My breath caught at once. It was beautiful.
“Avgust…”
He killed the engine and turned to me. “Come on.”
I stepped out after he opened my door, and he took my hand, leading us towards the large glass doors of the building. I already knew what it was. He fetched a key from his pocket and unlocked the doors, walking inside the place as I followed behind him. The interior was flooded with light coming through large glass windows. We were surrounded by white walls and polished concrete floors. The ceilings were high, and the spacefelt intentional, open, and alive. It was everything I could have asked for.
I looked around, finding my paintings sprawled along every single wall.
All of them.
Even the ones I had never saved and the ones he had thrown away before my eyes. All of them were here. He had also placed the newer ones, which I had only painted in the last few weeks. The raw, aching pieces that I had made in the quiet hours when I didn’t know how else to bleed without being seen. My emotions were everywhere. Everything I felt for Avgust was displayed on these walls, especially the way he had recused the darkness in my heart, making me feel human again.
Curated. Framed. Loved.
I turned around slowly, overwhelmed with everything. “What is this place?”
“What do you think it is?” he asked, a smile spreading across his face. He watched me like this was the one moment he had been waiting for. “I have been working on it for days, and now it’s all yours. Your very own gallery.”
My chest tightened. “Avgust—”
“You can move them,” he said immediately. “You can change the lighting, the order, add more paintings, remove the ones you don’t like, or anything else you want. This is all for you to manage, handle, and change according to your will. The gallery is now yours.”
I laughed even when tears blurred my vision. I had not expected this, and yet he had given me the greatest gift of all time. Everything I could have asked for and more.
“You didn’t have to—”
“I wanted to,” he interrupted softly, taking me in his arms. “You deserve to have a space that you can call yours. A place where nothing touches you unless you allow it. A place where you can speak to canvases and paint with freedom and display your art with pride. You needed a space like that, and you finally have it. I am so, so proud of all you do, and I want you to be proud of it too.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him like I might shatter otherwise.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
He kissed my temple. “I love you.”
I pulled back, looking into his eyes. “I love you too.”
Avgust pulled my face towards him and kissed me then, slow, soft, and beautiful. He kissed me like he was afraid I might break. I kissed him back hungrily, wanting to feel him against me rather than letting him go. I needed him all the time. We didn’t make it far after that.
“What is running through your head, Ilana Chernykh?” he asked, his tone playful.
Ilana Chernykh. The name sounded just right.
“You know exactly what is running through my head,” I replied, moving in to kiss him again.
The gallery was already empty, and the doors locked while the city hummed outside like it knew better than to interrupt. Avgust gently backed me against the wall, his hands familiar and reverent. The kiss was slow, unhurried, like there was no longer anything chasing us. He slid my coat off my shoulders, and I did the same with him.
The need to feel him inside me was already intense.
Without another word, we were both on the floor of the gallery, Avgust’s hand working on my clothes and mine working on his. As soon as we were naked, skin against skin, he covered me with the length of his body, his hands exploring. I moaned as he began to trail kisses down my neck, soft and slow and unhurried.
“Avgust,” I whispered his name, my hands running over his sculpted back.
“Yes, my love?” he asked, going lower, his breath fanning against my pubic hair.
Before I could reply, his tongue lapped hungrily at my clitoris, making me moan louder than I had expected. His fingers joined in, sliding inside my already wet pussy while his tongue kept on with the rhythm of stroking me gently at the most sensitive spot in my body. He reached with his other hand to rub slow circles around my nipples.
“Oh my god,” I moaned louder than ever, the intensity increasing.
