Page 39 of Ivory Oath

“Nice enough for you to forgive me?”

It’s funny that I asked Mikhail for time to think. Now, we’re sitting here on a blanket under the stars and I can’t imagine what there is to think about. The truth is embedded in my bones, as much a part of me as my own heart.

“Of course I forgive you, Mikhail.” I turn into him, my hand curling above his heart. “I love you, too.”

His eyes widen. He’s stunned for just a second. Then he grips my waist and pulls me into his lap. “Show me.”

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.”

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