Page 43 of Twins to Tame Him

He pumped his hips, rough and fast, into her and then he was grunting and shaking and burying his face in her neck, and his weight on top of her, for the bare second he allowed it, was the most delicious pressure and Laila pressed her forehead to his shoulder and scrunched her eyes but her body betrayed her yet again and soon, there were tears running down her cheeks and dampening his taut skin in the process.

Sebastian stared helplessly at the softly snoring woman and didn’t know what to make of the fact that Laila had not only sobbed as if her heart was breaking all over again, but then fallen into such deep sleep that he was terrified of waking her.

Gently untangling her limbs from his, he pressed a kiss to her temple, pulled on his sweatpants and quietly padded into their sons’ bedroom.

Nikos was fast asleep, his toy horse clutched in his tiny fist.

“Papa?” he heard behind him.

Heart in his throat, he went to his second son, who’d pulled himself to his feet in the crib and had a hand outstretched toward him. While he hadn’t run away from him or hid behind Paloma exactly when Laila had been gone, Zayn hadn’t exactly sought Sebastian, either.

He was about to crouch down in front of him, wary of spooking him, when Zayn said, “Pick up, Papa. Want cuddle.”

Tears knocking hard against his eyes, Sebastian sniffed and then picked up the little boy.

Tucking his little head into Sebastian’s shoulder, arms thrown around his neck, Zayn didn’t say much, and, in the silence, Sebastian’s heart hammered out a thunderous beat.

He had no idea how long he walked around the vast bedroom, holding one piece of his jagged heart outside his body.

Two yawns and a softening of his body later, his son demanded “sleep now.” Kissing his forehead, Sebastian was about to put him down on the bed when Zayn kissed his cheek. “Papa not go? Papa stay now?”

Tears crowding his throat, Sebastian said, “Yes, Zayn. Papa stay now. Papa’s not going anywhere.”

Zayn stared at him through sleep-heavy eyes and then two seconds later, fell into a deep sleep.

Sebastian walked between the two cribs a few times, and went off to shower, considering and discarding all the words he needed to say to the woman who’d given him more than he’d ever dreamed of.

When he returned to their bedroom in fresh pajamas hours later, with dawn cracking through the deepest dark of the night, his hair still wet, Laila was sitting up in the bed, the tank top back on, her legs folded under her, her head thrown back against the headboard of the bed. Her wide mouth was trembling, and she kept running a hand over her neck where he’d left a mark on her with his teeth, submerged in his climax.

He could sense her tension across the room as if it were his own and loathed that he had caused it. That he had made her doubt him. That he had made her wait.

She looked up just as he reached the bed. He stood there, watching her, arms hanging by his side uselessly, his heart beating so fast that it threatened to rip out of him.

“Zayn spoke to me, just now.” His throat felt like it was full of needles and thorns. “He demanded a cuddle and demanded that I don’t leave again.”

“He missed you. He kept asking Nikos why you left and when you were returning. For the first time, I saw them fighting because he wouldn’t stop asking and Nikos got frustrated. It was both...exciting because they’re growing such distinct personalities and terrifying because I never want them to lose each other.”

“They won’t,” he said, feeling, for once, more confidence in their sons than she did. “Zayn... Did he get really upset?”

“A bit, yes. Like his papa, when he loves, he loves true and deep.”

“Such faith, agapi?”

“It’s both easy and hard, this whole loving-you thing. I... I feel like I’m perpetually on a roller coaster and you know I’m not fond of risks.”

He sat at the edge of the bed and took her hand in his. “I...thank you for locating that address for me. I don’t know what to think.”

“Guido was exactly like Baba. He never threw away a single scrap of paper. Once I remembered that, it was easy. It took only four days and sleepless nights to find it neatly written in one of his address books. I think he meant to give it to me. He knew the boys were yours.”

Sebastian nodded, brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her. All his life, words had come easily to him. Of comfort and teasing and charm and seduction and...yet now... He felt like his sons, his emotions too big and too fast for his throat to work.

“Did you see her? Is she well?” Laila asked softly, taking pity on him.

“I parked outside the flat and sat there for a few hours. I didn’t feel the need to go in. Even after I heard her.”

And then Laila was crawling into his lap, and he heaved them both onto the bed because there was no way he could let her fall. “I’m free, agapi mou. Finally. Thanks to you. Free of shadows and secrets. Free to love you. And I already do. I love you so much that I find words inadequate. I love you so much and I thank the entire universe every day, every moment that you decided to lie to me, and cheat me and seduce me and have our sons. I love your honesty and your calculations and your brainy brain and how you love our sons and how you fill my life with such happiness.”

Laila clung to him, her tears wetting her chest all over again, and Sebastian pushed her into the bed and stared into her amber eyes. “Tell me again.”

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