“Fuck, metukà shelì.” A hundred words surge to the tip of my tongue when Lily circles her tongue around the circumcised ridge. My fingers close in her hair, tugging the silky, blonde strands as I guide her deeper. She swallows me down once I reach the back of her throat. “You make me feral, sweet thing. I’m an animal when I’m near you.” Hooking my finger in the corner of her mouth, I hiss at the sight of cock choking her. “Look at you. Such a good girl.”

My praise makes her moan.

I thrust harder.

Push her to her limits.

Make her gag.

Her eyes water and tears stream down her face when she looks up at me.

All the while she accepts every pump of my hips with complete submission.

“I’m so fuckin’ lucky, sweet thing. You could’ve turned me away... hated me for what I’ve done. Instead, you’re on your knees, being my good girl. Belly swollen with my baby. The boy that I’m gonna raised safely tucked in his cot. You’re a goddess, metukà shelì. The perfect woman. My woman—” I tap her cheek, then tighten my grip on her hair. “—and you’re gonna swallow every drop I feed you... aren’t you?”

Lily blinks fast as she tries to nod.

My control reaches breaking point.

For a second time, I hook my finger in her mouth so I can see my cock invading her throat. The sight pushes me over the edge, sends me crashing through my orgasm as waves of pleasure smash into me, and I drive my dick faster and harder into Lily’s mouth.

“Fuck. Yes. Fuck.” With sharp pumps of my hips, I finish down her throat. “Take every drop.” My knees threaten to buckle, and I lean against the basin vanity once I’m done. “Damn, sweet thing. That mouth of yours.” There’s a mischievous glint in her eyes when she opens her mouth and shows me her tongue. Some of my cum is pooled in the middle. I cup her jaw, stroke my thumb along her the corner of her lips. “Swallow it down like a good girl.”

She does as she’s told with a smile on her face.

“Fuck, I love you.” After taking hold of bother her hands and helping her back to her feet, I pull Lily against me. Her belly presses into mine when I slide my hand around lower back to grip her arse. I lower my mouth to hers, and after kissing her long and deep, I say, “You’re gonna make comin’ home the best part of my day... I just know it.”

“I love you, so much.” Some of the ambivalence on display this morning has been erased by the simple act of showing up tonight like I said I would. The ghosts that haunt her gaze aren’t as stark. “We need to talk, though?—”

In her bedroom a phone vibrates.

Lily makes a face.

Half guilt, half apology.

“I need to respond to that so I’m going to let you shower alone... we’ll talk afterward.”

“Okay.”

It goes against every instinct to allow Lily to walk away from me.

But I do because I’m not going to fall back into old habits.

I’ll lose her if I try to make her choose me over him.

It helps that he’s all but taken himself out of the running anyway...

Patience is a virtue I must embrace, especially when it comes to Slash.

Alone in the bathroom, I strip naked, then start the shower. My gaze is wary when I catch sight of myself in the mirror. Behind the satiated exterior lies a man who knows he’s walking a fine line. One wrong step, and I could lose Lily completely. I’ve fucked up too many times to get complacent. My mistakes are innumerable, and they outweigh any progress I’ve made by showing up again tonight.

Losing it over a text message from Slash would be an unforced error.

As much as I’d like to comment on his extended absence, I won’t.

My phone is in my pocket.

I retrieve it.