Chapter Twenty-Nine
Annika
I stood outside Lucas’ door, my pulse thundering in my ears. I couldn’t remember the last time I was this nervous, this apprehensive to do what I felt deep down was right. Yet, I was still afraid that he wouldn’t feel the same way about me, that he wouldn’t want me here.
The celebration was still roaring downstairs, but all the chatter and the sound felt distant now, as if the world had shrunk to this single moment that was to decide my future, my destiny.
My hand hovered just above the wood, my fingers trembling. Why was this so hard? Deep down, I knew the answer to that question and that was why I was here.
I’d already made my choice. I’d turned it over in my mind a thousand times since the battle. There was no going back to who I was before all of this… not completely. But saying it out loud, putting it into words, made it real. Made it permanent.
I exhaled shakily and forced my knuckles to tap against the door, soft enough that for a second, I worried he might not hear it.
“Come in,” his voice called, low and steady, cutting through the tension coiling in my chest.
I pushed the door open, slipping inside. He was sitting in the chair by the window. His shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, his hair disheveled like he’d been running his hands through it. He looked tired, but when his eyes met mine, something softened in his expression, a flicker of warmth that made my knees feel unsteady.
“Annika…” he said, rising from the chair.
I stepped inside, closing the door behind me. My hands found each other, twisting nervously. I didn’t know where to start, so I didn’t. I let the silence stretch between us for a moment, trying to gather the courage to speak.
He took a step closer, concern etching faint lines on his brow. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” I said quickly, my voice coming out softer than I’d intended. “I just... I needed to talk to you.”
He nodded, his eyes never leaving mine, patient and steady, even as I felt like I was unraveling inside.
“I’ve been thinking,” I began, my voice barely above a whisper. “About everything. About... what happens now.”
His jaw tightened, and I saw the way his shoulders tensed. He didn’t say anything, but I knew he was bracing himself for what I might say.
“I told myself I couldn’t stay,” I said, forcing the words out even as my throat threatened to close up. “That I needed to go back. To my mother, to my old life. It’s what I’ve been holding onto this whole time, the thought of going home. But...”
I hesitated, my heart pounding painfully against my ribs. His gaze hadn’t wavered, but there was something in his eyes now, something raw and unguarded that made it even harder to speak.
“But I can’t imagine leaving this place,” I admitted finally, the words tumbling out like a confession. “I can’t imagine leaving... you.”
The weight of the truth settled between us, heavy and fragile. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him, afraid of what I might see on his face. But when I finally dared to glance up, the intensity in his eyes took my breath away.
“You’re sure?” he asked, his voice low and rough, as if the question cost him something to ask.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I’m sure.”
For a moment, neither of us moved, the air between us charged with something I couldn’t name. Then he stepped forward, closing the distance between us, and took my hands in his.
“Annika,” he said softly, his thumb brushing over my knuckles. “You have no idea what this means to me. I… I love you…”
The tension in my chest eased, replaced by something warm and steady. I hadn’t realized how much I’d needed to hear those words until he said them.
“I love you, too,” I admitted, feeling his arms wrap around me.
Before I could draw another breath, Lucas leaned down and kissed me. It wasn’t soft or tentative like I might have expected. It was fire and thunder, a clash of everything we’d held back. His lips were warm, firm, claiming mine with a need that made my heart race and my knees weaken.
I gasped softly against his mouth, and he took that as permission, deepening the kiss. One hand slid to the small of my back, pulling me closer until there was nothing between us but the rapid rise and fall of my chest.
My fingers found their way to his shirt, clutching at the fabric like it was the only thing keeping me steady. He tasted of wine from the celebration downstairs, heady and intoxicating, and the faintest hint of something darker, something uniquely him.
Everything else, the noise from below, the weight of the past, even the uncertainty of the future, it all faded into nothing. All I could feel was him.
When he finally pulled back, just enough to rest his forehead against mine, I was breathless, my lips tingling. His eyes, dark and full of something unspoken, searched mine.
“Annika,” he murmured, his voice hoarse, like he was afraid of breaking whatever fragile thing had just bloomed between us.
I swallowed hard, my fingers still fisted in his shirt. “Lucas,” I whispered back, my voice shaking as much as the rest of me.
There were no more words after that. None were needed. Everything we couldn’t say out loud had been poured into that kiss, and it left me feeling unmoored and entirely alive at the same time.
Gently, he picked me up and took me to the sofa. I trembled from his touch, as if it were our first time. In a way, it was. We’d silently promised each other everything, our forever after.
He spread my legs, as he dropped down onto his knees before me. He kept his gaze on me, drinking in the sight of me, almost as if he were noticing little details about me for the first time, falling in love all over again. I couldn’t help but smile. He smiled back, as his finger traced an invisible line down the inside of my thigh.
My entire body shivered, yearning for more. But he was taking it slow. Almost painfully slow, but that made it all the more pleasurable.
Tenderly, he kissed my knee, then traversed upward. His kisses were feather-light, filled with the devotion only he could bestow upon me.
While still smiling, his fingers gently took the straps of my pants sliding them down, over my trembling knees, calves, then toes. Then, his lips found my panties. A small explosion blossomed inside of me, releasing pent up heat. I swallowed heavily, not taking my eyes off of him.
A moment later, I felt his warm breath on me, but instead of bestowing more kisses on my throbbing flower, his entire tongue pressed against me, allowing me to feel the tidal wave of warmth, pleasure, a sensation that took hold of me immediately.
“Mmm, you taste so good, Annika…” he spoke as he lapped up the juices which were already trickling downward out of me. There was nothing I could do to prevent that from happening. He always knew how to awaken the animal inside of me, the animal I didn’t even know I had.
He kept on playing with my swollen bud, flicking his tongue over it, sucking it, only to slide his entire tongue over it again. I could see stars before my closed eyes, if such a thing was even possible.
Then, with my eyes still closed, I felt his fingers inside of me.
“Oooh…” I moaned, unable to hold the sound of my pleasure to myself. I wanted him to see, to know, to be fully aware of what he was doing to me.
I grabbed a fistful of his hair, keeping him in place. I didn’t want him to stop. Not now, not ever. I wanted this feeling always, I wanted to be awash in senses.
As I kept moaning loudly, it happened. I knew it would. I had been trembling all this time, just waiting for him to push me into the abyss of delight. Finally, it happened.
His fingers in combination with his slippery tongue did the trick. And they did it so easily. I tensed up, feeling the pulsations of my insides, only to relax and unclench. But then, another wave hit, and I tensed up again, completely losing myself in this feeling.
When I looked down at him, his lips were covered in my juices, glistening in the dark which was illuminated only by a few oil lamps scattered about the room. He looked more handsome than any man I had ever seen or would ever see. All that was me belonged to him. I knew that now. I knew it before, but I was too afraid to admit it. Not anymore.
I pulled him by the jacket collar up on top of myself. I kissed him desperately, as if our lives depended on it, tasting myself on his lips. He was smiling through our kiss, releasing himself from the confines of his clothes, which were lying on the floor a moment later.
I slid my hand downward, wanting to feel him.
“Oh, my God…” I moaned again, feeling his cock in my hand, his tip seeping with sheer need. I wanted him as much as he wanted me, and that thought made me wilder than ever before.
“Take me,” I urged, not wanting to wait a moment longer to be his.
He didn’t need to be told twice. With his forehead tipped against mine, his hips bucked against me, taking me in one full, unforgiving thrust.
“Oooh…” I closed my eyes, biting my lower lip.
Then, I felt his tongue on my lips.
“Open your beautiful eyes, Annika,” he whispered. “I want to look at you…”
I did as he told me, feeling his size stretch me beyond the confines of pleasure as I knew it until that moment. He had opened whole new horizons of delight, and I just couldn’t get enough of this delicious man who was now mine… all mine.
I dug my nails into his back, the animal in me wanting to mark him as my own to anyone who would dare and try to take him from me. His hips kept bucking against me, thrusting deeper and deeper, fucking me mindlessly, until I could barely breathe.
Higher and higher, that delectable sensation refused to let go of me, not until I was completely done.
His body tightened, spilling his seed deep inside of me, and only then did my body allow my orgasm, following his.
His lips crashed against mine. His breath was my own, and mine was his. We were one, just as it should be, just as it would always be.
It took us both a few moments to calm down. Then, he smiled in a way that I knew I would never be able to live without.
He slowly slid to the side of the couch, still keeping me close, keeping his arm locked around me, as if he never intended to let me go. That was good, because I had no intention of leaving him. Whatever life had in store for us, we would face it together.
I listened to the steady rhythm of his breathing, when he softly whispered. “I love you, Annika… I’ve loved you from the moment I laid my eyes on you, when you saved me in that dirty alley. I knew then that you were my soul mate.”
I lifted my lips to meet his in a tender kiss.
“I love you, too, Lucas,” I whispered back at him, meaning every single word of it. “Before you, I don’t think I believed in soul mates. Perhaps I never even thought about it. But you’ve shown me that soul mates do exist. I am yours…”
“And you are mine,” he finished my sentence.
I had no idea when we fell asleep. All I knew was that I would wake up into another dream, a dream of love that had become my reality.