Epilogue Adriana #2
"Of course you can help paint." Lachlan grins. "It's your room, buddy. You're in charge."
Matteo beams, and the sight of it makes my throat tight. This is what I wanted. This is what I fought for.
"Why don't you go check out the backyard?" I suggest. "See if there's a good spot for a swing set."
"A swing set?" Matteo's eyes go wide. "Really?"
"Really," Lachlan confirms. "We'll get one installed next week."
Matteo doesn't need to be told twice. He's out the back door again in a flash, and then it's just me and Lachlan, standing in the kitchen of our new house, the afternoon sun streaming through the windows. "Everything okay?" I ask, nodding toward his phone. "With Declan?"
"Yeah." He slides the phone back into his pocket. "Just some business stuff. Nothing to worry about."
"Lachlan—"
"I mean it, Adriana." He crosses the room and takes my hands, his thumbs brushing over my knuckles. "It's nothing I can't handle from a distance. Declan's got it under control."
I search his face, looking for signs of stress or worry, but all I see is calm. "You'd tell me if it was something serious, right?"
"I'd tell you." He lifts one of my hands to his lips, pressing a kiss to my palm. "I promised you no secrets. And I meant it."
"Okay." I let out a breath.
"Come here." He pulls me into his arms, and I go willingly, resting my head against his chest. I can hear his heartbeat, steady and strong, and I let the sound of it calm me.
"I love this house," I murmur. "I love that Matteo has his own room. I love that we have a backyard and neighbors and a normal life."
"Me too." His arms tighten around me. "This is what I wanted for us, Adriana. This is what I've always wanted."
"I know." I tilt my head back to look at him. "And I'm so grateful. For all of it. For you."
He kisses me, slow and sweet, and I melt into it. When we finally break apart, there's heat in his eyes that makes my stomach flip and my pulse race.
"Matteo's outside," I whisper.
"I know." Lachlan's voice is rough, his hands sliding down to my hips. "But later..."
"Later," I agree, and the promise in that single word makes my skin flush.
—
Later comes after we've unpacked the essentials, ordered pizza for dinner and eaten it on the floor of the living room because we don't have a table yet, and after we've tucked Matteo into his sleeping bag in his new room and kissed him goodnight.
Lachlan takes my hand and leads me down the hall to our bedroom, closing the door behind us with a soft click. "Alone at last," he murmurs, and the hunger in his voice makes my breath catch.
"Alone at last," I echo, and then he's on me, his mouth crashing against mine, his hands tangling in my hair.
The kiss is all-consuming, and I kiss him back just as fiercely, my fingers fumbling with the buttons of his shirt.
He walks me backward until my legs hit the edge of the bed, and then we're tumbling onto the mattress in a tangle of limbs.
His weight presses me into the soft comforter, and I arch up against him, needing more.
"Adriana." My name is hoarse on his lips. "God, I love you."
"I love you too." I pull his shirt off, tossing it aside, and run my hands over his chest, tracing the lines of his tattoos. My name is there, right over his heart, and I press my palm against it, feeling the steady thump beneath my fingers.
"I want to give you everything," he says, his voice rough. "Everything you've ever wanted. Everything you deserve."
"You already have." I cup his face in my hands, looking into his eyes. "You've given me a home, Lachlan. A life. A future. You've given me everything."
"Not everything." His hands slide under my shirt, his fingers warm against my skin. "Not yet."
"What else is there?" I'm breathless, aching, and when his hands move higher, cupping my breasts through my bra, I gasp.
"This." He leans down, his lips brushing against my ear. "Us. A family. More than just the three of us."
My heart stutters. "Lachlan—"
"I want to get you pregnant, Adriana." His voice is low and intense, and the words send a shiver down my spine.
"I want to watch your belly grow with my child.
I want to be there for every moment this time—every doctor's appointment, every kick, every craving.
I want to hold your hand when you give birth and be the first one to hold our baby. "
Oh God. The image he's painting—the future he's describing—it's everything I've ever wanted. Everything I thought I'd never have.
"I want that too," I whisper. "I want that so much, Lachlan."
His eyes darken. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." I pull him down for another kiss. "I want to have your baby—"
I don't get to finish because he's kissing me again, his hands moving to strip off my clothes with an urgency that makes my head spin. When his mouth closes over my nipple, I cry out, my back arching off the bed.
"I missed this," he murmurs against my skin. "I missed you. I missed nine years of Matteo's life, nine years of watching you be a mother, nine years of everything. But this time—this time I'm going to be there for all of it."
"You will." I thread my fingers through his hair, holding him to me. "You will, I promise."
He moves lower, pressing kisses down my stomach, and when he reaches the waistband of my jeans, he looks up at me, his eyes blazing. "I'm going to make you come so hard you forget your own name. And then I'm going to fuck you until you're screaming mine."
"Do it," I breathe. "Please, Lachlan. I need—"
"I know what you need." He unbuttons my jeans and slides them down my legs, taking my panties with them. And then his mouth is on me, and I'm lost.
He takes his time, licking and sucking and driving me out of my mind with pleasure.
His tongue is relentless, circling my clit, dipping inside me, and when he slides two fingers into me, curling them just right, I shatter.
The orgasm crashes over me, stealing my breath, and I cry out his name, my hands fisting in the sheets.
He doesn't stop, doesn't let up, and before I've even come down from the first one, he's building me toward another.
"Lachlan—" I'm gasping, trembling, and when he adds a third finger, stretching me, I come again, harder this time, my vision whiting out.
"That's it," he murmurs, his voice rough with satisfaction. "That's my girl. So fucking beautiful when you come."
He pulls back, and I watch through half-lidded eyes as he strips off the rest of his clothes. His cock is hard, flushed and thick, and when he wraps his hand around it, stroking slowly, I feel a fresh wave of arousal wash over me.
"I need you," I tell him, reaching for him. "Please, Lachlan. I need you inside me."
"I know, baby." He moves over me, settling between my thighs, and the head of his cock brushes against my entrance. "But I need you to understand something first."
"What?" I'm panting and desperate, and when he doesn't move, I try to lift my hips to take him inside me, but he holds me still.
"This isn't just sex," he murmurs, his eyes locked on mine. "This is me making you mine in every way that matters. And when I come inside you—when I fill you up and get you pregnant—you're going to know that you belong to me. That you've always belonged to me."
God, yes.
"I do belong to you," I whisper. "I always have, Lachlan. Even when we were apart, even when I thought I'd never see you again—I was always yours."
Something in his expression cracks, and then he's pushing inside me, slow and deep. We both moan at the sensation. He's so big, filling me completely, and when he's buried to the hilt, he stops, his forehead resting against mine. "I love you," he breathes. "I love you so fucking much, Adriana."
"I love you too." I wrap my legs around his waist, pulling him deeper. "Now move. Please."
He does. He pulls out almost all the way and then slams back in, and the force of it makes me cry out. He sets a rough pace, fucking me hard and deep, and I cling to him, my nails digging into his shoulders.
"You feel so good," he groans. "So tight and wet and perfect. I'm never going to get enough of you."
"Don't stop." I'm almost incoherent with pleasure. "Please don't stop, Lachlan. I need—"
He shifts the angle, hitting that spot inside me that makes me see stars, and I moan breathlessly. "You need me to fuck you until you can't think. Until all you know is my name and the feel of my cock inside you."
"Yes. Yes, yes, yes—"
"And then I'm going to come inside you." His voice is a growl, possessive and dark. "I'm going to fill you up with my cum, and you're going to take every drop. You're going to let me get you pregnant, and then everyone will know you're mine."
The words push me over the edge, and I come with a gasp and a cry, my body clenching around him. He fucks me through it, relentless, and when I finally start to come down, he's still going, still driving into me desperately.
"Lachlan—" I'm oversensitive, but I don't want him to stop. "Please—"
"I'm close." His rhythm is faltering now, his thrusts becoming erratic. "Fuck, Adriana, I'm so close—"
"Come inside me," I beg. "Please, Lachlan. I want it. I want you to get me pregnant. I want to have your baby."
That's all it takes.
He slams into me one last time, burying himself as deep as he can go, and I feel him pulse inside me, filling me with his cum. He groans my name, his body shuddering, and I hold him through it, my hands stroking his back as I press kisses to his shoulder.
When he finally stills, he doesn't pull out. He just stays there, buried inside me, his weight pressing me into the mattress. "I love you," he murmurs after a long moment. "And I'm going to spend the rest of my life proving it to you."
I run my fingers through his hair, smiling. "You already have, Lachlan."
He lifts his head to look at me, and the expression on his face takes my breath away.
"This is just the beginning," he says. "This house, this life, our family—we have so much ahead of us, Adriana. So much to look forward to."