“Don’t be nervous. It’s just me,” she said softly and rose up to kiss me.
And just like that, my body started to ease, that anxiousness sliding into the background.
“I just want everything to be perfect,” I said, and closed my eyes. Fuck, there was nothing better in this world than holding my girl.
She gave me one more kiss and then pulled back, still holding my hands. “It’s always perfect when I’m with you.” She gave me this sweet smile.
I felt like I was falling in love with her all over again every single day.
“You know,” she said almost shyly, seductively. “We could always just stay in… stay in bed.”
And just like that, my cock went ramrod-straight. The fucker was digging into the zipper of my slacks, as if telling me that was the best fucking thing he’d ever heard. She started biting at her bottom lip, and I reached out to gently pull the flesh from her teeth, her lip coming free from the gentle hold of her straight, white teeth.
“That’s tempting as hell, and I’m barely hanging onto myself as it is, but I want to take you out, Nadja.” I took a step closer, slipping my hand behind her neck, curling my fingers against her warm, silky skin. I leaned down until we were eye-level, my lips so close I knew when I spoke she’d be able to feel the brush of my flesh against hers. “But afterward… when we’re back home,” I moaned those words, “I’m taking you to bed and fucking you all night long.” I felt her shiver against me, felt the warm, almost frantic puffs of her breath against my mouth as her pleasure heightened.
I kissed her then, nothing overly sexual—even if I was sporting a massive, steel erection right now. The kiss was a promise that meant I wanted to get back to where we’d been. I wanted to erase the last five years we’d been apart.
I wanted her as my wife, the mother of my children. I wanted her soul linked to mine forever. The ring box in my pocket seemed heavy, the reality of proposing tonight something I’d been wanting to do for so long. So long.
And tonight was the night. Too much time had passed for us to waste another minute. She loved me, and I loved her, and I wanted her wearing my ring. I wanted my last name tied to her.
I wanted it all.
Could Nadja see that when I looked at her, I was utterly, hopelessly lost for her?
I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to express to her how I felt with words. Love was such a tame word compared to my feelings for her, for the lengths I’d go to keep her mine.
I’d do anything to protect her. I killed to make that so. And I’d do it again and again. And as I stared into her green eyes, as I let every single emotion take root in me, for the rest of my life I told myself I’d have to show her until the day I died just how important she was to me.
And I looked forward to doing just that. And that’s the thought I had as I produced the box from my pocket, opened it up, and dropped to one knee to propose to the only woman who would ever own my heart and soul.
Epilogue One
Frankie
Six months later
Every time I looked at Nadja, I felt my heart stop momentarily.
She was mine in every way imaginable, and there would be no one or nothing that ever took her away from me again.
After the bullshit with Maximillian, I moved her in with me right away. I knew she was safe now, that even though that motherfucker had gone rogue and we’d done the bratva a favor taking his scum-ass out, no one would ever hurt my girl.
I’d never allow it.
The Preacher boys would never fucking stand for it.
She was my life, had been since the moment I saw her at that cafe, and even the five years she’d been taken for me. No one else would ever own my heart but Nadja.
I felt that as clearly as I felt the air moving into my lungs with every inhalation I took.
I felt her breath on my skin, swore I felt the steady beat of her pulse as contentment filled her.
She is mine.
I thrust in deep, drilling my cock far into her tight body. “Frankie,” she moaned. “God, yes.”
I fucking loved the way she said my name, how she moaned in pleasure because of what I did.
Fuck. “Say it, baby.” She’d know what I meant.
Nadja moaned. “I’m yours.”
Yeah, she fucking was.
I grunted in approval and fucked her deeper, staring into her eyes, loving how she gave me everything just the way I gave myself to her.
She held me tighter and lifted her hips, grinding herself on me. She was wet and hot, her pussy strangling my length. Nadja was euphoria and ambrosia all rolled into one. Curling my hands in the sheets by her head, I started moving in and out of her fast and hard, steady and powerful. I wanted to imprint myself on her, make her mine in every possible way so she knew without a doubt—so everyone knew—that she was mine irrevocably.