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He caressed the darkest parts of me like they weren’t shadows to destroy but a painting to praise.
*Author’s Disclaimer* This chapter contains open-door sexual content, including consensual rope play. If you do not wish to read or such material offends you, please move on to the next and final chapter.
Three Months Later
Khalani plopped another heavy box onto the bed, inhaling deeply.
Who knew moving into a house would be this exhausting?
To be fair, the house was already in good condition, and Khalani and Takeshi were well acquainted with it.
After spending time in Genesis to help with the rebuild, they’d decided to return to Desert Spring, which had undergone major reconstruction of its own.
Penny had knocked down the wall, and they’d started building more homes, welcoming people from Apollo who wanted to venture out and explore the surface.
She’d been so happy to see them return that she’d offered the yellow house they’d stayed in previously without hesitation, practically throwing the keys at them.
“Make yourself at home! Change whatever you want,” Penny insisted.
And they did.
Khalani and Takeshi rearranged all the furniture and took down the photos of the family who used to live in the house. They were starting fresh and wanted to build new memories without any old ones tainting them.
Hard footsteps reverberated around the corner, and she smiled as the warmest arms hugged her from behind.
“You’ve been working for a while,” Takeshi said, kissing her neck.
“It’s harder than I thought,” she admitted, glancing at the cluttered mess of boxes strewn about. The place was undoubtedly a disaster.
But she loved it, because it was their disaster.
“You should take a break.”
“But we still have so much to do.”
“And it’ll still be here tomorrow.” He whirled her around, leaning in close so she had to tilt her head to meet his gaze. “I want you to take off those gloves and take a shower. Come find me when you’re done.”
“What’s gonna happen when I find you?”
Her heart raced when he did nothing but grin and walk away.
That man was going to give her a heart attack before she hit thirty.
Khalani jumped into the shower and scrubbed herself clean. The hot water washed away the sweat while Takeshi’s tempting smile played in her mind, making her movements faster and more jittery.
Wrapped in a towel, she padded barefoot across the wooden floors. The stillness and light speckling of dust in the air sent a warm shiver down her spine.
He wasn’t in the living room, the kitchen, or the second bedroom. She was starting to get worried when she entered the main bedroom door and didn’t find him.
But then, muscular arms enveloped her.
“Caught you,” Takeshi whispered, biting her earlobe. Her neck craned back as his hands memorized the curves of her body, the towel still wrapped securely around her.
She moved to take it off, but he stopped her.
“Not yet.” He chuckled, trailing kisses down her neck as his fingers traced her collarbone.
Khalani was on the verge of melting under his soft caresses.
“You don’t want to see me?” she huffed, teasing him.
“I’m going to see everything,” he said confidently, turning her around to face him. Pure love reflected in his eyes as he stared at her. But the shred of darkness that permanently lived in those spheres turned her on more than anything. “But first, I want you to lie on the bed.”
“What if I say no?”
“I’m not above begging, Mrs. Steele.”
She froze, heart stalling in her chest. Takeshi had never called her that before, and he’d said it with such confidence, like it was the absolute truth.
“Need I remind you that we’re not married?”
“Yet,” he stated. “Now get your ass on the bed, Kanes.”
Khalani sputtered, cheeks fully red as her body hummed with anticipation. But it didn’t mean that she couldn’t toy with his pulse as well.
She turned away, unhooking the towel as she strolled to the bed, slowly letting it slide down her body. She calmly sat and faced him, her expression innocent as the rest of the towel pooled to the floor.
Takeshi’s pitch-black eyes seemed to grow a shade darker. His gaze roved over her like she was the purpose for his insanity. He licked his lips as his gaze went lower, his hands clenched at his sides as he stayed motionless.
“You gonna stand there the whole time?” she asked.
“I’m thinking.”
“About?”
“All the ways I’m going to devour you.”
Her core pulsed at the wicked gleam in his eyes, and she leaned back, faking calm.
“Sounds dangerous.”
“Exceedingly.” He took a step forward.
“Should I run away?”
“You wouldn’t get very far.”
Another step.
“I’m good at hide-and-seek.”
“That so?” He crouched down, level with her face. “Then close your eyes.”
“What happens then?” She swallowed, her fingers twitching.
“Don’t you trust me?”
Khalani trusted him with her life. She knew with one hundred percent certainty that if she said no and asked Takeshi to leave, he would. Without hesitation.
She felt safer with him than anyone else in the world.
“Yes.”
“Good. Shut your eyes.”
Khalani exhaled deeply and did as he asked.
“That’s it. Keep them closed,” he whispered.
Her skin buzzed like live bolts of electricity were shooting through her veins. Every sense was heightened, and when she heard Takeshi stand and walk away, she cocked her head, listening for any movement or hint as to what he was doing.
A slight rustle echoed back to her, the closet door opening. She heard him rummage around, searching for something. Khalani yearned to find out what was happening, but she kept her gaze firmly shut.
His footsteps returned.
“Lift your arms,” Takeshi instructed.
She did so without hesitation, but when she felt a layer of rope gently wrapping around her wrists, she nearly burst out of her skin.
“Do you want me to stop?” he whispered.
“No. I’m just freaking out a little.” She released a nervous chuckle, keeping her eyes closed. The bed dipped slightly, and his warm breath brushed her ear.
“I’m nervous, too.”
Her brows knitted. “You don’t seem like it. You always seem so…unafraid.”
Takeshi’s lips curved against her skin. “That’s because I only let the nerves in for a few moments. I acknowledge the anxiety. How I’m on the edge of losing everything. But then I let it all go. I take my power back. And when it’s done, I take what is mine.”
She barely breathed as Takeshi moved behind her and tied her wrists to the bedposts. His knots were thorough, tight enough that she couldn’t escape, but not enough that they hurt.
Her mind raced a million miles an hour, so fast that everything became a blur, and all she could focus on was the fact that she was completely letting go of her control. And it might’ve been counterintuitive, but she’d never felt more free.
“Remember.” His dark voice reached her ears. “Any time you want to end this, say stop, and I will.”
“I understand,” she breathed out.
He moved to her side, and she felt his gaze drift over her, as tangible as a finger tracing her skin.
“So beautiful.” The awe in his voice was palpable. His hands skated up her feet, past her ankles, then her muscular calves. Tickling past her thighs. He raised them past her hips and kissed just below her naval.
She squirmed against the restraints.
“Ticklish?” he asked.
“Sensitive.”
So sensitive that the barest touch felt like a hot flame pressed against her.
“Never stop breathing for me,” he whispered.
The command wasn’t just for this moment. It was for the rest of her life. And as long as Khalani’s lungs were able to take in the weight of the world, she’d keep inhaling.
In the next moment, Takeshi’s tongue traced up the center of her core. She gasped, hips arching as he hooked his arms around her thighs and nestled closer.
He tasted her like a man starved, stroking her with his tongue, releasing a masculine groan. And when he lapped at her clit, Khalani saw the universe.
“Takeshi…it feels so good,” she moaned, her nails digging into her palms, her self-control hanging off the edge of a cliff.
He grinned into her core and sucked deeper in response, like he was enacting revenge for all the times he wanted to do this and couldn’t.
She was trying to hold on, but when Takeshi pushed two fingers inside her, she came apart.
Shockwaves trembled through her as Takeshi pulled her thighs closer, keeping his mouth locked on her.
And he didn’t relent.
She trembled, gasping for air, feeling like she was floating on a cloud when he rose off the bed a lifetime later. A slight clanging echoed in her ears as he undid her bindings, and she couldn’t help but open her eyes.
Takeshi threw his clothes on the floor.
Her eyes trailed down his handsome face, past the veins in his muscular arms, down the ridges of his abs, down to the thick length between his legs.
He was a work of art. Finer than any artist could ever hope to capture.
And he was all hers.
Takeshi climbed onto the bed, lifting her so she was sitting upright with her back against the headboard.
“You remember we can stop anytime, right?” he asked in a low voice.
“Yes. But I don’t want to,” she whispered, the truth inherent in her veins as she grabbed his arms.
“Neither do I, Kanes.” His eyes gleamed. “Now open your mouth for me.”
She blinked as he stared at her, raising an eyebrow, waiting for her to obey. When she slightly parted her lips, Takeshi slid his finger between them, the same finger he’d had inside her.
“Suck,” he commanded.
She wrapped her lips around his finger pulling him deep into her mouth as she tasted the evidence of her arousal. Takeshi’s eyes flared as she sucked his finger farther in, taking everything he offered.
He pulled it out in the next second with a pop.
She grinned, relishing the challenge, craving more.
Takeshi lifted to his knees, his hard length inches from her face. Pre-cum already glistened at the tip. She swept her tongue over her lips, leaning forward when he gently—but assertively—pushed her back against the headboard.
“You have to be patient.” His voice was deeper than she’d ever heard it.
“I’m not known for patience.”
“Neither am I. But you’ll beg for it first.” His lip curved in a sexy grin as he obsessively watched every micro expression on her face.
She tilted her head, the charged back and forth making both of them more feral by the second. But she was growing impatient.
And went in for the kill.
“You’ll be waiting forever for me to beg. And if that’s the case, maybe I should find someone else to stick their—”
Takeshi thrust his cock between her lips, silencing her mid-sentence. She preened at her victory and sucked the entire length of him into her mouth, digging her nails into his muscular thighs for support.
He was throbbing.
Takeshi gently threaded his fingers through her hair, pushing farther in until he hit the back of her throat.
“You’re taking it so well,” he whispered.
His praise only fueled her determination to take everything he had to give. Takeshi had always been the steady one. Firmly in control. But the power of watching him unravel because of her? It was the most erotic thing she’d ever experienced.
He’d thought he was in charge.
But it was truly her.
His thighs were shaking, muscles clenched. She felt him swell in her mouth, and when she slightly gagged, he exploded, filling up the back of her throat.
And Khalani swallowed every drop.
When Takeshi was spent, he pulled back, his jaw slack.
He stared silently at her, the depth and ache in his expression able to topple mountains.
“You’re incredible,” he breathed. “So beyond perfect.”
She smiled at the endless love in his eyes, the same affection reflecting in her own. Khalani lay back as he hovered over her, still rock-hard.
She caught a flicker of hesitation in his gaze and reached up to cup his face.
“I love you, Takeshi. I want all of you. Forever.”
His eyes widened, like a part of him was still afraid she’d disappear. Khalani fastened her hands around his neck and kissed him, eviscerating those doubts.
Passion lived in every breath. Every touch. Takeshi kissed her slowly, savoring her, before pressing in.
Her muscles clenched.
Takeshi was big. Bigger than any man she’d ever been intimate with. But he waited for her to adjust to his size before pushing forward, inch by delectable inch, until he was completely buried inside her.
“You okay?” he whispered, scanning her face for signs of discomfort.
“Yes,” she insisted.
Khalani had never been more aware of her heart. It felt like he’d reached into her chest and held the organ tight in his grip, caressing each gentle beat.
Takeshi’s black pupils were blown wide, barely holding on to control. And then, he started to move. He pushed his powerful hips against hers, stroking in and out, hitting a sweet spot that made Khalani’s lips part and rake her fingers down his back.
Pleasure transformed his expression. Takeshi breathed hard, sweat glistening on his forehead as he thrust deeper, as if he wanted to mold them into one.
“More, Takeshi.”
She wrapped her legs around his waist, but he didn’t dare complain. He gripped her knee and lifted her leg, wanting to burrow deeper and have every part of her wrapped around him.
She held on to his broad back as he pistoned his hips into her, each stroke making her wetter than the last. She clutched onto him for dear life, feeling like he wasn’t just inside her body, he was in her heart, mind, and soul.
Nothing on earth was supposed to feel this good. Khalani was sure of it.
He hit another spot that made her gasp.
Takeshi noticed. Always observant. He adjusted his angle and thrust harder, hitting that same spot, over and over again, so deep that Khalani didn’t know where she ended or he began.
With one last thrust, her legs locked tight around him as she convulsed, yelling out. His incredible body shook as he poured into her. And when she was finally able to open her eyes, Takeshi breathed heavily, his faced carved in pure ecstasy as he braced himself above her.
“I don’t think my legs work anymore,” she rasped, feeling tingly all over.
Takeshi lifted his head, his eyes glazed over.
“I think my entire body doesn’t work,” he replied. “Except my dick. He’s fully operational. Or will be in five minutes.”
Khalani laughed at the wicked grin on his face. Takeshi kissed her lips once more before lying beside her.
He pulled the sheets over them, their bodies still humming. She turned to face him as he traced the edges of her cheeks, her chin, memorizing her all over again.
And she let him do it in silence. Words no longer needed.
Khalani reached for his other hand, curling her pinky between his. A quiet promise that stayed between them.
If someone were to ask them how much they loved each other, they wouldn’t answer.
They’d simply smile, keeping the truth for themselves.
Their love defied all odds.
And forever would.
Because he was her end, and she was his beginning.