Chapter Seventeen

THE RIDE BACK HOME was like having a stolen glimpse of Heaven. D insisted on sitting on Lukas' lap the entire time, and he kept touching Lukas' face as if he couldn't believe the billionaire was real.

Seeing this could've had her tears flow endlessly, but because D also ended up sneezing right in front of Lukas' face, Betsy ended up laughing instead. Lukas shook his head when his wife tried to take D off his lap. "It's fine," he said gruffly while taking his handkerchief out of his pocket. What were a few drops of nasal discharge when what he held in his arms now was something he had forbidden himself to desire, from the moment he had been informed of his infertility?

A miracle, Lukas could not help thinking as D stared up at Lukas like he truly was his father.

A miracle, he couldn't help thinking again.

And while he knew there could only be one source of miracles such as this—-

Not just yet.

It was one thing to acknowledge that D's response to him was miraculous, but it was another thing entirely to think about the whys and hows. He had a feeling he would get there sooner or later, but for now, Lukas knew he was only capable of taking one day at a time.

And today especially was one worth savoring, with D having dozed in his arms, and his wife once again staring at him with eyes that shimmered with tears.

"I don't know what to say," Betsy choked out.

Lukas carefully reached for his wife's hand while making sure not to wake their son. He brought her hand to his lips, and as his gaze locked with hers, he said simply, "You've already said it by marrying me."

For her wedding day to end there would already have been perfect, but as Betsy soon found out for herself, that was just the beginning.

Upon coming back to his apartment, Betsy was stunned to find the guest she and D had been using already converted into a young boy's bedroom. There was a play area next to the windows, shelves filled with children's books, and a bed that had been fitted inside the frame of a kiddie-sized car.

A gentle knock sounded behind them while Lukas was carefully tucking their son under the covers, and Betsy started in surprise. Weren't there just the three of them here?

"That would be Julie," her husband said quietly as he returned to her side. "Charlotte assured me you would welcome the help of a stay-in nanny, and Julie comes highly recommended. But if Charlotte had gotten it wrong, I can readily have her—-"

Betsy was already shaking her head before he had finished speaking.

"You've gotten everything right except for one thing."

The words had Lukas bracing himself for the worst. Whatever it was, he would make sure—-

"You still haven't made me yours, Mr. Tsaldaris."

—-to rectify, and immediately so, now that he had heard what his wife still found lacking.

Betsy barely managed to swallow back her gasp as her husband swept her back into his arms, and she only had time to say 'hello' when Lukas refused to let her go even when they had to walk past their new nanny.

"Julie, this is my wife Betsy. Betsy, Julie."

Betsy could only wince at the way Lukas was so obviously impatient in getting the introductions out of the way.

"Good evening, Mrs. Tsaldaris."

"We'll have another one to come in for the night shift next week," Lukas told his wife. "In the meantime, Julie will be able to take over from here. Am I correct?"

The nanny cheerfully affirmed this, and her husband then added, "If you hear my wife scream, rest assured it is not because I'm trying to kill her."

Betsy was mortified at the warning. "Lukas!"

Julie, however, was grinning. "Yes, sir."

"Or maybe I am," Lukas mused, "since the French also call it the little—-"

Betsy hastily clapped a hand over her husband's mouth and kept it covered until they reached his bedroom.

"You deliberately—-"

But he had already tossed her into his huge, huge bed, and Betsy forgot what she had to say as soon as the thrilling weight of his powerful body settled over hers.

In seconds, they were both panting, impatience and need causing her fingers to fumble as she unbuttoned his shirt and for Lukas to bite back an expletive as he struggled with unzipping the back of her gown.

She so badly wanted to feel his bare skin against hers, and she could only moan when it was the muscular heat of his chest finally pressing against her swollen breasts.

Yes, yes, yes.

It was all she could think about as her hands restlessly roamed over the sculpted curves of her husband's body. Every inch of him was pure bronzed perfection, and a mixture of helpless need and wonder engulfed her senses at the thought that from this day forward, Lukas was hers and only hers.

She had never been the type to be possessive, but she only had to imagine another woman laying a hand on any part of her husband's body, and—-

"Will you promise me one thing?"

The unexpected tremor in his wife's voice had Lukas abruptly forgetting the demands of his own body, and he immediately turned her face up to his. "What is it?" he asked tautly. "If it's in my power to grant, it's yours—-"

"Promise me you'll only be mine."

Lukas' chest tightened at the way Betsy choked the words out while looking at him like his next words could make or break her.

Everything, he thought again.

Everything he had once thought was true—-

Everything he had thought he knew about women—-

Everything was wrong except for her.

"I promise." He caught her hand and placed it over his heart. "Even if the day comes that you shun the sight of me, I will still and always be yours."

A sob escaped Betsy at the words he had given her. Would it always, always be like this with him? Every time she asked him for a drop, would he always give her an entire ocean?

"Are you even real?" she asked shakily.

"You tell me."

He whispered the words in her ear, and a shiver rocked her body at the heat of his breath caressing her skin.

"Does that feel real to you?"

She had no chance to answer. No chance to even think with his mouth already trailing all the way down until he was nuzzling the valley between her breasts while gently palming both globes of flesh.

"What about this?"

Her back curved up against as he suddenly pinched both of her nipples.

"Does that feel real to you?"

A moan spilled out of her throat as his mouth descended past her belly. She sensed him rising to his knees as he positioned himself between her legs, and her eyes fluttered open just in time to see his head lower in a now-familiar position.

No, oh no, oh yes.

A part of her was genuinely terrified. The pleasure he gave her was something she had never experienced in her single sexual encounter with D's father. But every time Lukas made her come, it was like losing control of herself and becoming a puppet to his touch.

Like now.

Her husband ran his tongue along her folds, and her senses started to spiral. He parted her folds open, and even though she already knew what to expect, shock still coursed through her veins at the first thrust of his tongue. His hands gripped the cheeks of her bottom to pull her hips up, and when his tongue thrust back into her, he ended up tasting her so, so deeply that it was as if they were already one even without him taking her.

Again and again it happened, her husband tasting her deeper and deeper and deeper. But just as she was about to hit the peak, it was when he suddenly pulled away, and when he came back inside of her again, it was this time, oh, finally, finally, finally—-

"Lukas!"

She could only cry his name out as her husband buried himself inside of her, and oh the length of him, and the girth of him—-

Her nails raked his back as he started pounding into her, and he did it so, so hard that she found herself clinging desperately to his shoulders. Every thrust sent her soaring higher and higher, and as much as she wanted this to last forever and ever—-

When her dazed gaze lifted to her husband, and she saw how he was staring down at her with dark eyes full of hunger—-

For her!

The knowledge was just too much, her lips parting in a silent cry as infernal pleasure consumed her from within. She could feel the devouring intensity of his stare as she shattered around his length. It was almost as if he was committing every expression on her face to memory. Almost as if he saw her as the most precious thing in his life, and thoughts of her alone gave him life.

It just didn't make sense, she found herself thinking dazedly.

Even if Lukas had made her his wife, and she had seen how wonderful he was with their son—-

He could have had any other woman on this earth, and so it just didn't make sense.

Why me, she wished she could ask.

Why was it she who now wore his ring on her finger and bore his mark on her skin?

Why was it her name that Lukas was now groaning out as he, too, started to cum and her body that he was now shooting his seed into, again and again and again?

"Stay with me," her husband growled as his hips moved roughly against her, and his seed overflowing until it started trickling down her inner thighs.

Oh, if only she could stay with him and last for as long as he wanted to.

But with the heat of his possession burning her to the core of her being, she was powerless to keep her eyes from slowly drooping, and oblivion claimed her once again.