WE COME OUT LATER with six different brands of pregnancy tests and a ridiculously huge family-sized bag of peanut butter cups because I just happened to say I love them, and he didn’t know.
“I can’t eat all these.”
“You could be eating for two,” he says seriously. “I’ll help you. I love that shit.”
At the stoplight, I lean over and kiss him. The moment his lips touch mine, I sigh, a flutter of lightness filling my lungs I haven’t felt in so damn long.
At the next set of lights, he kisses me. While my kiss was tame and tentative, his is unfettered. Hands tangled in hair, fingers on my scalp, our tongues touching. I moan when the light turns green and we pull away.
“Go take the test,” he says, when we park in the driveway.
I like to tease him a little. “They say early morning is the best time. Let’s check on Ivy and then maybe just take it—”
“Don’t try my patience, Harper,” he growls. I stifle a giggle and do what he says.
“What does it say?” he asks through the door. I stand up and unlock it, letting him in. Ivy’s fast asleep, her babysitter sent home for the night.
“Nothing yet. Takes a few minutes.”
“Minutes? Are you fucking kidding me? I thought it was instant!”
I shake my head at him. “You do know that if it’s positive, it takes nine months to have the baby, right?”
He slaps my ass, but not too hard, likely because he thinks I’m pregnant. I’m sure a good ass slap doesn’t hurt a thing, but I don’t tell him. Not yet. I’ll distract him while we wait.
“So our…prisoner. What are your plans tonight?” I ask. “Are you keeping him in holding, or—”
“Do you really want to know what I have planned?” he asks. He’s stripped out of his suit coat and tie but still wears his dress shirt and pants. He’s sex personified with his tousled hair, burning blue eyes and chiseled looks.
I think about it. “No,” I say honestly. “I really don’t.”
I reach over and unfasten the top button of his dress shirt. “Come back to me, though?”
He reaches for my fingers and kisses the tip of each one. “Always, baby. Always.”
My phone beeps when the timer goes off. I blink and stare at the two pink lines on the test. He holds up the second with the word pregnant in bold letters and a moment later, gathers me in a hug so fierce it takes my breath away.
“Baby,” he whispers, his voice all crackly.
“Ivy’s gonna be a big sister,” I say. “You need to call Mikhail.”
“You sleep in our bed tonight,” he says as he leaves. “Promise me, Harper.”
“Of course, of course, I’ll be there.” I mean I’ll check on Ivy of course but if she’s sleeping well, I am more than happy to come back to our bed. I lean in and kiss his cheek. Close my eyes. Remember who I am and who he is before I tell him, “Make him pay, Aleksandr.”
His voice sends shivers down my spine. “You know I will.” He kisses my cheek. “When I come back, I expect you naked and waiting for me. No clothes, Harper. Nothing but you and me. Nothing between us.”
I take a long, hot shower. I try not to think about where my husband is or what he’s doing right now.
I peek in on Ivy and find her asleep. I sit beside her bed and watch her for a little while. It’s almost therapeutic.
“I’ll always protect you,” I whisper. “No matter what you do. No matter who you are. I’ll love you forever.” I bend down and tuck the blanket around her. “Always.”
Sometimes, it’s having good parents that teaches you how to be a good parent yourself. And sometimes you have to find your own way… or beside someone else doing the same damn thing.
I love this sweet girl unconditionally. I know that in my soul. I’m going to pour love into her in a way my parents never did.
I climb into bed in the fluffiest pajamas I own and fall fast asleep.
I wake to the sound of a growl in my ear.
“What did I tell you?”
I yawn sleepily, though I’m immediately awake and my blood is pounding in my ears. Do pregnant women get turned on more easily? Because I am on fire at the feel of Aleks’s hands on me, pinning me in place.
“You know what I told you, Harper.”
I didn’t hear Aleks come in, but he’s obviously been here a while. His hair is damp from the shower, and he’s only wearing a towel around his waist. I tentatively reach my hand out to his arm and stroke it.
“Is it done?”
A muscle clenches in his jaw and he nods curtly. “You don’t ever have to worry about him again. Nobody does.”
I swallow and lick my lips. “Thank you.” I’m glad then that I gave over my need for vengeance. He wanted to seek retribution for me. He wanted to know for certain that I was safe.
“I love you, Harper.” I close my eyes and let the words wash over me, a balm to my soul and exactly what I need to hear. “I love you.”
He kisses my cheek and cages me in, his large, warm body braced over mine, one arm on the bed. “You’ve been through so much. And you deserve so much better.” He kisses me again, this time dragging his fingers through my hair and pulling my head back before he captures my mouth.
I lose myself in the kiss. I feel lighter than I have in years, even as a pall of sadness hovers at the periphery. I’m not whole, not yet. I’ve seen monumental changes in the past few months, and I haven’t even adapted to the new me.
But I will. I will.
When we pull apart, we stare into each other’s eyes.
“I love you, Aleks. We’ve both been through so much. We need normal for a little while. Boring.”
His piercing eyes hold mine and his lips twitch. “I can’t give you either.”
I blow out a breath and sigh. “Fine. I’ll handle intense and high-stakes, then, as long as I get to partake in any shooting festivities.”
He growls, shaking his head as he kneels and begins to strip my fluffy pjs off. “Under certain conditions.”
“What’s that?”
“I’ll let you know when the situation comes up. I’ll take it on a case-by-case scenario.”
My top flops to the floor and I’m bare-chested in front of him, pouting. “What if I want to be the one that decides?”
That only gets me another narrowed-eyed look and a growl while he’s tugging off the fluffy bottoms, so maybe my timing sucks.
“Sure. You get to decide when you hold a gun,” he says in a voice that tells me he is totally giving me shit about this. “And I get to decide when you’re over my lap and when you get to come.”
I frown as he tugs the bottoms off my feet and tosses them to the side. I’m lying naked before him and he’s only dressed in a towel. I don’t think either one of us is getting any sleep any time soon.
“That’s controlling,” I say, as I reach for his towel and give it a yank, baring him to me as much as I am to him. “Come here.”
I tug him down to me and frame his face with my hands. His piercing blue eyes stare into mine with a ferocity that would’ve made the old me quake. The new me eats it up with a spoon and feels energized. Excited.
Alive.
“Perhaps I’ll get free rein with the weapons on condition of sexual favors,” I say in a low purr. “Just don’t tell my husband.”
In one swift move, I push him off balance and straddle him. Pin his wrists beneath my hands and stifle the need to burst out laughing at the look of shock on his face. But it only lasts seconds, and the next thing I know I’m soaring through the air, gasping for breath, and somehow end up face-planted on the bed with my chest down and my ass in the air.
“Aleks!”
“You knew exactly what you were getting into. Don’t you dare play that innocent game with me.”
I brace just as the first smack of his palm cracks against my ass. Heat floods me and I’m momentarily thoughtless, my mind as free and empty as the big blue sky after a storm.
“You’re my wife,” he says in a growl that makes me instantly wet. “My wife. I don’t ever expect you to roll over and be docile. I might as well ask the sun to stop shining or the tide to stop flowing.” He palms my ass so hard I hiss in a breath, his rough hand gripping my ass without apology. I feel his mouth at my ear as he whispers, “But don’t take this from me.”
I think I get it then, at least a little. I can be powerful and strong and fight right alongside him. If he is the king and I am his queen… we rule together.
“Fine, then,” I finally concede. “Then why am I like this? If we’re equals…”
He slaps my ass again, hard.
“In bed, there are no equals, woman,” he growls. “In bed, you’re fucking mine to do with what I will.”
Another hard slap makes me keen with the sting of pain before it morphs into something electric, pure fire.
I go right back to losing the ability to speak, barely coherent words coming out of my mouth as he spanks me again, and again. I push back against him just to feel the way his hand wraps around my waist to hold me in place. I push back against him just to feel him unyielding beside me.
“Open for me,” he orders, gliding the head of his cock to my slick entrance. I part my legs and brace myself. The first thrust splits me in two and I fall to pieces beneath him. Pleasure ricochets through my nerves with electric fusion and awareness. I relish every touch, every thrust, every feel of his masculine strength and his perfection inside me. The sound of his own groans of pleasure makes me want to weep, for I know how much I mean to him now. I know how he much he loves me. How he cherishes me. I know who we are.
My thoughts are wiped to oblivion as the first wave of pleasure washes through me. I stifle a moan and writhe beneath the weight of his body. I want this so badly. I want him. I feel like we’ve scaled mountains together. I feel as if the two of us have walked through fire and emerged — maybe not unscathed, but stronger.
Victorious.
Being claimed by him like this makes me feel so much more than what I’ve ever felt before.
“You’re mine,” he growls in my ear before another savage thrust. “Mine.”
Fingers tangled in hair, breathing mingled. Dampened skin and the warm, sweet, seductive scent of our bodies connecting. The feel of his hands, rough and soft, hard and gentle. The utterly perfect fullness as he stretches me, enters me, makes sweet, savage love to me.
The heath of his hand wrapped around my throat spikes my pulse. I breathe into it. Savor his warm hum of approval. The flash of pain quickly becomes pleasure. Flirting with the edge of danger makes everything bloom in such vivid color.
I take in a deep breath. Brace myself, palms down on the bed. Throw my head back. Beg.
“Please, Aleskandr. Please let me come.”
“Tell me you’re mine,” he growls.
I don’t answer at first because I want to see what he’ll do. In seconds, he pushes me down on the bed, his hand on the small of my back holding me down before he gives me a punishing swat. “Say it.”
My eyes closed, swimming in a pool of bliss, I grin.
“I’m yours,” I drawl. “All yours, Aleksandr Romanov. There was never anyone before you and there will never be another after you. You’re mine as much as I’m yours, for all eternity.”
“Fuck yes,” he growls with another savage thrust of his hips. I shatter into brilliant perfection at the same time his hot seed spills into me. I’m vaguely aware of his groans of ecstasy and the slowing of his hips as we ride the waves of pleasure together. I’ve never come so hard, so long, or so quickly.
I grin, utterly blissed out.
He sinks down beside me and pulls out. I’m boneless and grinning as he rolls out of bed and returns with a warm cloth to wash us both off. We slide under the covers, spent and at peace.
“I love you,” I say, my words blurry and hazy in my sleepy, sex-induced coma state.
“And I love you,” he says back. He rolls over and checks the monitor to make sure our daughter’s asleep.
Our daughter.
“Ivy’s fine, too. So get some sleep, Harper.”
Content in the knowledge that the only people I’ve ever cared about in the world are safe and happy, I fall into the deepest, most blissful sleep I’ve ever had.
