Chapter 51
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
THORA
We return home that evening. To his home. Well, technically ours now.
The door barely closes behind us before Volchok barrels toward me, and Anton throws an arm across my body to keep him from knocking me over.
“Sidet.”
Volchok drops into a sit, though excitement still quivers through his massive body, his tail sweeping wildly across the floor. The sight makes me want to throw myself around him because he’s just so damn cute.
“Aww, it’s okay.” I duck beneath Anton’s arm and crouch in front of him, laughing when Volchok pushes his enormous head into me. “You’re just happy to see me, aren’t you, sweet boy?”
He practically collapses at my feet, rolling onto his back so I can scratch his belly exactly as I did the day we met.
What can I say? It was love at first sight. The same might be true of his owner, though that took me a little longer to admit.
I glance up at my overprotective boyfriend, who looks thoroughly unimpressed with both of us.
“Stop worrying about me.” I cradle his hand. “I’m okay.”
Anton bends and kisses the top of my head. “Good luck with that, printsessa. I’m going to be worried about you for the rest of my life.”
My smile pulls wide as I straighten, wrapping my arms around him and holding his gaze. “I’m okay with that.”
“You better be.” He slides his arms under me and gathers me against his chest, carrying me up the stairs. “You need to rest.”
Volchok follows us, and the second we step into the bedroom, he jumps onto the bed and sprawls across the mattress.
Anton stops near the footboard, his eyes narrowing. “I see what you’re trying to do.” He nudges Volchok’s giant body aside. “But it isn’t going to work. She’s mine.”
Volchok grumbles, and I bite back a laugh.
“Seems you have competition.”
“Mm-hmm.” Anton points toward the floor. “Tell him to be careful.”
“Why?”
His eyes slide to mine, dark with possession. “Because you belong to me.”
Heat rushes through me, and I capture the front of his shirt, bringing him down for a kiss. Behind Anton, Volchok releases another defeated sound.
“It’s okay,” I tell him, peeking over. “I love you too, Volchok.”
Anton’s brow lifts. “Be careful who you say that to.”
“Jealous of your own dog?”
“I’m jealous of everyone when it comes to you.” A smirk touches his face as he opens the bedroom door and points into the hall. “Out.”
Volchok huffs, but listens, padding out with one last wounded look in my direction before Anton shuts the door behind him.
Then he returns to the bed and lowers me onto the pillows, his eyes heavy-lidded as they travel down my body, taking in my baby-blue spaghetti-strap tank and cutoff jean shorts.
“I think you need something comfortable to rest in.”
“I’m not even tired.”
His hand moves to the back of his neck, and that’s when I notice the outline of his very hard cock. He hasn’t touched me since I came out of the hospital. Too afraid, I think.
I’ll have to fix that.
“You’re right,” I tell him, my fingers already working the zipper down as I tug the denim past my hips.
“Thora…” He presses two fingers into his temple. “What are you doing?”
“Doing what you ordered.” I shove the shorts down until I’m in nothing but my panties. “Getting comfortable.”
When I sit up and tug my tank over my head, my breasts spill free. Anton closes his eyes, and he might be praying, though whatever he mutters under his breath sounds anything but holy.
Grabbing the belt loop of his pants, I draw him closer. “I want you, Anton.”
My fingers close around his massive erection, and he growls, his fingers sliding into my hair.
“Want me to make that better, baby?” I ask, batting my lashes and playing innocent.
“Mm…detka, why are you trying to kill me?”
“It’s what I do.” I shrug, a teasing smile stealing over my face as I undo his button, drag the zipper down, and shove his pants and boxers out of my way.
“Thora…” He groans, his palm cradling the back of my head as I lick the crown of his cock. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“Because…” I swipe my tongue over him again. “You needed a little help, or you would’ve been too afraid to fuck me. And frankly, I’m tired of waiting.”
“I was trying to be good.” His fingers flex in my hair. “But you make it difficult.”
“I’m not going to break, Anton. Let me show you.”
I lie on my front and take him deep until he hits the back of my throat, and he keeps me there until I gag.
“Yes, just like that, detka.” His voice turns rough enough to scrape over my skin. “I’ve missed that mouth.”
He fists my hair, working me up and down his length. When I moan, it only spurs him on, his palm landing sharply against my ass until my core throbs. The more I suck him, the more animalistic he becomes.
“You like it when I use your mouth, don’t you?”
I nod, looking up at him as I keep working him.
His cock jerks against my tongue, another curse tearing from him before he grips my hair and pulls me away.
He turns me onto my back and settles over me as my legs lock around his hips.
Holding me beneath him, he looks at me with every emotion laid bare.
“I love you, Thora.” He eases inside me with torturous care, making me feel all of him.
“I love you too.”
His mouth claims mine, the kiss carrying everything he still struggles to say, every confession and truth buried under the rubble of lies passing between us without another word. He thrusts deeper until I take all of him, stretching and filling me so perfectly.
Anton kisses me with slow, deliberate hunger as his fingers slide into my hair. His mouth trails down my throat and over my collarbone before closing around one hardened nipple. Pleasure shoots through me, and when he gives the other the same attention, I’m already losing my mind.
His eyes lift to mine, the possession in them making my pussy clench around him.
He captures my mouth with renewed hunger, his teeth catching my lower lip while his fingers work my clit until I’m right on the edge. Anton groans against my lips as his thrusts turn punishing.
“Oh God, yes. Yes…”
Each thrust buries me further into the mattress, his cock swelling inside me until my moans dissolve into helpless cries. He rolls his hips while his fingers keep circling, and the rough sounds breaking from him only push me closer.
He fucks me faster, every nerve igniting while my core grips him and the sharp slap of skin fills the room.
“You’re mine.” His stare holds me captive. “Say it.”
“I’m yours.”
A guttural growl tears from his chest as he hooks his hands beneath my thighs, pressing them toward my shoulders and driving into me with brutal force.
“Fuck…yes!” Pleasure overtakes me so completely that I can do nothing but surrender to it, wave after wave leaving me breathless and shaking.
He pistons deep once more before following with a strained groan, spilling inside me as his body shudders against mine, giving me everything I’ve always wanted.
With Anton, I’ve found love. Another family. Someone I can take care of, and maybe someone I can grow a family with one day.
We haven’t talked about children yet, but I want to. I think he’d be a great dad.
His movements slow until he nearly collapses above me, catching himself on one elbow.
“See?” I work my nails through his scalp. “I didn’t break.”
He gives me a half-smile. “Not even a little?”
“You mean, will I be sore tomorrow? Most definitely, yes. You’re a big boy.” I kiss the edge of his mouth.
“Are you trying to ease your way into round two?”
“Is it working?” I wag my brows.
He chuckles, biting my lip. “You’re trouble.”
“I can’t help myself.”
“Don’t I know it?” His tone drops and he kisses my temple, an arm sliding under me as he holds me close to his chest.
When he looks at me this time, there’s something there, unspoken and real.
“What is it?” I brush my thumb over his cheek.
Silence flutters around us before he breaks it with two words I never expected to hear.
“Marry me.”
I jolt upward, almost knocking my forehead into his. “What?”
An amused laugh leaves him. “Marry me, Thora.”
He sits up and brings me onto his lap, staring up at me with so much love that my chest nearly caves in.
“I didn’t plan this.” His thumb traces my cheek. “I don’t even have a ring. I’m not as good at this as my brothers are, and I don’t know the right words to make it sound pretty.”
My chest expands, unable to hide the shock and beauty of his proposal as he goes on.
“But I know I want you. For the rest of my life. I want you in this house, in my bed, at my side, everywhere.”
Tears fill my eyes as I gaze at the man who stole my heart from the moment I saw him sulking at Kirill’s wedding.
“I want every morning, every night, every argument, every smile. I want your name tied to mine, and I want the whole world to know you are my wife.”
“Anton…” I slide my hands over his face. “Of course I’ll marry you. In this world. In the next. In all the places in between. You’re mine, and I’m always yours.”
“Are you sure?” Disbelief clouds his eyes.
“Yes.” I kiss his jaw. “Every single time you ask me, my answer will always be yes.”
Anton goes still, then his mouth seals over mine, kissing me so deeply it feels like he’s giving me the pieces of his soul he never trusted anyone else to hold. When he draws back, his forehead rests against mine.
“My wife,” he whispers, as though he’s trying to believe it.
I smile against his mouth. “Yours.”
“I could get used to hearing that.”
We lie in each other’s arms, his fingers tracing lazy circles across my back, and I wonder if I’d ruin this moment by bringing up having a family of our own one day.
With his past, he might not even want children.
It would hurt, but I want him to know he’s my forever either way, no matter what that looks like.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“Would you ever want kids?”
His hand pauses against my spine.
Crap.
I don’t want to scare him, but this is an important conversation. One we need to have before we walk down the aisle.
A long silence stretches between us before his fingers begin tracing my skin again.
“I’ve never even considered it.” He eases back to look at me, his features tightening as the pain he’s trying to hide slips through. “What kind of father would I be? What could I possibly teach a child? I can barely connect with them. You see that, don’t you?”
I curl my hand around the side of his neck, holding him there.
“I would never ask you to do anything you don’t want, but being afraid is normal.
My mother always said it was practically a rite of passage.
No one knows how to be a parent before a baby is placed in their arms. Some people never learn, but others rise to it and discover a love so fierce it changes them.
That kind of protectiveness already lives inside you. ”
I press my palm to the center of his chest, his heartbeat quickening beneath my touch. “I know you better than you know yourself, Anton Marinov. You would be an incredible father.”
He drops his forehead to my chest. “What if I’m not? What if I ruin him?”
My fingers rake through his hair as I kiss the top of his head. “Then I’ll set you straight.” A grin steals across my face when he peeks up at me with an arched brow. “Don’t give me that look. You know I will.”
He chuckles. “Fine. When you’re naked, I would agree to anything.”
His arms wind around me, and when he kisses me this time, it’s slower, deeper, as though he’s trying to hold on to the future we just let ourselves imagine. And all that he once carried slowly slips away, the baggage no longer his to bear alone, but ours.
Until there’s only him. Only me.
Only the promise of a future we haven’t yet lived.