“You gonna come for me, baby?” I give him some of his own dirty talk, urging him on.
“You want it?” he bites, pace quickening.
The bed creaks.
My leg tightens over his shoulder, pulling him closer, begging without words.
“That’s it,” he says again. “You want more?” He’s becoming feral now, hips slapping against me.
And then he loses control.
Inside me, he grows even bigger. I don’t know how it’s possible, but every inch of me is full, and my body melts and pulses around him.
Molten heat fills me. He stays with me through it, my calf still over his shoulder, and he holds my hands down as we come undone.
When the panting has subsided, he lies down alongside me and presses a kiss to my temple. I roll over, draping my leg over his torso, tucking my head into the crook of his arm.
And the whole world goes still, quiet and calm.
I run circles on his chest. “Anton?”
“Mmm?”
“Thanks for loving my stretch marks.”
He says it like it’s obvious. “Honey, I have them, too.”
My finger stops mid-motion. “Where?”
“All over my heart.”
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
I’m usedto walking into a room and shifting the balance of it on sheer size alone.
This backyard party doesn’t even register me.
Everyone is nearly my height. I should have known it ran in the family. Freya’s tall, her mom is… but the men in her family? It’s like I wandered into an NBA scrimmage. I’m not used to being eye level with so many people.
We’re at Freya’s grandma’s house in Santa Clarita. It’s a hot day, and there are enough people here that I could use name tags. Freya’s cousins gather around an industrial-sized grill and smoker at the back of the yard.Cards slap down at a line of picnic tables where spades is in full swing, while a group of girls sit on a blanket in the grass with nail polish spread out between them.
Meanwhile, I’m in the pool with the kids, dipping under and coming back up while they jump in around us. Gabrielle laughs in my arms, the skirt of her butterfly swimsuit floating with the water.
One of the boys, Jaden, suddenly squirts me in the face with a very aggressive water gun.
“Gotcha!”
I shelter Riri but spin toward him and use a pretend menacing voice. “Once I put this baby down, you’re finished.”
His laughter is almost a squeal as he swims off backward, kicking his feet hard so he splashes me more. Riri gets it in the eyes and startles, but doesn’t cry. She flutters her cute, curly eyelashes, blinking the water away.
“What was that?” I kiss her chubby cheek. “A monsoon?”
Just then, Faith Johnson appears at the side of the pool.
She holds a plate of watermelon rind and puts it down on a folded table near one of the sun loungers.
“Anton, baby.” She crouches down and reaches for my daughter. “The boys need you over at the barbecue.”
