Chapter Twenty-Six

Nikk

Silence fills the space of the sprawling Sicilian estate mansion with a round driveway for guests. From the outside it looks like a holiday home fit for the rich and famous, but only hours before the silence chaos reigned.

Matteo died, and his body has been taken away. The floor has been scrubbed clean with no evidence of a man being tortured remaining. That’s how I operate. I don’t leave scraps. Elena and I sit in the old study surrounded by bookcases, and classic Italian furniture.

She looks worn out, but as the sunlight illuminates the side of her face, she’s just as fierce and sexy as when I first laid eyes on her, but there’re answers we both need. She’s sitting comfortably in a rich, blue velour armchair, and I’m diagonally across from her on its matching couch.

“I guess this is it, then.” Her voice is thin and flat, and there’s a wistful sorrow hiding in her eyes that I don’t understand. Is it for Matteo? Does she feel bad about his death?

“Yes. Matteo’s dead, and he can’t plot against you or hurt you ever you again.”

“No, he can’t. That’s over, but so are we.” Her sweet caramel eyes land on mine. “We might as well end it, because I can’t pretend anymore,” she says, choking up. My heart beats fast as I reach out to take her hand.

Firmly, I stand my ground. I didn’t come all the way here to lose Elena. “No. We aren’t going to end anything, Elena.”

Frustration rides over her pretty face, but she doesn’t withdraw her hand. “Is it because I’m carrying your child? There’s no peace treaty, and look!” She gestures flippantly. “It didn’t work out anyway. It all fell to shit. You don’t need me.”

Shaking my head, I slowly bring her hand to my lips, kissing it and closing my eyes. I can’t let her go. I look her in the eyes, wanting the truth. “Do you hate me, Elena?” I ask, clearing the croak in my throat. Her gaze softens, and she reminds me of a sweet gazelle, but there’s a lioness in her too, and I love all of it about her.

She bows her head for a second, staring at her fingers. I wait patiently knowing she needs time, but all I want is to stay married to her, and not for a year. Forever. She sighs, shaking her head with a rueful smirk crossing her beautiful lips.

“I don’t, that’s the problem. I’m supposed to hate you, but I can’t keep lying to myself. I’m not pretending, Nikk,” she confesses, her heart calling out to mine. “I’ve fallen for you.”

We are one and the same. She had the same motivations as me. “I wanted the same too,” I tell her, laying my cards on the table. “I wanted to hate you too. I had my own plans, but that’s not what I feel now,” I explain, letting myself crumble, the burden of carrying around the feelings lifted from me. The release feels good.

“I know, Nikk,” she says softly. “It’s not as if I didn’t. We were both playing a dangerous game.”

“Yes.” I smile, wanting to tell her everything I feel inside, but I don’t know if I have the words. “I intended to use you and throw you away, but you grew on me, and I developed a soft spot for you.”

Elena eyes glisten with tears. “Look at us. Nikkita, I’m in love with you,” she blurts out, crying, and I frown, standing her up to face me. Swiping the tears from her cheeks, I shake my head.

“You cry because you think I’m going to leave you out on a ledge all alone.” She nods with a watery smile. “No, Elena, this feeling here in my chest”—I bring her hand to it so she can feel my heartbeat, loud, steady and open to the only woman I’ve ever loved—“it’s love. I love you too, Elena Orlov.” I lean forward, cupping her face, letting my lips sink into hers. God, her lips are like a tranquilizing drug for me. Sucking on her top lip, I want to lift all the grief, exhaustion, and pain from her, replacing it with pleasure. Her hands ease around my back, her hips aligning with mine as she opens her mouth and willingly offers me the same passionate fervor I feed back to her.

Briefly, I disentangle from her, keeping my warm hands on her face. “Together we will build an unbreakable empire. We’re stronger together.”

“Yes, we are. Side by side. We don’t need to play games anymore.” Elena’s eyes light up, and my heart soars.

“Elena, I need you now.”

She smiles, and without a word, guides me to her bedroom upstairs. Her curtains are open slightly, letting sunlight flood the room. I study the items on her bedroom dresser, pieces of Elena everywhere, but all I can see is her. The mother of my child. My fierce L’vitsa.

“Elena.” I let her name slip from my lips, the light making her hair glossier than normal.

“Nikk.” Elena’s pitch intensifies, both of us standing in delayed lust as she lets her hair down, the fall of it framing her face beautifully. Elena’s fingers drum lightly against her thigh, her mouth parted. There are no more inhibitions between us, and it’s a joy to watch her caramel eyes dancing in the light of the Sicilian daybreak.

Her hypnotizing sweetness tempers my flame, but still I’m scorched with ferocity for every inch of her tight flesh as I step forward guiding my hands to drag her black top over her head. Gently, I let the garment fall to the floor, kissing her collarbone tenderly. I want to take my time. To show her how much I cherish her.

Her breath hitches as I cup a handful of her growing breasts through her bra, holding the heavy weights in my palm. Her body is slowly changing to accommodate our baby, and I can see it. God knows I want to ravish her, but I apply all my self-restraint, listening and watching the cues she provides.

“Don’t be afraid to touch me, Nikk,” she growls bravely. “I want you.” What she doesn’t have in experience, she makes up for in passion. Electricity sizzles between us as I waste no time stripping her of her pants and her underwear. Sucking in a deep breath, I look over the patchwork of her fading bruises, but this time the anger subsides as she lays back and I kiss every single one of the bruises on her body from head to toe.

She’s a beautiful goddess to me, no matter how Matteo marked her. I drink in her body, leaving a trail of hot fire with my tongue, letting it linger in different places as I find her hot spots. She’s willing—I kiss her inner thigh, hearing her sweet whimper.

“You are so sexy, Elena.” I drive my mouth to her moistness, and involuntarily Elena lifts her hips, ready and craving my touch. I give her what she wants, tunneling myself between her thighs, swimming in her nectar.

“Oh my God! Wow,” she cries out, and I know it’s a first for her. I’m proud I can be that man for her, and that no other will be able to touch her. Sliding my hands under her ass, her pleasure is my pleasure.

Applying pressure, I explore pushing a little more between her silken folds, lost inside her until her body quivers, letting go.

“Nikk!” she cries out as I take the cue while she comes down, ripping the rest of my clothes off. The fire burns inside, fueled by the heat of the Sicilian sun on my back.

She watches intently as my cock bursts free, groaning at the sight, her wanton body wriggling beneath me.

“You are everything to me, Elena.” I slide up the middle of her body, dropping my weight on her, gently inserting my heavy shaft inside her, and testing. She lifts her legs, softly wrapping them around my back, her hands gliding over the tattoos of my sordid past.

I keep my eyes connected to hers, our souls merging. Gripping her leg, kneading, and pumping, I leave all of myself inside Elena, desperate for the same respite she craves as I take her on the journey. Her breathing grows heavy as the pace increases, her nails digging into my back.

“Nikk, you feel so good.” Lost in one another, my cock swells inside her, the fire between us causing us both to break into a pool of sweat. I can’t get enough of her, but this time our lovemaking is different. It’s as if this is our first time as husband and wife. United forever.

I burst free, emptying inside of her. “You’re mine, all mine,” I call out in jagged rasps, my heart beating hard against my rib cage. “You do something to my soul, Elena. You break it open,” I tell her.

“And you do the same to me, Nikk. Maybe, this all happened for a reason.” She gasps as we collapse together, sated and content in each other’s arms with the covers off, only the Sicilian sun shining on our naked bodies.

“Maybe it did, and for whatever reason, I’m happy about it. I love you, Elena,” I say out loud, wanting to tell her over and over again.

“I love you too, Nikkita.”