Epilogue #2
“You were reading about a rabbit.”
“It was a very long story.” I laugh, the sound rough. Her, cool and composed while reading about a rabbit and thinking about this—it’s going to undo me.
I catch her wrist when she strokes me again. “Your clothes.”
Her eyes brighten. “That sounded like an order.”
“It was.”
She releases me and pulls the T-shirt over her head. Nothing underneath. The fabric clears her head and her breasts fill my hands. She leans into my touch.
Her body changed with the pregnancy. I feel the faint marks low on her stomach when my hand rests there, know the new sensitivity of her breasts under my touch. I know where to be careful because she told me, and I listened.
I bend and drag my mouth over the upper curve of one breast.
Elena's fingers move into my hair. “Dominic.”
I suck carefully, then take her nipple between my lips.
Her grip tightens.
Her grip tightens in my hair, her knuckles pressing against my scalp. “Too much?”
“No.” Her answer comes fast. “Do it again.”
I do.
She exhales my name and arches toward me. I roll her other nipple lightly between my fingers while my mouth stays on her breast.
“I need more,” she says.
I lift my head. “Where?”
“You know where.”
“I do.” I slide one hand down her stomach and into her pants. “I want you to say it.” Not as part of a contract, not for a practical reason. I need to hear her ask just for herself.
She holds my eyes as my fingers move beneath her underwear.
“Touch my pussy.”
I find her wet.
“Like this?”
My middle finger slips through her folds and circles her clit.
“Yes.”
Elena's knees soften. I brace her against me and keep the pressure firm and slow.
She rocks into my fingers. “Harder.”
I increase the pressure. “That?”
“Yes. God, yes.”
Her forehead drops against my shoulder. Each shift of her hips tells me where she wants my hand.
Then she closes her fingers around my cock again.
I pull my hand out of her pants.
Her head comes up, her expression a mix of confusion and frustration. “Why did you stop?”
“Because I want you naked on the bed.”
“I was enjoying that.”
“You'll enjoy what comes next.”
“That's very confident.”
“I know what you like.” It’s not a guess. I know the way her breath catches, the exact pressure of a hand that works, the angle that makes her tremble. I’ve learned her.
Her hand tightens around me. “Maybe I want something different.”
“Tell me.”
She releases me slowly. “I want your mouth. Then I want you inside me hard enough that I can't think about tomorrow morning.”
I pull her pants and underwear down together, guide her out of them, and lift her. Elena wraps her legs around my waist as I carry her to the bed.
“Monitor,” she says.
“I can hear it.”
“Check.”
I glance at the nightstand. Our child is still sleeping peacefully.
“Asleep,” I confirm.
“Good.”
I place Elena on the mattress and spread her thighs.
She watches me kneel between them, impatience tightening her face.
“You asked for my mouth,” I say. “Let me give it to you.”
Her hand relaxes.
I kiss the inside of her knee, then move higher and press my mouth to her pussy.
Elena's hips lift on a broken sound. I hold them down and drag my tongue through her, tasting how ready she is.
“Fuck.”
I repeat the motion, slower, then close my mouth around her clit.
She moans and turns her face into the pillow.
I lift my head. “No.”
Her eyes open. “The baby.”
“The baby is down the hall, and the monitor is beside my hand.” I slide two fingers inside her. “I want to hear you.”
Her body closes around my fingers.
“That's unfair.”
“You like unfair.”
“Sometimes.”
I curl my fingers.
She arches off the bed. “Oh my God.”
“Tonight qualifies.”
I lower my mouth again.
Elena twists the sheets in her fists while I fuck her slowly with my fingers and trace my tongue over her clit. Her thighs tighten around my shoulders, then fall open when I hold her hips against the mattress.
Her breaths shorten as she gets close. She stops chasing the rhythm and goes tense beneath me.
I ease back.
She makes an outraged sound. “Dominic.”
“Look at me.”
She lifts her head from the pillow.
“What do you want?”
“To come.”
“How?”
“On your mouth.”
I push my fingers deeper. “Ask me.”
“Please make me come.” Her desperate plea breaks something open in my chest. It’s the sound of the woman who never needed anything from anyone trusting me with this.
I seal my mouth over her clit and stroke the place inside her that makes her lose every careful thought.
Her hips strain beneath my arm.
“Dominic. Yes. Right there.”
I keep the same rhythm until she comes with my name breaking from her lips, her pussy pulsing around my fingers. I ease off only when she pushes weakly at my shoulder.
“Enough.”
I lift my head and kiss the inside of her thigh.
Elena lies back, breathing hard. “I may need a minute.”
“You asked me to fuck you.”
“I'm aware of the agenda.”
I move over her and brace one hand beside her head. “Do you want a minute?”
Her legs open wider around me. “No.”
The head of my cock presses against her entrance, and her body lifts to meet me.
I hold still. “Are you sure you want it hard?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll tell me if you need something different.” It’s a question, not a statement. A promise.
“I always do.”
I push inside her in one deep stroke.
Elena cries out, and I cover her mouth with mine. Her body stretches around me, hot and tight enough to drag a curse from my throat.
I stay buried inside her until her thighs loosen.
“Move,” she whispers.
That single, breathless word is all the permission I need. All the permission I’ll ever need from her.
I draw back and drive into her again.
Her nails dig into my shoulders. I set the hard rhythm she asked for, and the bed shifts beneath us as she lifts her hips to take me deeper.
“Fuck, you feel good,” I say against her mouth.
“So do you.”
“That's all I get?”
“I'm tired.”
I thrust harder.
Her answer turns into a gasp.
“Still tired?” I murmur against her jaw, my thumb stroking the inside of her wrist.
“Maybe.”
I catch both her wrists and bring them above her head, holding them together in one hand.
Her pupils widen.
“Tell me if you don't want this.”
“I want it.”
I tighten my grip enough for her to feel it and drive into her again.
“Yes.” Her legs lock around my hips. “Like that.”
I fuck her with her wrists pinned above her and work her clit with my free hand. Elena pulls against my hold, testing it, and I keep her exactly where she asked to be.
“You wanted to forget tomorrow,” I say.
“I'm not there yet.”
I circle her clit and angle my next thrust upward.
Her mouth falls open.
“How about now?”
“Still remember the committee call.”
I do it again.
“Six-thirty,” she says breathlessly.
Another hard stroke.
“Maybe seven.”
My laugh against her neck earns me a bite on the shoulder.
“Careful.”
“Make me.”
My restraint snaps.
I release her wrists long enough to pull one leg higher against my side. The change lets me drive deeper, and Elena grips the headboard above her.
“Dominic.”
She’s flushed beneath me, taking exactly what she asked for. The trust in her eyes as I hold her hips is everything.
“You're so fucking beautiful.”
Her eyes close.
I catch her chin. “Look at me.”
She does.
“Tell me who you want.”
“You.”
“My name, Elena.” I need to hear it, to erase every last trace of the man who came before me.
Her body tightens around my cock.
I slow, drawing each thrust out until impatience flashes across her face.
“Dominic.”
“Again.”
She reaches for me, sliding one hand around the back of my neck. “Dominic, please.” The sound is a victory. The woman who built a fortress of contracts and justifications is begging me for this.
I kiss her hard and set the pace she needs. Her nails scrape down my back, the sting pushing me closer.
“Come with me,” she whispers.
I press my forehead to hers. “I'm close.”
She covers my fingers with hers over her clit and holds us to the rhythm that makes her thighs shake.
“I love you,” she says.
My next thrust loses its rhythm.
She has said those words in a hospital room, in our kitchen, half-asleep in bed, and once while furious because I moved her charger. I still need to hear them every time.
“I love you too.”
Her fingers tighten over mine.
I drive into her harder. Elena meets every stroke and keeps her eyes on mine.
“Say my name,” I tell her.
She smiles, breathless and exhausted and entirely herself.
Her pussy closes around me. I come deep inside her with my face buried against her neck, fighting to stay quiet. I hold myself there for a long moment, feeling her pulse against mine, before I pull back.
Her breathing slows as I release her wrists. I rub the faint marks there before kissing each one.
The monitor stays quiet. I get a cloth to clean us, bring her water, and slide into bed beside her.
She curls into me, warm and loose against my side and presses a kiss to my chest.
I run my fingers down her back. “Anything else?”
Her leg slides between mine, warm and possessive even while her eyes drift closed. “You.”
“You have me.” The words are the simplest, most absolute truth of my life.
Her mouth softens against my skin. I tip her chin up until she looks at me.
“Say my name,” I say against her skin. “Say my name baby, tell me who makes you come apart like this.”
Her eyes have that hazy look of lust that sends me over the edge every time. She clenches around me, her body arching off the bed as I hear my name tumble from her lips. The only voice I ever want to hear say my name again.
“Dominic.”