16. Viviana

"I didn't think I'd ever have this again." I arch my back, letting Mikhail stretch the collar of his shirt to nip at my collarbone. "I can't believe it."

During the worst of it—being trapped in that cell with nothing to look forward to except visits from Trofim—I would let myself imagine seeing Mikhail. I couldn't think about Dante without falling to pieces. But for a few seconds, I could imagine a future where I was able to take in the square line of Mikhail's jaw and see his furrowed brow. I just pictured his face and felt something like hope spark in my chest.

Now, I'm straddling his hips with his stubbled face in my hands. He kisses me like I'm water and he's dying of thirst. I'm more than familiar with that level of desperation.

"Believe it." He palms my breasts and then leans down, circling his mouth over my peaked nipples. He sucks on them through the thin cotton material until I'm rocking against him. "You're going to have this again and again… and again."

He grabs the hem of my shirt and I lift my arms to help him peel it off of me. In the back of my mind, there's a delusion that he'll be able to see my baby bump. But that thought, along with every other thought in my head, disappears as he presses my breasts together and lavishes each of them. He pivots back and forth to flick his tongue over my nipples and scrape his teeth over my sensitive skin.

"Mikhail," I moan.

A growl rumbles through his chest, deep enough that I feel it vibrate through me. Then he tips me backwards. In one move, he's on top of me. Trailing his tongue down my body. Circling my belly button.

When he rises onto his knees and looks down at me, there isn't a drop of nervousness in my body. There's no space for it amidst the bright, searing happiness. Mikhail's eyes are dark and wild. He's looking at me like I'm something precious he's found and wants to keep for himself. I know that he loves me exactly as I am.

Mikhail hooks his fingers in my panties and peels them down my legs.

"Perfect," he breathes, spreading my thighs and pressing a kiss behind my knee.

He teases his mouth closer and closer to where I want him until I'm whimpering with need.

"I haven't even touched you and your legs are already shaking." Mikhail smirks. Before I can accuse him of being a smug tease, he dips his face between my legs and slides his tongue over my slit.

"Oh my God." I throw my arms over my head, fisting my hands in the blanket as he laps at me.

He curls his hands around my ass and lifts me off the blanket, angling me against his mouth until I don't need to open my eyes to see stars.

I stroke my fingers through his hair, surrendering to his tongue and his touch. He delves into me, thrusting again and again until I'm squirming in his hands. My thighs clamp around his ears, holding him exactly where I want him until I fall apart.

The orgasm roars through me and tears burn in my eyes. It's not until I'm on the other side of it with Mikhail gently bringing me back to earth with soft kisses to my clit that I realize why I'm crying.

"I forgot that I could feel like this," I pant. "No pain. No fear. Just… you."

Mikhail crawls over my body, his lips slick with my release. "I'm making it my solemn duty to make sure you never forget again."

I lazily swipe my thumb over the crease between his brows. "I don't think there's any reason to be solemn about it. I certainly won't be."

He claims my mouth, kissing me in long, heady strokes. I curl my leg around his hip and draw him closer. Being with him like this feels like fucking. I could do it for hours.

But his erection is hard and hot against me, straining against the front of his pants. I reach between us and slide my hand under his waistband.

"Fuck," he groans, dropping his forehead to mine. Beads of sweat dot his chest. Heat pours off of him like a furnace as I give him a rough stroke.

"Did you forget what this felt like?" I whisper.

Mikhail grips my chin, forcing my face to his. "I'll have to die before I forget what you feel like around my cock, Viviana. Maybe not even then."

I shove his pants down. He kicks them away and then he's there between my legs. He teases his tip against my opening, parting me slowly.

"Please," I beg, clawing at his lower back.

He draws his hips away, toying with me. "What do you want, Viviana?"

"I want you." I thought the pawing and panting was obvious, but apparently, I have to spell it out for him.

He drags his nose along my cheek, turning every touch into some new erotic experience. "But how? There are so many options."

I lift my hips, but Mikhail pulls away again. I groan. "I only see one."

Suddenly, he pins one of my arms over my head, careful to avoid my bandaged wrist. His breath is hot on my neck as he presses his lips to my racing pulse. "I could drive into you deep. I could split you open until you scream my name."

"Yes," I breathe.

Nerves flutter low in my stomach and between my legs. I think I'll combust if I don't feel him inside of me.

He chuckles low against my jawline like he's making a point to trace every inch of my body with his lips. "Or," he offers, skating his fingers tenderly down my arm, "I could slide into you inch by inch. I could fill you one gentle fraction of a thrust at a time until you're desperate for more. Until you beg me to fuck you. Until you think you'll die without my cock."

I dig my nails into his back, drawing a wince from him. "You're already killing me, Mikhail."

He reaches between us to grip his erection, dragging himself up and down my slit. "You're so wet," he groans, circling my clit with the head of his cock.

"I don't care how you fuck me, Mikhail. Take me any way you want." His eyes darken with desire and I nod. "Yes. Like that. Whatever just crossed your mind, you can take me like that."

He shakes his head. "You don't know what you're signing up for, Viviana."

"Yes, I do." I curl my palm around his stubbled cheek. "I'm signing up for you and all that comes with it. Just please, please fuck me, Mikhail."

Mikhail's mouth crushes over mine at the same time he slams himself deep inside of me. I cry out, but he swallows it, claiming my mouth with his tongue and my throbbing pussy with every single inch of his hard cock.

He scrapes a hand up my thigh, curling around my ass to lift me closer. He tilts me against him and thrusts.

"Thank you." I arch back and he kisses the slope of my throat, the hollows beneath my collarbones. He's in my head, between my legs, palming my breasts. I've never been so consumed by any person in my life the way I'm consumed by Mikhail Novikov. I clench around him, drawing him even deeper. "I feel you everywhere."

He slams into me, our bodies slapping together. "I love the way you take me. The way you pulse around me when you're close."

He's so big that the smallest flutter is all it takes to feel him against my walls. I wrap my leg over his hip and roll against him, grinding as I milk him from the inside.

He whimpers and that alone might be the single most vulnerable thing he's ever done. More than his apology or his confession. Mikhail drops his forehead to my chest and groans, telling me in his own way exactly how much he wants this.

And it's enough to completely unravel me.

"I'm coming!" I cry out into the night. I fist my hands in his hair and ride him. When my body gives up, Mikhail grabs my hips with bruising force and drives into me.

"I feel you," he snarls, pumping into me again and again. "You're so tight."

A few more pumps and his hips stutter. He spills into me, finding release deep inside my core. Then he collapses, his head pillowed on my chest.

I hold him, grateful for the weight of his strong body. For the way I can still feel him twitching inside of me.

I've never been this close to another person before. How can I still want more?

When he finally raises himself up on his hands, I drag a finger through the hair on his chest and try to fight away my nerves. I didn't plan to tell him this. Then again, I didn't plan on any of this. If it was up to me, Dante and I would still be in our tiny apartment. I'd be working for a boss with Funyun breath and coming home to Dante after dark every night.

Maybe it's past time I throw away my plans.

"You're gonna have to buy another star soon," I tell him, my voice shaky.

"I will if we keep at it like this." He chuckles and smooths a hand over my stomach. His fingers dip dangerously low, somehow stoking desire in my limp, sated body. "I came so fucking hard and I already want you again, Viviana. I want to see you pregnant with my child. I want everyone to know that you're mine."

I'm his. He's mine.

Thank God.

I'm so relieved I can barely keep the words in. The confession pours out of me. "We can do this as many times as you want and nothing will change… because I'm already carrying your baby. I'm pregnant, Mikhail."

The smile is frozen on his face for a few seconds… before it begins to slip.

Mikhail pushes back so he's kneeling between my spread thighs, outright frowning down at me.

So much for post-orgasmic bliss. It feels like he just dumped ice water over me. "Mikhail?" I start to ask. "You're scaring?—"

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me?"