Mine.
Not ownership in chains or cages. This isn’t him taking from me because he can. This is me giving myself to him by choice. Commitment. Irrevocable intent. Because I trust him with my life.
He finally pulls back, his thumbs brushing beneath my eyes. “This changes everything,” he says.
I nod. “I know.”
“There’s no going back.”
“I don’t want to.”
A breath leaves him. “Neither do I.”
He presses a kiss to my forehead, then my temple, then my lips again, softer now but no less charged.
And for the first time, I don’t feel like somebody weak that needs to be protected. I feel like something worth fighting for.
And he looks like a man ready to burn the world down to prove it.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Drago
One part of me, the part that is desperate to feel her, to watch her come undone beneath my hands, is screaming for me to drag her into the bedroom and take what she’s already offering.
The other half of me remembers how she felt in my arms. How fragile she was. How much she trusts without even realizing it.
That part knows she deserves better. Because no matter how badly I want her, I refuse to be something she regrets. I refuse to be a moment she looks back on and wonders if she misread me.
I don’t want to be a fling. One that leaves her feeling used and dirty afterward.
I want to be the man she trusts with her life. The man she chooses to submit to, not because she’s overwhelmed, but because she feels safe enough to let go.
And that means earning it.
This isn’t restraint. This isn’t denial. This is me giving her something far more dangerous than my body.
My heart.
Because if I’m doing this… I’m giving her all of me. And she already knows parts of me that very few people have ever known.
I pull back just enough to breathe, my hands still cradling her face. Her lips are swollen from my mouth, her cheeks flushed a deep, beautiful red. She looks wrecked. And it nearly undoes me.
“Lily, will you go out on a date with me?” I ask.
Her head tilts, brows knitting together as she searches my face. “A date?”
I nod, steady, even though every nerve in my body is screaming.
She chews on her lip. “Drago, if you don’t want to sleep with me, you can just be honest. I understand there will be consequences for you…”
I shake my head and slide my hand down to her throat, my fingers lacing there, not tight, just enough to make her eyes widen, to remind her how easily I could lose control if I let myself. She’s worth every consequence, and I want to show her that.
“I want you in so many fucking ways, lastochka,” I say low. “But I’m not a man after just one thing from you.”
Her breath stutters.
“I’m a man after everything from you,” I continue. “Spend the day with me. The real me. The man I don’t let anyone see.”
