Page 91 of Heartless Vows

I shift my hand from her throat to her mouth, ending her outburst. Fear and fury battle within me as I process her words. For several tense, uncertain seconds, she stares up at me as I fight the feral beast trapped inside my chest.

“You mean to tell me,” I begin, half thrilled and half miserable over the fear in her eyes, “that you agreed to have my baby even though the pregnancy would endanger your life?”

She furrows her brow in confusion.

It’s too much. I snarl, grab her nape, and duck down to take her lips, pouring my frustration into the kiss, more upset than ever before, but I pull back before my cock stiffens.

It hardens anyway. I ignore the stubbornstronzoand focus on Aurora.

As she recovers from my unexpected fervor, the slight blush on her cheeks contrasts her pallor, but her gaze remains confused.

“I don’t care about an heir, Aurora. Those were my parents’ demands, not mine.”

“But—”

“You keep making me repeat myself, even though I’ve proven I’m a man of my word. Do I need to prove it again,mia topolina?”

“Prove what? How would you—”

“I love and needyou, Aurora. You and only you. You come first, no matter what. If having a baby will put you at risk, then I don’t need one. I’ll prove it by getting a vasectomy. Hell, I’ll get snipped tomorrow to make sure you’re safe by the time you’re recovered.”

“But… the other morning, at my desk… when you…”

Realization spears through me.

“When I pushed my cum into your pussy? That wasn’t to get you pregnant,amore mio. That was pure possession. Dominance. My inner feral beast marking his territory. I love watching you writhe in pleasure because of me, and knowing you’d smell of me all day long was the biggest turn on of my life.”

My hard cock pulses against her warmth. With only my thin scrub bottoms and her panties between us, the heat from her pussy emanates along the underside of my shaft, but the fatigue tugging at her features strengthens my resolve.

Her wide eyes and softohwill forever fill my heart with pride.

“We can pass everything down to Tristan or spread our assets to any nieces or nephews we gain down the line. Or adopt. I don’t need biological children. I need you.”

Fresh tears run across the bridge of her nose and drip down my arm as she studies my face. After looking between my eyes a few times, she skims her palm from my shoulder to my jawline and ghosts her thumb over the stubble on my cheek.

“I believe you. I’m sorry I wasn’t truthful from the start,” she whispers.

“You didn’t know me before, but you do now, so answer me honestly.Capisci?”

She nods.

“Are you hiding anything else?”

She shakes her head. Stops. Closes her eyes and swallows. When she lifts her lashes again, my stomach bottoms out at the honesty shining from her depths.

“There is one thing I haven’t told you yet,” she murmurs.

I reflexively stiffen, turning her makeshift pillow into rock-hard muscles. She winces and presses her nails into my face. Her IV line brushes against my arm. The suspense steals all the oxygen from my lungs.

“I love you, Giorgio.”

The surety in her voice and conviction in her eyes erases the tension from my body and ends the angst in my soul. I don’t need to breathe.

I have Aurora.

She’s no longer an Achilles. She’s a Vivaldi.

My wife. My lover. My partner.

---