As if by joining our bodies, we might somehow forge a connection that distance and circumstance can't break.
“I don’t have a condom,” he says sheepishly.
For once, I laugh. “I don’t think it matters now.”
He drops his forehead against mine. “Right.”
“Cristian?”
He lifts his head, his gaze focused on me.
“I love you.” I owe him the truth since he’s bared all, risked all for me.
His breath hitches. “I love you.” He kisses me fiercely as he positions himself between my thighs. "Look at me.” His gaze holds mine, intense and burning with emotion. "I want to see you."
When he pushes into me, I gasp, clutching his shoulders.
The physical pleasure is immediate and intense, but the emotional connection threatens to shatter me completely.
His gaze never leaves mine as he moves, each thrust is like he’s saying he loves me, that he never wants me to forget, as if I could.
"Remember this," he says, his voice rough. "When you're with him, remember that you're mine. That you've always been mine."
"Always." I wrap my legs around him, pulling him closer, deeper.
Our pace quickens, both of us chasing not just release but something more elusive.
Something written in our souls that will last a million lifetimes. Something that is only ours.
No Maksim, no Alessandro.
Just Cristian and me and the life we've created together.
The pleasure builds, intensifying with each movement until it becomes almost unbearable.
I bite his shoulder to keep from crying out as waves of sensation crash through me.
“Fuck… Valentina… fuck.” He comes, but in his words I hear the grief, not the joy. He buries his face against my neck. His body shudders against mine.
For a precious moment, we stay like this, still joined.
His hand moves to rest gently on my stomach, and I cover it with my own, both of us silently acknowledging the tiny life there, the piece of him I'll carry forever.
He kisses me and when he pulls back, he cradles my face in the palms of his hands. "I love you. Never forget.”
"I love you too," I answer, knowing these might be the last true words I ever speak.
30
CRISTIAN
I don't want to release her.
Not now, not ever.
But the clock is ticking, and in minutes, I'll be expected to disappear from New York forever, leaving behind the only woman I've ever truly loved and our unborn child.
I wonder if this is my punishment for the ugly, violent life I’ve chosen to lead.
