Epilogue Stefan #2
We talk for a while longer. About the baby, the business, the future, all the many blessings we don’t deserve but that we get to enjoy anyway.
Iakov has withdrawn all the FBI cases against me. Without his cooperation, the feds are toothless. He’s also accepted a position in my company—on the legitimate side, far away from the Bratva.
I want to build something clean, he’d said. Something I can be proud of.
I understood that. I’m trying to do the same.
When I finally pull away from the conversation, I go searching for my wife. She’s dancing with Babushka, the two of them laughing as they spin in slow circles.
I watch them for a moment. Then I cut in.
“May I?” I ask Babushka.
She pats my cheek. “I suppose I’ll have to allow it.”
I take Olivia’s hand and pull her close. The music shifts to something slower. We sway together, her head resting against my chest.
“Are you happy?” I ask.
“Ecstatic. Are you?”
“More than I ever thought possible.”
She tilts her head back to look at me. “Good.”
We dance for a while longer. Then I lean down and whisper in her ear. “Come with me.”
“Where?”
“You’ll see.”
I take her hand and lead her away from the party, deeper into the garden. The music fades behind us. The lights dim.
We walk until we reach a quiet corner, hidden by tall hedges and flowering vines. The stars are bright overhead. The air is cool and still.
I turn to face her. “I wanted a moment alone with you.”
“We just got married,” she laughs. “We’ll have plenty of moments alone.”
“Not like this.” I cup her face in my hands.
“I love you, Olivia Safonova. More than I’ve ever loved anything or anyone.
You changed my life. You made me want to be better.
You gave me a reason to believe in something good in this world.
I know I’m not perfect. I’ve made mistakes—God, so many mistakes.
But I promise you, I will spend the rest of my life trying to be the man you deserve. ”
“You already are,” she whispers, eyes glistening with tears.
I kiss her. Slowly. Deeply. Pouring every ounce of love and gratitude and hope into it.
“You’re going to make me cry,” she mumbles into the kiss.
“That’s the risk of doing business.” I slide my hands down to her waist, pulling her closer. “I want you.”
“Here? Now?”
“Yes.”
She glances back toward the party. “Everyone will notice we’re gone.”
“Ask me if I give a fuck.”
She bites her lip, considering. Then she nods. “Okay.”
I don’t waste time. I lift her onto a stone bench tucked into the corner of the garden. She gasps as I push her dress up, revealing her bare legs.
“No underwear?” I raise an eyebrow.
“I didn’t want lines.”
“That makes this part even easier.”
I kneel in front of her, my hands sliding up her thighs. She shivers under my touch.
“Stefan—”
“Shh.”
I kiss the inside of her knee. Then higher. And higher still.
She gasps when my mouth finds her center.
Her fingers tangle in my hair, holding me in place as I work her folds with my tongue.
I take my time, savoring every sound she makes, every tremor that runs through her body.
I tease her clit with soft, slurping kisses, and when I finally slide two fingers inside of her and crook them upwards, she melts with the most insatiable whimper I’ve ever heard, her thighs clamping around my head as she moans up toward the stars.
I pull back and stand, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. She’s flushed and panting, her eyes dark with need.
“Your turn,” she says.
I unbuckle my belt and free myself. She wraps her hand around me, stroking slowly. She leans down to suck me into her mouth and I could almost come then and there. She’s so sweet and warm, so fucking perfect in every way.
Thankfully, she has even less patience than I do. She lets my cock fall from her mouth and looks up at me. “Okay, I can’t wait anymore. I want you inside me,” she begs.
I don’t need to be told twice.
I lift her hips and position myself at her entrance. Then I push inside in one slow, deliberate thrust.
She moans, her head falling back. I set a steady rhythm, my hands gripping her waist as I move.
The stars blur overhead. The world narrows to just us. Just this. “I love you,” I say, my voice rough.
“I love you more.”
I kiss her as I drive deeper, harder, losing myself in the feel of her.
She clings to me, her nails digging into my shoulders.
When she comes again, it’s with my name on her lips.
I’m right on her heels. I empty myself inside of her and press her to me like, if we just try hard enough, we can fuse into one.
We stay like that for a moment, tangled together, breathing hard.
Then she laughs. “That’s a good wedding right there.”
I help her down from the bench and straighten her dress. She fixes my tie and brushes a leaf from my shoulder.
“How do I look?” she asks.
“Like you just got thoroughly fucked.”
She blushes. “Stefan!”
“What? It’s true.”
She shakes her head, but she’s smiling.
We walk back toward the party hand in hand. The music is louder now. People are dancing, laughing, drinking. No one seems to have noticed we were gone.
Just before we rejoin them, I stop and turn to face her. “I will love you every day for the rest of my life, Olivia. That’s a promise.”
Fresh tears spill down her cheeks. “You’re going to ruin my makeup yet again.”
I wink. “I’ll ruin it both ways, if you know what I mean.”
Laughing, I kiss her again. And again. And again.
Because I can.
Because she’s mine.
It started with a deal: nine months to bear.
Turns out we get a hell of a lot longer than that.