Chapter 37 Madeline #2
“That’s ‘I love you.’”
My face burned. “You could be lying.”
“You’ll learn. Next. Adar.”
“Adar.”
“Daddy.”
Of course that was the second word. I forced myself not to smile.
“Naturally.”
“Dom.”
“Dom.”
His eyes flashed. “Good. ‘Yes, Daddy’ is kor, adar.”
I tried it quietly. “Kor adar.”
He made a low sound that did alarming things to me. “That’s going to ruin me later.”
Owning me through language. Teaching me how to say I love you and Daddy in his tongue before I’d even agreed to forgive him. Only Vince would consider linguistic imprinting a problem-solving strategy.
“Possessive,” I muttered. “And adorable. I hate that it’s adorable.”
“Get used to it.” He rose, his hands sliding up my sides as he stood. “You’re going to be fluent.”
“Bossy.”
“Dom.” His mouth brushed my temple. “Sit on Daddy and we’ll talk through our problems.”
I didn’t get the chance to argue before he turned, guiding me toward a wide armchair facing the ocean. He dropped into it and tugged me down, arranging me across his lap like it had always been meant for this.
His chest was solid under my back, tank soft against my shoulder blades. One arm wrapped around my waist, the other draped across my thighs, hand curling over my knee. Every point of contact felt deliberate.
My body started to exhale before my brain decided if that was allowed.
“You’re staying right here. On Daddy’s lap.We’ll talk through our problems. Later, I’ll feed you later. We’ll shower, then sleep. If you’re ready and not mad at me anymore, I’ll remind you how good you melt for me. I’ll come in you, you’ll hold it, and I’ll fall asleep inside you where you belong.”
The picture came too easily.
I hated that my whole nervous system lit up at the idea. My fingers found his jaw, tracing the faint roughness of stubble.
“I wish we weren’t so complicated.”
“I know baby,”
“Later, I’d like that. The connection. I’ve been… emotional. All over the place.”
“I know, baby.” He pressed a kiss to my knuckles. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“Sorry.”
“You will never scare Daddy like that again.”he kissed my hair, my temple, jaw. “I mean it. My heart hasn’t stopped racing since the DePout’s concierge told me my girl had vanished from my city.” He kissed my cheekbone, “It didn’t slow down until you were back on my chest. You’re everything to me.”
I tucked myself closer, hand resting over his heart. The beat under my palm hammered, not nearly as calm as his voice. I felt the confession coming. The part I’d been holding back. I was taught silence. No one speaker weakness,
“I feel dependent on you.” The confession came out small. “It scares me. When you ignore me, if I’m enough.”
His arm tightened around my waist, his hand flattening over my stomach like he wanted to wrap around all of it.
“Dom check-in. What’s your primary fear?”
“That you’ll decide I’m too much. And flip that fuse off. One day I’ll walk into a hall and you’ll look through me and this time it won’t be an act. It’ll be permanent.”
“That will never happen. There are walls right now. You know that. I’m not pretending they don’t exist. But walls can fall.”
“Not without explosions.”
“You’re talking to a man whose biggest enemy has his own last name. In my family, love is a weakness. Wives are weapons. A Crow doesn’t get to keep a woman unless he’s willing to start a war to do it. We don’t get nice things. We claim, threaten, blackmail, force the world to accept what we chose.”
“That’s bleak.”
“That’s reality.” His thumb brushed slow lines over my thigh. “I’m telling you right now: I am willing to start that war. I don’t care if your father hates it. I don’t care if sovereign wants to make an example of me. I love you. I’m not letting go.”
The quiet conviction did more than any shouted promise. He sounded less like a man making declarations and more like one reporting future casualties.
“So I’m trapped. Daddy’s, forever.” I said it half joking, trying to ease the tension between us.
“You can fly to any capital you want. I will fly in after you and bring you home. You could accept a proposal in front of a hundred witnesses and I promise you, that heir will not live long enough to see the formal announcement stream.”
A reluctant huff caught in my chest. “You’re insane.”
He tucked my hair behind my ear. His fingers tracing my temple.
“I’m in love.”
Damn. That hit me right in the chest. I took a sharp breath in before spreading my hand on his heart. “I love you too. So much it scares me.”
He exhaled near my ear. “Say it in my tongue.”
I hesitated, then gave in. “Tal ven arik.”
He made a sound I’d never heard from him before, half broken, half awed. Like the words had knocked his lungs sideways.
“You’re lucky I love you.” I tried to lighten it. “You’re a lot.”
“I know baby,” He kissed inside my palm, my wrist, then my knuckles.
My fingers tapped his shoulder. “Bath.”
“Already planning to strip me, angel?”
“I want time with you. Water. Quiet. No sand.” And no witnesses if I changed my mind and climbed him.
“That baby idea is a great fucking idea,” he muttered into my hair.
His heart beat against my palm, hard and steady. I curled closer, the last of the fight draining out on a sigh.
He stood, lifting me with him like it took no effort at all. My legs wrapped around his waist on instinct. His hands slid under my thighs, grip firm, anchoring me against him as he carried us toward the hallway.
Our issues weren’t fixed. But I was in his arms, and for tonight, that was enough to start.