Page 126 of The Reluctant Wife

He reaches up and wipes them away. "Does this mean you don’t need space anymore?" His throat bobs as he swallows.

I cry harder and he holds me and rocks me until my tears slow. I sniffle, and burrow further into his chest.

He reaches behind me and unzips my dress. The fabric slithers down my shoulders. I rise to my feet, and it slinks down to catch around my waist. I shimmy out of it until it pools around my ankles. The tendons of his throat flex. He drags his gaze up my thick thighs, over the roll of my stomach, to the valleybetween my breasts, then the hollow of my throat, and to my face. Little flickers of heat arise in his wake.

"You’re so beautiful," he whispers.

"You make me feel beautiful," I confess.

He scoops me up in his arms and walks toward the ensuite bathroom. Putting me down, he runs a bath, dropping in a couple of my favorite bath bombs. The scent of honeysuckle, vanilla and strawberries fills the air. He walks around lighting the candles set up at strategic locations around the bath, and when he switches off the light, a soft golden glow fills the space.

"It’s so gorgeous," I murmur.

"Not as much as you." He turns to find I’ve removed my bra and panties and tossed them aside. Even in the shadowy light, his green eyes glow. Color smears his cheeks. He reaches me and bends to kiss, first one nipple, then the other. I shudder, then gasp when he presses little kisses down my stomach to my belly button and further down until he reaches the space between my legs. He licks at my clit, and the burst of pleasure in my veins threatens to undo me completely. My knees knock together, and I dig my fingers into his hair for support.

Already on his knees, he sinks to his haunches and urges me to part my legs. Then he swipes his tongue up my weeping slit, and I cry out. He licks and sucks and holds my pussy lips apart. Then curls his tongue around the swollen nub between them. Shivers of ecstasy course up my body. And when he squeezes my butt cheeks and bites down on my cunt, I cry out.

The orgasm hits me so quickly, my lungs burn. My nipples tingle. My scalp feels like it’s splintering into tiny pieces, each of which carries his name on it. As I slump, he rises to his feet. He holds me up until he’s sure I’m able to support myself, and then he strips.

I take in his magnificent chest planes, the dog tags, the scar from the bullet he took for me—I swallow. The sight of that willnever cease to affect me. It’s proof of how much he loves me. But the scar isn't as obvious as I thought it would be. It's partially covered by a tattoo—A tattoo?I blink. Then reach over and trace the name he’s carved into his chest over his heart:

Empress of my Heart

Wow.I swallow. "Is that…"

"It’s so I always have you with me, wherever I go."

I rise up on my toes, and he picks me up like I weigh nothing. He always makes me feel so small, so delicate, so protected. He gets into the bath and lies back, places me between his legs, then reaches forward and shuts off the water.

In the silence that follows, I sink back against his broad chest. And when his arms come around me, the weight is so reassuring, so right, I know I’m home. "I love you." I place my hands on his and squeeze. "I love you so much."

He tucks my head under his chin. "I can’t live without you. You’re my heart. My soul. My everything. Without you, I’m nothing."

I turn my chin into his chest, relishing the vibrations of his voice across his ribcage. "When I heard those shots—well, what I thought were shots—the panic that gripped me—" I shake my head. "I thought something had happened to you. Not that the shots had been fired from inside, but in that moment, I remembered how it’d been to see you on the ground and bleeding. To hold you in my arms as you struggled to breathe. To feel like I was going to lose you, and knowing I could not go on without you. It was at that moment I realized my life as I knew it could be over."

I sense him stiffen and look up to find a quizzical expression in his eyes. I sit up, and when my breasts jiggle, his gaze drops to them. His breath quickens, and a sense of elations fills me. To know that this powerful man is so affected by me, that he feels so much for me, that he loves me, and respects me, and thinks theworld of me, fills me with immense joy. I feel so light, I could be floating.

"I’m stepping back from my duties to the Royal Family."

His gaze widens, and he seems momentarily stunned. "But?—"

I put my finger on his lips. "I want to do this. Ineedto do this. I've needed to do this for so long… and what you said earlier struck a chord with me. You gave me the courage to accept that I don’t enjoy what I do. I don’t want to wake up every day, dreading the next official engagement. I don’t want to be in the public eye. I want to live for myself, and for you. I want to be safe, and I wantyouto be safe.” I draw in a shuddering breath. “That’s not possible as long asIam in the public eye. As the Duke of Verenza, you will be at my side at these public functions which putsyouin danger—and that”—I shake my head—“that I cannot bear.”

"I can take care of myself. And I can take care ofyou," he growls.

I trace the outline of his mouth, and the pulse at the base of his throat speeds up. "I know you can. But so long as I’m in the public eye, it’s inevitable that there will be danger associated with my movements. Which puts you in the line of fire, as well. If something happens to you, I won’t survive. I can’t live with the specter of god-knows-what hanging over us. I can’t, Ryot. I choose you. I chooseus. I choose my freedom." When his cock throbs against my core, I know I’ve said the right thing.

He cups my cheek. "Are you sure?"

"I am." I nod. "I’ve done my bit, getting you and the Davenport group to invest into Verenza. It’s up to Viktor to steer the country to the next stage."

"You shouldn’t do this for me—"he begins, but I shake my head.

"I want to do this forus. So we can have a future together. So we can have a life where we can build a family"—I swallow—"if that’s what you want…"

The creases around his eyes relax. "I want you. I want a family with you, baby." He lifts me up until I straddle him and lowers me onto his erect cock. The swollen head breaches my entrance, and I groan. I grab hold of his forearms and dig my knees into the sides of his waist. He throbs against my seam, and when I try to lower myself down further, he shakes his head. "Not until I allow you."

I pout—"But I wanna”—then gasp when he squeezes my butt. Sensations course up my spine and back down to my throbbing clit.

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