28. Mila

28

MILA

H e held me close, flush against his slippery, warm body. The contact of his hard strength heated me all the way to the marrow of my bones, and I wanted to snuggle up even closer and never let go.

Alek was more than just a spouse. We'd arranged our marriage for the purpose of securing a better future. We were born from rivals, trained to view the other as an enemy above all else. Forging a union between us was the unlikeliest solution to this war we were thrust into, a scrimmage between our bratva leaders, but in it, we'd found so much more.

He was my rock, my anchor.

He was the one who'd save me, protect me, and now, trust me.

I couldn't hold a grudge against him for how long it had taken him to get to this point.

In another world, I should've been quick to demand that he trust me the moment I killed for him. Under any other circumstances, I should have insisted that he declare his trust and loyalty to me —or realize mine for him—the moment I stopped Andrey from shooting him dead.

Alek and I didn't have an ideal beginning. We hadn't started a "normal" relationship by any stretch of the imagination.

We'd met with our guards up, stuck in our positions to view the other as nothing but the opposition.

And in these torrid days of sex, danger, and lies, we'd come together to be stronger and wiser.

"And I love you, Alek," I said solemnly, staring straight into his eyes so he could not only hear but also see the depth of the emotions I could no longer hide from him.

He growled, narrowing his eyes with a smoldering gaze as he lowered his face to mine. His lips crashed against mine, and I replied reverently, eager and desperate to show him. I wanted to prove it with my lips under his, yielding to his demand for more ardor in return. I wanted to demonstrate it with my fingers threaded through his wet hair, gripping for purchase as I worried I'd drown in lust.

He tore back, breaking the kiss with a heaving, hard inhale. "Say it again.

"I love you."

His growl was louder, filthier, like my words were his undoing. Admitting that I wanted him with all my heart was all it took to unleash the beast.

He picked me up, sliding all of our wet skin together in a hot friction of contact. I clung to his neck, mindful of his injuries over his shoulder. In an airborne moment of weightlessness, I spun in his embrace.

Then gasped.

The cold tiles of the shower chilled me, jarring me from the racing pace of the lust that bound us together in here. This intimacy wouldn't abate. He distracted me from the shock of the cool wall at my back as he pushed me up higher against it.

I wrapped my legs around his waist, seeking something to lean against so I wouldn't fall. He lifted me until my breasts were within reach, and he closed his mouth around my nipple. Sucking in my flesh, he teased and tormented me with the ravenous appetite he always had for me. Never idle. Never slow. Alek wanted me, now and always, and knowing I had that pull, that power over him, made me even wetter.

"I love you," I repeated, meaning each syllable as he switched to my other breast and administered the same agonizing pressure of sucks, nips, and licks.

I kept my fingers threaded in his hair as he gave up with a growl. Gathered back into his arms, he moved me again. His aim was the low bench at the back of the generously sized shower stall. The tiles spanned from wall to wall, and once my ass smacked down on the seat built into the opposite end, I shivered.

Between the hot look in his eyes and the cooler contact of my butt on the bench, I was energized and alive. All with the end goal of pleasing my man. As he lowered his head, draping my thighs over his shoulders, I understood the name of this game. I'd please him by letting him turn me to a molten puddle of desire. I'd satisfy him by opening up wide so he could feast on me until I screamed his name.

He didn't wait, dipping his mouth to my pussy and assaulting my sensitive flesh. He slurped and sucked, in a hurry to drag his tongue over me from my taint to my clit. Not one spot went missed, and he doubled back, again and again, to lick up all the cream that dripped so freely from my aching, throbbing, and needy pussy.

I needed him to push me to those heights of bliss. I wanted him to growl and grunt, eating at me like the hungry monster he was.

Modesty was a joke. I relished every filthy, primal, and carnal manner he took me in.

"Please, Alek." I slipped my fingers through his hair again and twisted the dark locks until he hissed. I was a quick learner. I realized yesterday that he enjoyed a bite of pain. And it worked again now. He smashed his face to my pussy as I ground up against his face, humping him to get there faster. My enthusiasm fueled him on, and with a wicked nip at my clit, I screeched out at the sharp hit of tension. My body was alive, burning with the need to come apart under his mouth, but he wasn't ready to end his fun.

"Tell me," he demanded, reaching beneath me as he kneeled closer to the bench. My ass cheeks filled his hands, and as he squeezed hard, digging his fingers into my skin, he thrust his tongue into my pussy faster.

"Fucking tell me, Mila."

"I love—" I choked on my words, overwhelmed with the blinding pressure of coming. I was right there, so close that I'd cry if he stopped again.

"Tell me!"

"I love you," I sobbed as he sucked a stubborn rhythm on my clit. The tension snapped within me, and as waves of pure bliss and relief coursed through me, tingling my every nerve, he hoisted me into his arms.

"I… I…" I couldn't speak, let alone think. All I could do was feel every wave of my orgasm as it knocked me to speechless wonder, each hard inch of his strong body as he held me in his arms and carried me out of the shower.

"I fucking love you too," he growled before kissing me hard.

I hadn't said it to hear it in reply. But now that he'd uttered it, now that he'd shared the reciprocal miracle of loving me back, I was even more overwhelmed with this sweeping euphoria of the orgasm he'd given me.

Reaching up, I closed my lips over his and kissed him hard. I tasted myself on his tongue, and it only made the connection steaming and sizzling between us that much hotter.

We landed on the bed together, soaking wet and slippery from the shower.

He rolled until he covered me, bracing his weight over me while sparing his wounded shoulder. As he stared down at me with a soulful look of possessive pride, I reached up to frame his face.

"I am yours, Alek."

His lips crashed against mine as he lined himself to my pussy.

"I trust you. With my life."

He pushed in his fat cockhead.

"With my body."

"Yes," he agreed, sliding into me with one hard, long thrust.

I caught my breath, reveling in the delicious burn of him stretching me, filling me, and spreading me so fast and hard.

"I want to be yours in every way," I promised, so committed to making him understand the depth and extremes of my submission. Understanding how much this man meant to me was a hard-fought lesson, something I was too stubborn to open my eyes to for so many days. We hadn't been together long to stumble our way to this compromise, but we'd reached this point, nonetheless, a fast fall to complete affection and admiration, and it would never, ever fade or die out between us.

So long as we lived.

"My wife," he said between grunts and breathing hard with his fast thrusts. "My lover," he added, lifting my leg to hold it up so he could pound into me with more force.

"Yes!" I panted, needing that sweet release he pushed me toward.

"And my partner." He paired that final demand, that ultimate declaration, with a deeper spear piercing so deep inside me. I clenched around him, crying out with the force and intensity of the climax he'd summoned. I milked him as he thrust once, twice, and three more times until he jerked and twitched, spilling his hot cum deep into me.

He collapsed over me, pinning me to the bed with his weight. By the time I wrapped my legs around his waist and hugged my arms around his back, he'd slipped and shifted us onto our sides. It still wasn't enough.

He slumped onto his back, his broad chest heaving with the exertion of catching his breath. Still holding me, he tugged me over so I lay at his side, my leg draped over his, my arm on his stomach.

His dick slipped out, smearing our combined juices along my thigh. We were sticky, still soaking wet from the shower, and dampening the bed, but it didn't matter. We lay there together, worn out from both the rush to make love and the weight of admitting our feelings at last.

It wasn't conventional, confessing love after we'd shared our hasty I do s. But in our world, with arranged marriages that bound couples together for the sake of duty and tradition, finding love was a rare blessing not many could ever dream to experience.

He stroked his hand over my upper arm, caressing me as I came down from the heady rush of two orgasms. Before that, the ups and downs of the day and night would have been enough to exhaust me.

Now, though, I was alert and at peace. I was where I belonged, with my man. My husband. My ruler. Because it was so much clearer. His mission to clear out the old ways of his bratva. His dedication to get to the bottom of this setup.

I scooched closer, rested my chin on my hand that lay on his chest.

He sighed, moving his free arm behind his head to use it as a pillow. Staring down at me, he arched one brow in question. "Hmm?"

"I have an idea."

He raised his other brow.

"The shipment. It's tomorrow."

He nodded. "I realized it before I got word that Geoff had broken in here."

I blinked, stunned. Here I thought I was being the bigger person, coming clean and rambling everything he might want to know. And he'd already been aware.

"You knew the cop was involved?"

He nodded.

I refused to think I had told him all that for nothing. Of course, he would already know. He wasn't dumb.

"If I could get a laptop and log in to my old emails, all those stupid correspondences he had me forwarding to ensure there was no easy route of information being shared…"

He brushed my hair back, smiling slowly. "Yes?"

"Maybe you could make sense of the codes and see if there is anything else that would help you prevent my father from trying to bring down your Family."

He dragged me up over his chest to kiss me soundly. " Our Family."

I nestled my cheek against his, nuzzling his face. "So you can rule at the top."

"With you at my side, with your unwavering support."

I sighed, rubbing my hand over his chest and feeling the strong thump of his heart, beating in sync with mine, now and forever.

We lay there, committed to being a team for a few more moments until he playfully smacked my ass, prompting me to lift off him and let him get up.

"A laptop, you say?" He grabbed a robe draped on a chair and tossed it to me.

"Yes. I memorized all the log-in details."

He grinned. "Good girl."

I caught the robe, smiling as I shoved my arms through the sleeves and followed him out of the bedroom. He tucked a towel around his waist then grabbed my hand. He held it as he led me to the living room, calling his brother on his cell for him to bring a computer over.

After all the trials and hardships of finding each other, the moment had come to truly work together for our future.