writhe against the sheets. He takes his time, building my pleasure in waves that crest and recede until I’m begging him for release.
“Please,” I moan. “Tony, please.”
He slides two fingers inside me while his tongue circles my most sensitive spot. The combination sends me hurtling over the edge with a cry that echoes off the walls. He doesn’t stop, working me through the aftershocks until I’m trembling and oversensitive.
When he finally crawls back up my body, I pull him into a kiss and taste myself on his lips.
“I need you inside me,” I tell him. “I need to feel you.”
Tony positions himself at my entrance and pauses, looking down at me with such tenderness that my eyes well up again.
“My wife,” he whispers like he’s testing out the word. “I’m never going to get tired of saying that.”
He pushes inside me slowly, letting me feel every inch. When he’s fully seated, we both go still, savoring the connection. This is what it feels like to be complete. To have found the missing piece I didn’t know I was looking for.
Then he starts to move.
His thrusts are deep and measured, each one hitting exactly the right spot. I wrap my legs around his waist and pull him closer, wanting to eliminate any remaining distance between us. Our bodies find a rhythm as natural as breathing, give and take, push and pull.
“You feel incredible,” he groans against my neck. “So perfect. Like you were made for me.”
I dig my nails into his shoulders as another climax builds at the base of my spine. “Harder,” I demand. “I want to feel you for days.”
Tony adjusts his angle and picks up the pace. The new position sends sparks shooting through my entire body, and I cry out with each thrust. He captures my mouth in a searing kiss, swallowing my sounds of pleasure as he drives us both toward the edge.
“Come with me,” he pants. “I want to feel you come around me.”
His hand slips between us and finds my clit, where he rubs circles in time with his thrusts. The dual sensation pushes me over the edge, and I shatter with his name on my lips. He follows seconds later with a groan that seems to originate from somewhere deep in his soul.
We collapse together in a tangle of sweaty limbs and satisfied sighs. Tony rolls to the side and pulls me against his chest, and I nestle into his warmth like I was born to fit there.
“I love you,” he murmurs against my hair. “More than I thought I was capable of loving anyone. You’ve changed everything about who I am and what I want from life.”
I tilt my face up to kiss his jaw. “Loving you is the best choice I’ve ever made. The only choice, really. My heart decided before my head had any say in the matter.”
He chuckles and tightens his arms around me. “Get some sleep, Mrs. Volkov. We have the rest of our lives to figure out what comes next.”
I close my eyes and let exhaustion claim me, feeling safer than I’ve ever felt in my life. Wrapped in my husband’s arms, in our home, with our future stretching out before us like an open road.
