38. Ilias
ILIAS
I hung my jacket on the coat tree in the foyer, rolling the tension from my shoulders.
Tonight’s meeting had gone longer than I liked.
Vaso and Kostas were still working out the kinks in the new dynamic between them as they were taking over both arms of Anthakos Shipping.
It was going to be an adjustment for them.
I would have suggested that they split their duties, but truth be told, it wasn’t a good idea to have one person oblivious to the operations of the other branch for so many reasons.
Vaso had brought up the idea of operating independently, but I didn’t think it would be the best option.
Ultimately, it was up to them to handle things, as the workload would fall on their shoulders while I was away.
However, all kinds of mistakes could happen if one hand didn’t know what the other was doing.
The way we currently ran our smuggling operations meant they were intertwined with our legal activities.
Of course, we could decide to quit smuggling.
That was an option I mentioned today, and I was surprised when they both considered it.
I loosened my cufflinks as I went up the staircase.
It was later than I had intended to get home.
I texted Galena that I wouldn’t make it to dinner, but that didn’t mean I didn’t miss eating with her in our cozy kitchen.
Nothing made me happier than spending time with her—listening to her talk about subjects she cared about, sitting with her as she sketched, or reading her books.
I couldn’t wait to dedicate time to her every day while we traveled.
I’d have to work a little, but that would just be consulting for my brothers.
She appeared to be doing well with everything that had happened, even thriving.
She had Sloane come once a week, and I had even peeked in on their training sessions.
My wife could kick ass. Nightmares still troubled her occasionally, but they had lessened.
She would wake up in a sweat, but her dreams focused on the alley and her mother.
Now that Scarpato and his cronies were gone, she seemed more at peace.
Galena wasn’t interested in details about Dino, so I wouldn’t share them.
I sealed his air tube a few days after we buried him, telling him what was going to happen before I dumped dirt down the tube.
I enjoyed listening to his pleas for me to stop before I sealed him in completely.
Probably made me a psycho, but it had been satisfying.
Then I had a few shipping containers brought in and laid over the ground for good measure.
Kostas had stood with me surveying the area in silence before giving me a nod of satisfaction.
He’d originally been the one to hand me the information on what had happened to Galena and her mother in that alleyway.
While we might not always see eye-to-eye on everything, there was a certain poetic justice to taking away Dino’s power.
This punishment meant he wasn’t in control.
This death showed him how small he truly was, how it meant to feel weak and powerless in his final moment, like Maria did, like Galena might have when three men were throwing punches at her while she was crying for them to stop.
Now she would have nothing but goodness in her life.
I’d make sure of it. Clearing my mind, I crested the last few steps to the glowing lights.
She was curled up on the sofa with a book, her notebook on the coffee table in front of her.
Even from here, I could see the sketch she’d made of a small group of pigeons she had drawn on the creamy paper.
They looked so lifelike that you’d swear they were about to fly off the page. Galena had real talent as an artist.
She looked up as I entered the doorway, her eyes lighting up as she placed a bookmark between the pages. “How was your day? Your brothers driving you crazy yet?” Her brow furrowed. “Did you eat?”
She made room for me, but I scooped her up and placed her on my lap so I could feel her flush against me. “We ordered in at the office.” She wiggled as she settled against me, looping her arms around my neck and tilting her mouth up for a kiss.
I hadn’t prepared to love my wife so much, but I also hadn’t prepared myself to feel so comforted by her presence.
There was a real sense of home that I felt when my body touched hers, as if there was a calming effect only she could provide.
Her hands massaged over my shoulders, running over the muscles there, her thumbs digging into the knots that had formed over the course of the day.
“Did you guys make any headway?”
Closing my eyes, I let myself enjoy the feel of her fingers as she worked her way over the tight muscles, working through the knots that had formed.
My brothers made me crazy. “We’ve made some.
More, but not as much as I’d like,” I admitted.
“The two of them are so different. Kostas is strategic, but he gets grumpy when he has to compromise and work with people down at the docks. That doesn’t work all the time. Vaso is better at that.”
“Wouldn’t that make them a good team?” She asked as she dug her thumbs deeper, swiveling around so she could get a better angle.
The movement made my dick come to attention.
“Seems like it would work out perfectly. Kostas could do all the logistics, and Vaso could act as the intermediary. Why won’t that work? ”
“Hmm.” I rocked a little into her, more interested now in her hot little body than talking about my brothers.
“It’s complicated if they separate things like that with the smuggling and the legal stuff.
That’s really what’s causing the biggest confusion.
It’d be better if they were more coordinated, but they’re doing a lot of bickering right now.
They’ll get it together.” I let my words trail off, pushing a hand up the edge of her sweater to the bare skin of her belly.
Her breath quickened, and her hips made little rocking motions against the hard ridge of my dick, teasing me. “What’d you do today with the girls?”
She bit her lip as my fingers traced the fabric of her bra, where her nipple prodded it proudly. “Bookstore. Gelato.” Those gorgeous eyes of hers fluttered.
“Did you buy a book to read to me? Something naughty?” I teased.
She loved her romance books, books that I knew made her blush and sometimes turned her on.
I’d peeked over her shoulder now and then and been pleasantly surprised to read a few hot passages that had given me a very good idea why she was all hot and bothered.
I hadn’t quite convinced her to read them aloud to me yet, but I was going to work on that.
“Maybe.” She gave a breathy little moan.
I pulled the sweater over her head and bent my mouth to tongue the flesh that spilled just over the edges of the cups of her bra, weighing each breast. She was sensitive to touch some days. “More? Less?”
“More,” she mewled.
Pulling down the cups, I circled each tip, watching her face as she panted slightly, until I bent to suck one nipple into my mouth, gently digging my fingers into one of her hips to pull her more firmly into my dick.
I was going to explode any second, the way she was grinding on me, but it was the sweetest kind of torture with her cute little moans.
“Are you going to come, sunshine? It sounds like you’re close. ”
She ignored me, which made me chuckle as she chased her own pleasure, breathing hard just as she crested over.
“That’s my girl, look at you fly.” She shone so bright when she came.
Like a beacon. “Let me get you upstairs where I can fuck you properly.” I wanted to bury myself deep inside and never leave.
Her eyes were hungry on mine as I carried her upstairs, leaving clothes in our wake. My dick pounded its own heartbeat, and my fingers were already tracing through her folds before we were through the doorway, desperate and hungry.
“Hurry,” she urged.
“Grab the headboard. Ass out.” She scrambled onto the bed eagerly, knowing precisely what was about to happen.
She pushed back against me, spine softening as she readied for me.
I dragged my palm down the curve of her back, and her breathing hitched just before I let my fingers thread into her hair.
She looked back at me, already breathless, already burning for me.
My good girl .
Her thighs trembled already as she pushed her ass towards me.
I dragged my fingers through her slickness, rubbing circles into her clit until she was nearly sobbing before I undid my pants and freed myself, lining up and sliding into her in one powerful thrust. Her cry echoed in the room, ragged and glorious.
She was soaked, tight, pulsing around me with every slow grind of my hips as I fucked her relentlessly. I fisted her hair and pulled her back as I moved, letting her arch against me. Her mouth fell open. Her hands shook on the edge of the headboard.
“Ilias,” she begged. “I’m close—please?—”
She whimpered, desperate. I pulled out just long enough to turn her onto her back, then shoved her legs apart and thrust back in hard enough to make the whole bed move back against the wall.
I powered into her with each snap of my hips until she arched and came apart.
I chased her into that high, spilling inside her with a groan as my body bowed.
I leaned over her, brushing sweat-matted strands of hair off her forehead.
“You alright?” I asked softly.
She blinked up at me, dazed. “I think I left my soul somewhere. I don’t need it anymore anyway. Heaven is right here. ”
I laughed, pressing a kiss to her swollen mouth. “Let me clean you up,” I whispered.
She let me lift her gently and carry her to the bathroom, her body relaxed and beautiful. Afterwards, we curled up in bed, bodies pressed together, as I pulled a blanket over both of us.
She fell asleep soon after, her heartbeat steady against my ribs and her breath slow and even.
I still had so much to do before we could truly start our life together, but I was determined to make it happen.
I watched her for a while, reassuring myself she slept peacefully before I allowed myself to chase my own shadows in sleep.