Chapter 38 – Poppy
Brady was exhausted. We’d ended up staying to feast with the syndicate. Only when they brought out a karaoke machine and began to uncork yet another round of white liquor equivalent to Everclear did we slip away.
Brady’s eyes drooped as we read. The moment his head hit the pillow, he drifted off.
I lingered for a few minutes, thinking about the day.
There were other kids here. This neighborhood was actually perfect for him.
He wouldn’t be kept in a cage, forced to grow up apart from friends or family.
There was a small army of men here who would die to keep these streets safe—and many who would live for them.
I didn’t ask for more than that.
Rushing from his room, I tiptoed down the hall, through the kitchen, and pushed into Ivan’s room without knocking.
The kingpin looked up from his bed. He pushed something under a pillow, but not before my eyes snagged on the title. A children’s book. Ivan was…practicing reading.
“Something wrong, Poppy?” He sat up straighter.
The lock depressed under my thumb with an audible click.
“No.”
His eyes darkened to twin gems of onyx in the lamp light. “Careful, flower.”
Screw that. I was done sneaking around the issue.
With a flick of my fingers, I dropped the pink, cherry pajama pants. As I stepped out of them, I lifted the matching tee over my head.
Ivan reached for me, but I shook my head.
“Lie back,” I murmured.
“Poppy,” he warned.
I closed the distance, pushing his shoulders down to the pillow. My left leg swung over his hips as I climbed onto the mattress. “I want you. I want you tonight…and every night.”
Bending, I pressed my lips against his pulse. I gave his hair a tug, forcing his neck to a longer arc. He let me. Hands planted on my hips, assuring me that he was in charge, he let me work my mouth down his body, taking a measure of control.
I knew it was thin.
I felt him ready to snap.
But he held back.
I ran my tongue against his collarbone, peppered hot kisses across his chest, and sank my teeth into his abs.
Ivan released his hold, hands skimming up to my shoulders as I pushed his grey sweatpants down his thick thighs.
I kissed him there too. Those powerful legs, strong enough to hold us.
With a tug, the pants came free. But I kept his dark socks on only because I realized they were covering wrappings and bandages that coated the bottoms of his feet.
“My grandmother swore that devout nestinari would come away from their dance without a single scorch mark,” he huffed wryly. “Guess my faith isn’t that strong.”
I crawled over his body. “But your heart is.”
I placed a palm on his chest. His hands settled around my hips, that rough, calloused touch skimming over my skin.
With a rough, possessive tug, Ivan drew his arms around me and tugged me to his body. His growl was a hot exhale against my ear. “I tried to do the right thing. I tried to send you away.”
“Bastard.” I threaded my fingers into his hair and tugged. “I’m staying.”
“I know. And I’m selfish enough to enjoy that idea,” Ivan rasped.
I caught his jaw between my fingers. Though my hands were small compared to him, my grip was anything but gentle. “You’re going to come inside me this time. Got it?”
His lips tipped up despite my hold.
“I mean it, Ivan,” I said fiercely. “No pulling out. I want your cum.”
Funny that here, in the privacy of the room, with this man, I didn’t feel the least bit embarrassed by the scandalous demand. It was right. It was long overdue.
“If we do this, we’re as good as married in my eyes.” He lifted me and pressed me back, down along his length.
My wetness drew along his cock.
He sat me down on his thighs. One thick finger drew along his shaft.
“What makes you say that?” I breathed, struggling for air that didn’t quite seem to fill my lungs.
Ivan placed the tip of his finger on his tongue. His eyes closed, and he sucked. “Because once I’m in you, you’re mine. From now until the end of our days.”
My heart jumped and slammed against my ribs.
“I’m going to fill you up and pray to any god listening that I put a baby in you, Poppy.” Ivan lifted me again, both hands splayed possessively around my hips. “You can have your white dress in the church. But I make my vow to you here and now. You belong to me. And I? I belong to you.”
He lowered me, this time tipping me forward ever so slightly to bring the head of his cock to my entrance.
“Nothing will be between us. We are man and wife. Our futures are twined.”
I bit my lip, struggling to keep back a smile.
But he saw. He always did. “Is that not the right word?”
I reached between us, rubbing his cock through my folds. “Entwined. Intertwined. Something like that.”
Ivan huffed. “Fuck English.”
“No.” I pushed his cock back, lining him up. “Fuck me.”
He brought me down on his cock with a forceful thrust. I sucked in a sharp breath, falling forward, hands catching his chest.
Ivan flexed his hips.
And snapped them forward.
Pleasure shot through me, so deep. So good. Bare, with nothing keeping us apart.
“Well?” he growled.
“Yes?” I rocked back, letting him stretch and fill me.
His hands on my hip pinned me in place. “Do you agree?”
Oh, right. “I am yours, and you are mine,” I promised.
Because at this point, it was painfully obvious that only something as disastrous as death was separating us. And that was only a temporary thing. I would find Ivan in the afterlife. I wouldn’t waste time searching but go straight to him.
“Come here,” Ivan demanded. He released my hips to catch my face. I continued to ride him as he kissed me—kissed me senseless.
Up and down, in and out. I rode his heavy cock, burying it deeper and deeper. I whimpered, grinding my body against him.
“My seed is going to explode inside you,” he murmured against my lips.
Inside my body, the muscles clenched tight.
“You like that, flower,” he breathed. “You like the thought of my cum filling your hole.”
I went to kiss him, but he pinched my jaw, holding me back.
“Answer me.”
“Yes,” I panted.
His thumb ran along my bottom lip as a hum vibrated his chest under my hands.
“Do you know what I like?” he whispered.
Um, this? I wasn’t sure what to say, so I kept quiet.
The corner of Ivan’s mouth tipped up. “I like knowing that you might be pregnant by dawn.”
I convulsed. His powerful cock felt amazing, driving into me. Claiming me. It was only a matter of time before he marked me for the whole world to see. Whether it happened tonight, or in the nights that followed, in a few months everyone would see the swell of my belly and know I was his.
Ivan slid a hand down my spine, pushing hard against my lower back. “That’s it, my little flower. You like the idea, don’t you.”
I nodded.
He released my jaw, tangled his hand in my hair, and brought my mouth down to his. The kiss was nothing short of fire. He ravaged my mouth. Teeth clashed, tongues tangled, and each breath was shared between us.
Pleasure splintered and fractured, winding up to release. At this point, it was all I could do to meet his thrusts. He drove with a relentless urgency into me while I clung to him. I was no longer holding myself up. My arms wrapped around him, tugging him tight.
“I need to—”
“Sshhh, you’re doing so good,” Ivan rasped. “Just another minute, and I’ll give you what you need.”
My body tensed. The release coiled tight. It was torture waiting for him, but that was what I needed. Ivan changed everything. My own pleasure depended on feeling his.
“Right there,” he ground out, driving up and forcing me onto him.
My back arched as heat blasted inside me.
I shattered.
The muscles in my core pulsed, taking what he gave with a blinding pleasure. Spots of molten starlight danced across my vision. That magical feeling consumed my senses. Even after the initial release, the orgasm kept building. The effect was soul-binding.
Ivan rolled us over a moment later. He gripped my legs and brought them high on his back. “I’m going to stay inside you, keep my seed from leaking out,” he rasped.
It felt like my brain short-circuited. Part of me died a little.
A mini death. But in its wake was a sweet euphoria.
I clung to Ivan as my heartbeat slowed. His matched the pace, thrumming above me.
We lingered like that for what seemed like an age.
Somewhere in the peaceful aftermath, time and space lost meaning.
There was only us—and the possibility of more.