Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Drago
I’ve never been the reckless type. Everything I do has a purpose, usually one far bigger than my own wants. I was never given space to have a life outside my obligations. I didn’t really have a childhood. There was always a role to play. A job to finish.
Yet here, with Lily, on this fucking jet ski, I feel alive.
For once, I’m not thinking about the mess waiting for me back home. The warehouse that was hit. The men we lost. Declan’s patience is thinning by the hour. He wants the Preacher now, and I need Tatiana to make contact if I’m going to make that happen without igniting a full-scale war.
A war that would put everyone at risk. Including Lily. And our future family.
We’re smarter than that. And I know Tatiana is the key. I have leverage over her. But that can wait. Right now, all that exists is the way the jet ski rocks beneath us and the woman trusting me with her body and her life.
I slide my hands down Lily’s thighs as the water chops against the hull. With one hand, I free my cock from my trunks. With the other, I untie the yellow strings to her bikini on one side.
“Sit,” I order. I shift forward, guiding her onto my lap, holding her just above me before pressing myself against her entrance.
“Fuck,” she hisses.
My jaw tightens as I sink fully inside her, slow and deliberate, feeling the way she stretches around me.
“Good girl, lastochka,” I murmur. One hand slips around her waist while the other connects her wrist to the kill switch. “Both hands on the handles, baby.”
She exhales, shaky, and I circle her clit gently, grounding her. Reminding her I’m right here. That I’ve got her. That I trust her.
“Just twist it back easy,” I say against her back, pressing a kiss there. “We don’t have to go fast. Whatever pace you want.”
The jet ski stutters at first, but she finds it. I hold her steady until her confidence builds, until her focus settles.
When we hit open water, I smile against her skin.
“Look at you,” I tell her. “You’ve got it.”
“This is fun!” she laughs.
I thrust up into her, and a soft moan slips free.
“You ready for more?” I shout over the wind.
“Yes!” she squeals.
I use the motion of the waves, rocking into her, letting the rhythm take over. My hand slides to her throat, firm but controlled, as I kiss along her shoulder.
The faster I fuck her, the slower we move across the water.
Eventually, nothing else exists. Not the sea. Not the world. Just her. The way her hips meet my pace. The way she grinds back on me, desperate and open.
My greedy girl, aching for release.
So I give it to her.
My thumb circles her clit as I drive up into her, hard and relentless, until I’m spilling inside her, shouting her name into the open air.
This isn’t recklessness.
This is freedom.
This is the man I am with her. The man I want to be.
So I don’t rush her. I ease my grip, slowing everything down until the jet ski settles into a steady glide, the engine humming low beneath us. The adrenaline drains from her body in waves, and I feel it in the way she leans back into me, trusting, pliant, completely spent.
I keep my arms wrapped around her waist, anchoring her there, letting her breathe it out.
“Easy,” I murmur against her shoulder. “I’ve got you.”
She nods, fingers tightening on the handles as she keeps us moving forward, the water smoothing out beneath us.
I stay close, chest to her back, refusing to let that connection break just yet.
Not ready to give up the way she fits against me.
The way she feels claimed without a single word needing to be said.
The sun glints off the water ahead of us.
“You okay, baby?” I ask quietly.
She laughs, breathless and dazed. “I think I forgot how to think for a second.”
That earns a low chuckle from my chest. I press a kiss to the curve of her neck. “Good. That was the point.”
I let her keep control, guiding us gently back toward the shoreline while I stay right where I am, hands steady on her hips and my cock twitching inside of her. Reminding her that she doesn’t have to snap back into reality too fast. I know what her brain does when it gets too much space.
When we finally slow to a stop, I rest my forehead against her shoulder, breathing her in. “I’ve got lunch booked,” I tell her casually, like it isn’t something I planned hours ago. “Somewhere quiet. Good food. No thinking required.”
She tilts her head slightly. “You planned that already?”
I smile against her skin. “I know you.”
She turns just enough to look at me, curiosity flickering in her eyes.
“You’ve been anxious about that meeting all morning,” I continue. “You hide it well, but not from me. I figured I’d distract you before you start overthinking.”
Her expression softens. “You’re doing a really good job at that.”
I lift a hand, brushing stray hair back from her face. “That’s my intention.”
She exhales, shoulders finally relaxing. “Thank you,” she says quietly.
I meet her gaze. “You don’t have to carry everything alone anymore, Lily. Not today. Not ever, if I have anything to say about it.”
She doesn’t argue. She just leans into me.