Throwing my head back, I burst out laughing, feeling elated. She’s funny even when she’s not trying to be.
“Where have you been?”All my life. I ask, overcome with emotion.
“I’m here now,” she whispers as if she understands the depth of my question.
I don’t know who moves first, but our bodies clash together into a fireball of passion.
This kiss is frantic, just like my hunger for her—teeth and tongues colliding—need and passion embracing.
Breathless, she stumbles back, but I catch her, helping her into the tub. Her body melts into the water, helping to soothe her sore body.
Viviana leans back against my chest, and I languidly brush along the valley of her breasts, tracing her flawless skin, savoring having her with me, in my space—relaxing for the first time ever.
She tilts her head, a shy smile teasing the corners of her mouth. The gesture hits me straight in the chest with blaring conviction. Mine. This woman is mine.
“What is it, baby?” I ask, kissing the top of her head.
“Just checking to see if you’re real.”
I wrap an arm over her belly, letting my weight answer for me.
“You are,” she giggles.
“Don’t think it’s a good thing,” I chuckle.
Her delicate brows furrow, sadness lacing her words. “Why would you say that?”
I won’t have that, so I quickly change the topic.
“Tell me more about you,” I say, giving in to the need to know everything about her.
Her entire face radiates. “I want to be a preschool teacher.”
Like I needed more proof of how different she is from me. While I plan on getting as much power as humanly possible byany means necessary. Cheating, maiming, and killing whoever stands in my way, she wants to be surrounded by the most innocent.
“Noble.”
She shrugs. “You’d think that, but it’s more for me. A reminder that we are all born good, innocent. Monsters are made. There’s nothing purer than children, and I want to hold on to that.”
Her reply makes me think she knows everything that is dark and wicked in the world. Before I can dig deeper into the subject, she turns to face me. “What about you?”
I play with a strand of her hair that escaped her ponytail. “I’m the opposite, Viviana.”
She tilts her face, a pensive look crossing it. “So, you’re a bad man?”
I arch a brow, eyes boring into hers. “Would that change anything?”
“It’s too late for that.” She worries her lip. “Even though it should not.” Doodling on my chest, she adds, “We’re all worse than we think we are, and better than we believe we are.”
And an optimist.
“How old are you?” she blurts out.
“Twenty-nine. And you?”
“Twenty-one.”
“Fuck, you’re young.” I almost feel bad that I am all she’ll ever know, but just almost.
