Despite all the missteps and miscommunications, Raf managed to find our way through a minefield of Mafia pitfalls and find each other.
Against all odds, I fell in love with the husband I swore I never would.
And now that the Yakuza are finished, the remaining families who run Chicago might actually have lasting peace.
Our marriage will ensure no more conflicts between the Irish and the Italians, and with Miko as the BratvaPakhan, it promises to be a new kind of peaceful collaboration between the different factions that this city has never seen before.
As the chaos fades and the sun hangs low in the sky, we take Riley home.
She’s asleep in her car seat before we even pull into the drive, exhausted from the trauma of the day.
Raf carefully extracts her from the car, scooping her into his arms, her tiny face nestled beneath his chin as he carries her inside.
I watch as he tucks her into bed with a tenderness that makes my chest ache.
Then, together, we retreat to our room, closing the door softly behind us.
He looks at me then, really looks at me, and the emotion in his eyes steals my breath.
“You were spectacular today,” he murmurs, cradling the back of my neck as he pulls me close.
I can’t help the giggle that bubbles up inside me, and I bite my lip as the memory of slapping him flashes behind my eyes. “Even when I hit you?” I tease, my fingers curling around the fabric of his shirt to pull him close.
“Especially then,” he growls, leaning in to steal a soft kiss. “You’re so fierce and confident and strong. I knew you would do anything for our daughter. I could see that truth blazing in your eyes. And that’s the sexiest thing in the world, Aisling Chiaroscuro.”
The sound of his last name as my own sends a ripple down my spine, and I rise onto my toes to steal a kiss of my own. “I love you so much,” I breathe and deepen the kiss.
“I love you too,” he rasps when our lips finally part once more. “Truly, deeply, and without end.”
“Come take a shower with me?” I offer, knowing he needs one far more desperately than I do, and I’m eager to wash the day’s sins from my skin.
Raf hums, the sound low and enticing as he gently steers me back toward the bathroom, his fingers relieving me of clothes with adoring gentleness as he goes. Our lips never part for long as we soak up the warmth of the water together, lost in the feel of being in each other’s arms.
It’s slow and intimate and full of whispered confessions, of hands relearning and hearts finally unguarded.
As the water cascades down my back, he kneels before me to press a reverent kiss to my stomach, and it brings tears to my eyes.
An unspoken vow that he already loves the child I’m carrying inside me.
The one we made together without even trying.
It’s like the universe always knew we were meant for each other and it would do anything within its power to keep us together.
When we finish in the shower, Raf carries me to bed, my legs wrapped around his waist, his hands grasping my thighs until we spill onto the sheets, a tangle of limbs and tongues. And when he presses inside me, it’s with the slow, worshipful adoration of a man who truly loves his wife.
It’s soft and intimate, and it makes my heart swell until I’m certain it will burst from my chest.
We rock slowly together, the movement unhurried, and yet it sends ripples of pleasure up and down my spine.
And when we come… we come together, Raf buried deep in my depths, my name on his lips and my soul in his palms.
We curl together in the quiet that follows, and I rest my head on his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat.
And as I finally return to my body, it’s with the knowledge that I’m exactly where I belong.
In his strong, safe, unwavering arms.
EPILOGUE
