Chapter 28 Dimitri #2
I reach up and cup her face, wiping away a tear with my thumb. “No,” I tell her roughly, feeling the emotion swell in me. “You saved me. You made me remember what it feels like to love someone. To hope for something beyond power and revenge. You made me want to be better.”
“We make each other better,” she whispers, leaning into my touch.
I nod, pleased she sees it the same way. “We do.”
I stand and pull her up carefully, mindful of her belly, and kiss her softly, full of three months worth of love and gratitude and wonder at how we ended up here.
She kisses me back with the same intensity, and when we break apart, she’s smiling, before she places another kiss against my mouth.
“Take me to bed,” she murmurs against my lips.
My cock immediately hardens but I don’t want her to think she has to do this. “You sure? You’re not too tired?”
She nods. “I’m sure. I want—I need to feel close to you. I need to remember how lucky we are.”
Who am I to argue with that?
We make our way back to our bedroom, and in the privacy of our room, we discard our clothes. I’m hyper-aware of her belly, and the baby growing inside her. I’ve been gentle with her during sex even though Vera insists I don’t have to be.
When we’re finally in bed, skin against skin, I take my time. She’s so beautiful lying beneath me and I kiss every inch I can reach. Her neck, where her pulse flutters beneath my lips, her shoulders, the curve of her collarbone, down to her breasts, which are fuller now and more sensitive.
She gasps when my mouth encircles her nipples, her fingers tangling in my hair.
“You’re so beautiful,” I murmur against her skin. “So fucking beautiful I can’t stand it sometimes.”
“Dimitri,” she moans, tugging on my hair as I lavish her nipples with attention.
“I love you.” I remove my lips from her breasts and kiss lower, across the swell of her stomach, feeling the life moving inside. Our baby. Our miracle. “I love you more than I thought it was possible to love anyone.”
"I love you too," she breathes, pulling me back up to kiss her properly. Her lips are soft and insistent against mine, her tongue sliding against mine in a way that makes me groan.
I settle between her legs carefully, mindful of her belly, one hand sliding down to make sure she’s ready for me. She’s already wet and the knowledge makes my cock throb nearly painfully.
“Please,” she whispers. “I need you. Pl—”
I swallow her words, two fingers curling inside her core as my thumb circles and presses on her clit. The other palms her breasts, pulling gasps and sighs as I kiss her.
“God damn, Vera,” I breathe. “You feel incredible.”
I begin pumping again, soft at first, then hard enough to shake the bed. Vera whispers my name as I breathe over her, begging, pleading—
“Let go.”
Vera crests at the words, gaining speed as she tumbles over the edge. Her legs slip free, a strangled cry ripping from her throat as her whole body shakes. Her eyelids had barely finished fluttering before I roll her to her side and slip behind her, lifting her thigh before I thrust inside her.
She keens into the mattress.
I pant into her neck, my hips snapping as I nip at her shoulder. My hands trail back down to between her thighs and she squirms against me but I grip around her waist and roll us over, muffling her squeak with my other hand while I brace my feet on the mattress.
Vera moans into my palm as I fuck her from below, her legs wide and her neck bared against the ceiling. I can see her eyes roll back, her head lolling over my shoulder.
God, I can’t get enough of her. Even three months later, she feels incredible.
I growl when she licks my palm, yanking her chin to mine. Our mouths crash together in a tangle of tongue and teeth and I only pull away when she does, gasping for air.
“So fucking perfect.”
I find her clit again and she whimpers, arching her back.
My other hand finds her breast and each pinch while my fingers strum her clit has her thrashing against me.
I release her nipple and slide my hand to grip her face, slipping two fingers inside her mouth to steady her.
I moan as her hot mouth closes around my fingers and she whines as I pump faster, deeper, my other hand pressing harder on her clit.
I can never get sick of this. Even after three months, it’s never routine. Never boring.
It's always like this, so overwhelming I sometimes can’t breathe. I’m drowning in her and I never want to surface.
“That’s it,” I growl into her neck. “I want you to come on my cock.”
A few more thrusts and she begins crying out. Carefully, I place her on all fours, making sure to put several pillows underneath her for support before I begin fucking her from behind and she arches against me, meeting my every thrust with a roll of her own hips.
“Dimitri,” she gasps, her mouth open in ecstasy. “Please, I’m—”
“I know, love,” I rasp. “I’ve got you. Let go.”
She comes apart beautifully, her back arching as she cries out my name.
The feeling of her tightening around me pushes me over the edge right after her, and I bury my face in her neck as pleasure rolls through me in waves.
I fall onto the bed, making sure I don’t crush her as I come down from my high.
Breathing heavily, I reach for her and pull her against me. Her back is against my chest, my arm carefully wrapped around her. I press kisses to her shoulder, her neck, and her hair. I can’t ever stop touching her.
The baby kicks hard and it’s hard enough that I feel it against my stomach where I’m pressed against Vera.
I laugh in surprise and move my hand to where the baby is moving.
“There you are,” I murmur, delighted. “I thought you were sleeping. Did we wake you up?”
Another kick right against my palm.
I feel Vera wince. “They’re active tonight,” she says, her own hand covering mine. “I think they like hearing your voice.”
I make a pleased noise in the back of my throat. “You think?”
“Mmm. They always move more when you’re talking to them.”
The thought makes my throat tight with emotion. This baby already knows me and responds to me. Do they know I’m their father? Do they love me as much as I love them?
“You saved me,” I tell her again, pressing a kiss to her temple. “You and this baby. You saved me from becoming something ugly, like Konstantin or my father.”
“You were never going to become that,” Vera shifts so she’s looking into my eyes and she says fiercely, “you’re too good and caring. You just needed someone to remind you.”
I smooth her hair back off her damp neck. “You reminded me.”
“We saved each other,” she corrects, threading our fingers together over her belly. “That’s what partners do.”
Partners. Equals.
“Yeah,” I agree softly, dropping a kiss to her nose. “We did.”
We fall asleep with my hand on her belly where our baby is growing, both of us safe and loved and free from the darkness that almost consumed us.
And for the first time in my entire life, I’m not waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Because this—this peace, this love, this family—is real.
And it’s ours.
Forever.