Our mouths crash together, wild and unforgiving. Her fingers claw at my jacket, dragging it over my shoulders and down my arms. As soon as they’re free, I wrap my arms around her like I’m afraid she’ll disappear.
Since I brought her home, I’ve found a new intensity to our intimacy, a desperate kind of need that doesn’t seem to be fading, because Anika has shown me just how precious each moment with her is.
I’ll never know which kiss is going to be our last, and I want to collect as many as I can while her lips are still mine to claim.
“I love you,topolina,” I rasp between kisses.
Anika presses her body to mine, mouth hot against my jaw, my throat, my chest as she returns the sentiment without words.
Every touch between us is fire and redemption, forgiveness and fury all tangled in one.
And shining like a beacon above it all is the tiny little secret she’s carrying inside her.
My cock hardens with the thought of seeing Anika’s belly round and swollen with pregnancy, evidence of our love on full display for everyone to see.
I want to worship her for godlike ability to bring a child into this world.
Mychild.Ourchild.
But we have months still to go before she’ll even start showing, and several more before we’ll get to welcome our baby into this world.
And in the meantime, I intend to test the limits of just how much pleasure I can bestow upon her. Scooping her up in my arms, I wrap Anika’s legs around my hips to carry in farther into the apartment.
I lay her back against the bed and take a moment to admire her flushed skin and swollen lips.
My hands hesitate as I touch her, as if she’s too fragile, too precious. It’s a constant battle, to keep my desire for her under rigid control.
But for Anika, I would do anything.
I would endure the worst kind of torture to earn a single one of her smiles.
But she pulls me down on top of her, her voice rough with want. “Don’t hold back,” she pleads, softly nipping the lobe of my ear.
It’s the only signal I need. Anika feels safe with me.
The past dies in the heat of her breath.
The ghosts fall silent when she whispers my name.
And as I bury myself inside her glorious depths, I know that, for this woman, I would burn the whole world down.
EPILOGUE
ANIKA
One Year Later
The villa is quiet, bathed in the soft glow of twilight, and the breeze whispers through the trees outside like a soft lullaby.
I sit curled on the velvet settee in the nursery, one hand resting on the swell of my heart, the other cradling a warm cup of tea.
The baby is fussing softly in Miko’s arms, her cries as delicate as wind chimes.
Miko smiles down at her with such tenderness, it melts my heart. I can’t help but watch him as he gently rocks our daughter, cradling her head in one massive palm.
His silhouette glows in the golden light of the reading lamp, tall and broad and calm.
Alana’s swaddled in pink cotton, her tiny hand gripping his finger as he murmurs a story, his voice low and soothing.
