Epilogue #4
I give a silent huff of laughter. “How about both of us being married? To seriously good people? Not to mention having normal people problems, like difficult children.”
Roman shakes his head. “We were so fucked-up,” he says quietly, “you and me.”
Taken aback, I’m oddly lost for words. Roman’s never been given to introspection, at least not with me.
“I never thought in a million years we’d even live this long,” he says, giving me a rather rueful look.
“Let alone find this kind of happiness. To us,” he says, clinking his glass to mine with a twisted smile.
“We made it, Zin. Most wouldn’t. Not through the kind of shit we faced.
And we made it through as friends, which in my book is nothing short of a fucking miracle. ”
I nod, feeling an unexpected lump in my throat. “I’m lucky to have you.”
He touches my cheek briefly. “We’re lucky to have each other, you crazy little psychopath.”
I can’t help but laugh at that. “Like you can talk, you big scary pakhan.”
“Damn straight. And since you’re about to open shop on my turf, you better not forget it.
” Slinging an arm around my shoulder, he pulls me into a rough embrace and walks me back toward the crowd.
“Macarthur,” he calls out to Luke, “you could have at least told your bride where she actually is, you dipshit.”
It’s past midnight when the last chopper takes off and the final set of headlights winds up the mountain roads behind us.
“Finally,” Luke says, sliding his arms around my waist and pulling me back against him. “Alone.”
“I can’t believe this is ours.” I stare out at the moonlight falling across the water. “It’s amazing, Luke.”
“Wait until you see the bedroom.” I feel him smile against my cheek. “You might have noticed I left that room out of the public tour.” His fingers trail up my ribs, and I shiver.
“I can’t wait,” I whisper.
“But first,” Luke says, backing away from me and pulling off his shirt, “I think we should christen the pool, don’t you?
” Laughing, he grabs me as I try to bolt, unzipping my dress with lethal dexterity and tugging my hair out of its carefully arranged French roll.
“It’s heated,” he says, nuzzling my neck as he carries me over to the water.
“And we can wash the flowers off later.” There’s a sea of frangipanis floating on the surface of the pool, interspersed by candles.
I squeal as he tumbles us into the water, then sigh as it envelops me. Luke pulls me against him and we float, looking up at the carpet of stars overhead.
“Liana and Tommo are staying with Darya and Roman,” he says, his chest propping up my body. “Apparently they’re planning a poker game with Dimitry and Abby. Can you imagine the madhouse, with all those kids?”
“Honestly, no,” I say, laughing. Then, when he doesn’t speak, I broach the topic I’ve been avoiding since Australia. “Speaking of kids,” I say tentatively.
He kisses my head, and I feel his mouth curve into a smile. “You want to do this now?”
“Not particularly.” I turn and kiss him. “I thought you might. Or that we should, maybe. Talk about it, at least.”
“Hm.” Luke’s hand roams over my abdomen. “I’d rather focus on practicing.”
I melt against him. “And I love you for that. But what about in the future? Liana talked about you having a family.” I lift my shoulders against him. “I don’t know that I’d be any good at that, Luke. At looking after other people.”
His laugh rumbles against my back. “But you’re just fine looking after an entire tribe of staff, who come to you with every small thing?”
I elbow him. “That’s different.”
“If you say so.” His voice is still amused. We float for a minute, silence stretching companionably between us. I love that Luke does this, allows time for me to find my own thoughts, instead of filling the silence with words of his own.
“That night with Ofelia in London,” I say quietly. “You told me that you didn’t think being a father wasn’t something you thought you were ever likely to know much about. What did you mean?”
“Wow.” Luke’s body shifts beneath mine. “You remembered that, huh?”
It’s my turn to stay quiet.
“I guess I never imagined a life that would allow me to be a father,” he says eventually.“Or being with someone I actually wanted to have children with.” His lips touch my head. “Until now.”
“Do you really think it’s. . .” I bite my lip, trying to find the words. “I mean, do you truly believe we could. . .”
“Have a kid?” Now his amusement is palpable. “I’m pretty certain it’s well within our capabilities, Zin, yes.”
“I’m not asking if we can, exactly.”
“I know what you’re asking.” Luke’s lips land just behind my ear, making me shiver.
“And the answer is yes. To all the questions. Yes, I’d love to have children with you, Zinaida.
Yes, I do think you would make an amazing mother.
Yes, I’m absolutely certain we could make it work.
” He trails his lips across my ear. “But,” he murmurs in the low, gravelly voice I love, “I’m not in any rush.
We’ll do this in our time, and we’ll work it out together. When we’re both ready for it. Okay?”
I laugh, rippling the water around us. “Why is it you always know what to say to me?”
“Ha.” He strokes his hand up my side. “I will remind you of that, when you get that killing look on your face. Speaking of which,” he says, in a voice full of amusement, “did you see Mak’s face, when all the kids started running around?”
“I did.” Now I’m really laughing. “Where did he take off too, in the end?”
“He and Leon wisely disappeared to some private club in Malaga, which, I understand, is both blissfully child free and also caters exceptionally well to both their tastes.”
I shake my head in mock despair. “What about Rocco and Agatha?”
Luke’s laughter shakes us both in the water. “Last seen heading to her villa in Marbella, where I understand they’re planning to spend the entirety of the parliamentary break. It might be time to look for a new cunnilingus expert.”
I twist around in his arms, twining my body about his. “I’d say I’ve already found one,” I murmur, lowering my mouth to his.
The kiss is long and sweet, and by the time it ends, neither of us is interested in swimming anymore.
“I think you better show me this bedroom,” I whisper, his throbbing length between my legs tantalizingly close to where I need it.
We race across the lawn and into the house, where candles burn on rough wooden benches and the air smells of leather-bound books and the fresh herbs Luke has planted outside the kitchen window.
He wraps me in a towel as I walk ahead of him up the tiled stairs, his hands stroking me dry and stoking the fire within.
“Ready?” he says, pausing outside the closed door.
“Uh-huh.” I squirm against him and smile as I hear his sharp intake of breath. He pushes the door open, and for a moment, I can’t breathe at all.
The first thing I see are the wide glass doors opening onto the balcony terrace, which is overgrown with the same bougainvillea and jasmine that covers the front.
The scent drifts into the wide bedroom, beneath the wooden rafters and across the stone floors, wild and intoxicating.
I can see a vast bathroom off to the right, with Luke’s characteristically enormous rainwater shower and plants that seem to grow from the walls.
But I really don’t notice much apart from the enormous four-poster bed.
“How big is that thing?” I say, laughing as Luke slowly walks us toward it.
“Which thing are we talking about, exactly?” he says, then grunts as I nudge his belly.
“Fine. Well, it’s not a king-size, because actually, I don’t think they make them big enough.
I had the bed made by a local carpenter and the mattress custom-made by the same place that does the mattresses in the Quartier. ”
“Oh, wow,” I sigh as Luke picks me up and deposits me in the center of it. “This is heaven.”
“Not yet, it isn’t.” He lowers himself over me, his mouth capturing mine. “Now it is.”
My laughter turns to gasps as he kisses his way down my body, his mouth lingering on every inch of flesh until I’m sighing and squirming against him. I touch his silver scars, my fingers tracing them like old friends, reveling in the way he shivers under my touch.
He dips his head between my legs, covering me so suddenly with his mouth it takes my breath entirely, then starting the slow, languorous stroking that drives me insane. I clutch his hair, arching up against him as he holds me firmly in place, his tongue circling me with lazy certainty.
“Fuck, Luke,” I gasp, bucking against his mouth. “You need to stop, or . . .”
He just chuckles, the vibration of his laughter against me making my eyes roll back in my head. I’m racing toward orgasm, not wanting to come so soon but utterly powerless to control his wicked torture, when he abruptly stops and flips me over so I’m straddling him.
I go to wriggle down, take his straining cock in my mouth, but his huge hands on my hips stop me from moving. “Not tonight,” he says roughly. “Tonight I want to watch you just like this, princess.”
Lifting me easily, he holds me against the broad, flat head of his cock, stroking me with it until I’m moaning and his eyes are nothing more than dark slits of desire. “Have you got any idea,” he growls, “how fucking beautiful you are?”
Poised on the very tip of his cock, I brace my hands against his chest, my entire body open and ready for him.
“Only with you,” I whisper, staring down at him. “Only ever with you, Luke.”
“Fuck.” He thrusts up into me as I push down, and I scream aloud, my cries floating through the open window, to be swallowed by the waves crashing far below.
He fills me completely, moving slowly beneath me as I ride him, savoring the sensation of him deep inside, trying to make myself wait.
Then his thumb slides around to the throbbing pulse at the center of me, and I feel myself start to lose it.
“Oh!” My hips move faster, knees spreading wider as I press down on his cock and hand.
His eyes on me are like an aphrodisiac driving me onward, his devastating control making me lose my own completely.
“Fuck, Luke,” I gasp as his thumb continues its relentless pressure.
He pulls me forward with his free hand, and I scream again as his mouth finds my nipple.
He moves me atop him like his plaything, and I ripple helplessly under his touch, my entire body lost to his hands and mouth, his cock expanding inside me until I can feel him close to losing it.
I put my mouth close to his ear. “I want you to come inside me,” I murmur, licking his ear, feeling a heady rush of triumph as his body surges at my words. “I want your cock to fill me until I can’t fucking breathe.”
Luke groans around my nipple, his thumb still stroking me relentlessly, building the heat inside me to an unbearable pitch.
“Dangerous game, princess,” he growls, switching his mouth to my other breast. “And you’re going to pay for it.
” He thrusts hard into me, eliciting another scream and hitting the place inside that drives me insane.
“You’re going to break first,” he says, but I can hear the tension in his voice, and I know exactly how hard he’s holding on.
It’s the biggest fucking turn-on of all time.
“Oh,” I gasp. “You forget who you’re messing with, Macarthur.” Sitting up, I twist my hips, the way I know drives him insane, and then clench every muscle inside me, riding him with everything I have.
“Fuck.” Luke’s thumb increases the pressure exactly enough, and he arches up into me the final inch that takes me over and into oblivion, every muscle in my body seizing with a power that wipes all else from my mind.
I hear him roar as if it comes from a distance, feel him explode inside me, but I’m lost, floating on an unending moment of bliss.
I finally collapse against him, limp and spent, the thudding of his heart matching the racing of my own.
Luke’s hand comes up, twining in my hair, and I curl into him.
“Welcome home, Mrs. Macarthur,” he says, and I feel his lips curl against my temple.
“Never call me that in public,” I say, hitting his chest lightly. “Or both of our businesses will be in trouble.”
“Fine, then.” Luke pulls my leg over his body. “Princess it is. So where does that leave me, then?”
“Oh, that’s an easy one.” Propping my head on his chest, I meet his eyes, biting my lip to stop myself from laughing. “You and I both know that you’ll always be Captain McTasty.”
Our laughter floats out the open doors and into the heady Spanish night.
Thankyou so much for reading!
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