Page 63 of Broken Bonds

The sound of a slap on my butt fills the room, it didn’t hurt, but something hot builds up again between my legs.

I caress his face with my hand. His stubble has grown, giving him a more rugged appearance. Wilder. And I love it.

He takes my hand in his, kissing my wrist and then looking at the gold band that he put on my finger the day we got married.

“God, I hate that ring.” His statement takes me by surprise.

“Why? You gave it to me.” It’s a symbol of our bond.

Although he never wanted to wear his.

“You deserve better,” he says, looking back at my hand. “You deserve the whole world, if someone made you believe otherwise…”

I’m not sure it’s the right time, but since we’re talking.

“I still don’t understand, Lionel. I still don’t understand why you lied to me.”

He takes a deep breath. I know that he’s taking his time to build a response that comes out without stuttering.

“We all make mistakes, Hvezda. There are things that I still need to figure out before I can talk to you about them, but the most important thing is that I want you to let go of the past and what binds you to it. It’s time to build the future—our future.”

Suddenly, images of our future flash in front of me like a movie. Celebrating our first anniversary, Thanksgiving with his mother and mine. Me making my soaps in the kitchen while Lionel reviews his business paperwork at the kitchen counter. Eating fried chicken on the patio.

A future full of laughter and joy. A future full of love.

Expectations and dreams being finally fulfilled.

“You think it’s possible?”

“Nothing is impossible for you, Stella Kral, believe it.” Lionel takes my face in his hands, kissing my mouth slowly, my lips open for his tongue to enter and explore. There is no more urgency, only this flame that makes us burn over low heat. “And here I am, walking by your side, ready to help you make all that your heart desires come true.”

“When you talk like that, you make me believe, Lionel.”

“Then go for it, believe it and kiss me.”

I do what he says. For a long time, there are no more words between us. This time I’m on top, moving at my own pace, rewarded with moans and kisses on my breasts. With caresses on my torso, with looks full of passion.

Our bodies communicate in silence, in the darkness of our room, in a language that only our hearts can decipher.

???

“No more Mississippi in this bed,” Lionel mutters as he curls his body around mine. I like this new spooning sleeping arrangement.

“It’s a vast river,” I reply, smiling as I think that there are no more walls between us.

“Not enough to keep me away from you, baby,” he says. “Sooner or later, I would have built a bridge. Construction is my jam, ya know? Nothing could ever separate us.”

Nothing.

He says it, and I want to believe him. I wish I could close my eyes and imagine that danger isn’t lurking in the shadows. No one has told me much about what happened, but the threat is still there, waiting for us to lower our guard.

The thought of losing him while he goes to the office or some job site makes my blood run cold.

Forever. Regardless of the circumstances beyond our control.

What if our forever is too short?Please no, I want to grow old here in this place, this one that has become my favorite, naked and in his arms. Feeling the slow rhythm of his breathing in my ear.

I caress his arm resting on my belly, imagining the moment when a small person grows in it. Not now, of course. But at some point in the distant future.

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