Chapter 36 Nik
NIK
It has been a year since the night I realized I loved Leanna Campisi.
A year since the night I thought I might lose her.
A year I have spent earning her trust and love, earning the right to be her husband.
It’s been a year of managing a somewhat hostile merger of two significant mafia families.
And in the meantime, I was playing hockey for a team owned by my soon-to-be father-in-law. I still love the game, and I have negotiated with him regarding his efforts to throw games for profit. That is, of course, the least important thing, though.
What is important is that Leanna and I have had a chance to get to know each other. We have dated, like normal people might. We have discussed our upbringings, lives, and families.
And with each new day, I know for sure that I wouldn’t just kill for her, I would die for her, as well.
“You ready, boss?” Dominic asks, grasping my shoulder as I adjust my bow-tie for the millionth time.
I grin at my friend, at the tuxedoed figure staring back from the mirror, at the whole impossible situation.
“Never been more ready for anything in my life,” I say.
We step into the hall, through the heavy double doors, and into the aisle of the grand old Catholic church. The music swells, echoing off the vaulted ceilings, and every head turns. Campisi, Barkov, Chicago Reaper, all eyes are on me.
I take my place at the dais, and then Dominic walks in, Misha on his arm.
I do not miss how Misha winks at stupid Conor as she walks by, where he sits on the edge of the aisle. He grins and winks back before noticing my scowl, which instantly wipes the grin from his stupid face.
Over my dead body will that match happen.
But every trace of irritation disappears when Leanna appears at the door, her father at her arm.
She’s radiant like an angel in white, her gown skimming her body, clinging in all the places that make men lose their minds.
My grin spreads, uncontainable, when her eyes meet mine. She walks too slowly for my liking, every step a kind of exquisite torture.
When she makes it to the dais, her father lifts her veil and kisses her cheek. He gives me a pointed look that is more fatherly than mafia Don, before taking his seat next to Leanna’s brother, Ezra, in the front row. I do not yet trust him, but we are working on it.
I barely hear the priest’s words; I hear nothing but the pounding of my own heartbeat because all I can see is her.
This woman, who once upon a time stood nervously and awkwardly in front of me.
The woman who kept showing up, week after week.
I didn’t know what she was doing to me at the time. But she did.
Later, after the party, we are in the home I bought for us, a few miles from her dad’s sprawling compound.
“I can’t believe this is ours,” Leanna marvels, looking around at the renovations she managed over the past six months.
I pull her close, kissing her on the forehead. “Anything for you, my love.”
She sighs and rests her head on my chest. Light music plays through the house’s sound system, and we start to sway together.
“We did it,” she says, and her voice is small.
“Yes, we did,” I agree.
“You know who else did it?” she asks. “Conor and Misha.”
“What?”
She giggles. “Oh yeah. There was a lot of eye-fucking at the party, and then I saw them sneak out during the dancing.”
“That doesn’t mean they—”
“Come on,” she interrupts. “That’s been on the verge of happening for months.”
“Yebuchiy mudak,” I grumble in Russian.
“She’s an adult,” Leanna says. “She can make her own choices.”
“Fucking Conor though?”
We both go quiet, still swaying. It’s probably four in the morning now.
“Are you tired? That was quite a party.”
“Italians know how to do weddings,” she says.
“Indeed.”
“Did you like it?” she asks.
I pull back and look at her. “Are you serious?”
“I don’t know,” she says. “It was a lot.”
I move to put my hands on her cheeks, making her look at me. “Ana. I liked it because it meant I was marrying you. That you’re truly mine now, you know that. Right?”
She flushes. “I know. And…no.”
“No?”
“No, I’m not tired.”
Ah.
I step back to take her in. The sweetheart neckline frames the soft swell of her breasts, the smooth fabric hugging her waist before spilling into a full skirt that sweeps the floor. Simple. Elegant. Perfect for her.
She’s stunning—fire and softness woven together—but I know she’s just as perfect without it, and I ache to see all of her.
I reach out, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. My fingers linger against the warmth of her skin. She meets my gaze, hazel eyes dark and wide, and the air between us all but sizzles.
“I’ve wanted to kiss you like this for a long time,” I murmur.
“Like what?” she asks.
“Like you belong to me.”
Then I kiss her, slow, deep, aching. I taste her, hands cupping her face, and she wraps her arms around my neck, folding into me as if she was made to fit.
Leanna lies beneath me, her skin glowing in the candlelight, her lips parted, hair a halo of dark waves against the linen, framing her flushed cheeks. The only sounds are the soft crackle of the fire and the shallow, needy cadence of her breathing, each inhale thick with anticipation.
She’s mine now in every way that matters.
“I’m going to worship you tonight,” I whisper. “Every inch.”
“Spread your legs for me, malishka,” I murmur, my voice low and rough. “Let me see what’s mine.”
Her breath catches, but she obeys, opening for me with a trust that knots something brutal and tender in my chest. My hand slides down the velvety of her thigh, and I watch the shiver that follows my touch.
When I slip my fingers between her slick heat, she gasps, already so wet, ready, and aching.
“You’re already trembling,” I whisper, kissing and sucking her hard nipples, “So easy to adore.”
My fingers curl, slow and teasing, stroking deep until her hips lift off the bed. I add pressure with my thumb, circling that sensitive bundle of nerves, and her moan cracks the silence like a gunshot.
“Nik—oh, my God—”
“Not quite the deity you were expecting?” I grin darkly. “Keep saying my name like that, and I’ll believe it.”
She laughs, broken and breathless, until her words dissolve into another moan, hips bucking under the pace I set, slow, then deep, then cruelly light.
Her hand fists the sheets. “Don’t stop. Please, don’t stop.”
“I’m not stopping until you fall apart.”
It doesn't take long. She comes with a cry, legs clenching around my wrist, her body arching like a bow. I keep my fingers inside her, coaxing every last wave until she’s panting, chest rising and falling into a daze.
I slide down her body, lips following the trail of her release, tasting her like something holy. When I bury my face between her thighs, her hips jerk, she’s still sensitive, still fluttering, but that only makes her wilder.
“Oh God,”
“No, malishka,” I growl, voice muffled against her. “It’s still me.”
Her thighs clamp around my head as I suck and lick, slow and relentless.
My hands grip her hips, anchoring her as she writhes under the onslaught.
When she shatters again, sobbing my name, I don’t let up.
I ride the wave with her, licking her through the tremors until she’s gasping, begging, boneless.
When I finally lift my head, her eyes are glazed with pleasure, lashes wet. Her lips move, but no sound comes out.
I kiss her thighs, her navel, her chest… then hover over her, caging her in.
“Still breathing?” I murmur, brushing hair from her flushed face.
“Barely.”
“Good. Now hold on to me.”
I guide my cock to her entrance, thick and stiff and aching to be inside her. Her body is soft, welcoming, but tight, so tight as I press in, inch by inch.
“Fuck,” I groan, burying my face against her throat. “You’re so fucking tight and perfect.”
She wraps her legs around my waist, her nails digging into my shoulders. “Then take all of me.”
And I do.
I thrust deep, slow at first, savoring the stretch, the heat, the way she gasps my name like a prayer. Then harder. Deeper. The rhythm builds as our bodies crash together in a dance older than sin.
“Leanna…” My voice breaks as I lose myself inside her. “You feel like heaven and hell all at once.”
She pulls me closer, breath hot against my ear. “Then burn with me.”
I roll us, dragging her on top, watching as she rocks against me. Her hair spilling over her breasts, lips parted in a breathless moan. Her hands on my chest, her body grinding, chasing her high.
I grip her hips, guiding her faster.
“That’s it, baby. Fucking ride me.”
She whimpers, head thrown back, body quaking as she comes again, hard and shaking.
I follow, a heartbeat later, surging deep inside her with a raw, guttural moan. My body locks, every muscle tight as I spill into her, claiming her in every way that matters.
For a long moment, we don’t move. Just breathe.
She collapses against my chest, still trembling. My arms wrap around her protectively, anchoring us both.
“You okay?” I whisper, pressing a kiss to her temple.
She smiles, lips ghosting across my collarbone.
“Better than okay,” she murmurs. “You married me just to wreck me, didn’t you?”
“Of course not,” I say with a tired grin. “That was just a bonus.”
I roll her over, and I press my forehead to hers.
“I love you,” I whisper, and it’s more than words, it’s the pulse of my soul, the raw ache of desire, the weight of every moment we’ve survived to get here.
“I love you too,” she whispers, voice trembling, lips brushing mine in a soft, lingering kiss.
And we lie together for a long time, my seed inside her. I have never wanted children, but something about this idea sparks my interest.
“What are you thinking about?” she asks, still breathless.
“I came inside of you,” I say.
“Are you worried about that?” she asks.
“I…” I take a moment. “No. In fact, I want to hold it there.”
She’s quiet for a long moment, and I wonder if I’ve offended her. But then she rolls over and puts her head on my chest.
“I never thought about kids before. I just….I wanted out. You know? I felt trapped, and I didn’t want to feel that way about anything. But I also didn’t know what I wanted, not until that night. Nik, I was so embarrassed for…What I did.”
“What you did!”
“Yeah. I crawled on your lap and dry-humped you until I came,” she says, laughing, hiding her face in her hands.
I pry her hands apart and kiss her nose. “I liked it. And it got better each time. I’m glad you came back.”
“I am too. I’m glad I came back to make out with a masked, unknown man, week after week.”
We both chuckle. “We have weird lives,” I say.
“We do. But here we are.”
I turn so we are facing each other. “I cherish you, Leanna. I know our start was unconventional. I know I’m a violent brute.
I know I’m not good enough for you. I know that every day in these families of ours will bring new threats.
But I love you, and I will spend every day earning your love in return. ”
She smiles, and it is so radiant that it fills my heart with joy.
She touches my cheek and says, “You already have.”