It’s dangerous for us both, but she’s right. It’s too good to go back to anything else.
She giggles as I kiss her. “I don’t know where this has come from, but you’ve unlocked a really kinky beast in me, Drago.”
“That’s my good girl. Let me clean you up.”
I grab a warm cloth and clean her carefully, my touch slow and deliberate, watching her face the entire time. Every breath she takes, every little shift of her body, I catalogue it. Making sure she’s comfortable. Making sure she feels cared for. Making sure nothing about this feels careless or taken.
“You okay?” I murmur.
She nods, eyes heavy, lips soft and swollen. “Yeah.”
Good.
I set the cloth aside and pull the blanket higher, tucking it around her before grabbing the brush from the dresser. I sit back against the headboard and guide her so she’s between my legs, her back resting against my chest.
When I start brushing her hair, she melts.
Long, slow strokes. From crown to ends. Again and again. Untangling, smoothing, grounding her. My hand is steady, even though my chest feels like it’s splitting open.
“You don’t have to do that,” she murmurs, half-asleep already.
“I want to,” I say quietly.
She hums, leaning further into me. Like she knows she belongs here. Like I’ve always been meant to be this place for her.
When her hair is smooth and loose down her back, I set the brush aside and pull her gently onto the bed, settling beside her.She turns immediately, curling into my side, her hand sliding to my chest like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“Will you stay with me tonight?” she asks softly.
I don’t even think. “You think you could get rid of me? After that?”
“Good answer, Drago. Good answer.”
I chuckle, feeling the most relaxed I have probably ever been.
She points toward the window, where the curtains are open and the night sky stretches endlessly beyond the glass. Stars scattered like secrets.
“Can we just… lie here?” she says. “And watch?”
So I pull her closer, adjust us until she’s tucked perfectly under my arm, her head resting against my shoulder. One of my hands stays at her waist. The other threads through her fingers.
We don’t talk for a while.
Just breathe.
Just exist. Like this is the easiest thing in the world.
Her thumb traces circles against my skin. Her breathing evens out. The city below is quiet, distant, like none of it can touch us up here.
And that’s when it hits me.
This woman isn’t a moment. She isn’t a temptation. She isn’t something I’ll survive losing. She’s the future I never let myself imagine. I never really thought about having my own kids. I love Isabella and Noah like family. But having my own? That would ruin me in the best possible way.
A family with Lily would be one thing that has the potential to send me over the edge of sanity. The protectiveness I have for her probably needs studying. But, her and my children? There isn’t a limit on the lengths I’d go to to keep them safe. To make them happy.
The thought of letting her go feels physically impossible, like asking my heart to stop beating.
I tighten my arm around her just slightly, possessive in the quietest way.
