Page 115 of Revive Me

When the air finally settles, we’re both trembling, both breathing heavily. Still wrapped tightly in each other’s arms. I think I’d be happy to stay like this for the rest of the night.

“Holy shit,” I breathe. “That was…”

Lily laughs softly at the repeated line. “I wonder how long it’ll take us to stop saying that after sex.”

Smiling, I kiss her lips. “I’m guessing never.”

She lets out a sweet hum against my mouth. “I can live with that,” she whispers.

I think I could live in this moment, right here. With Lily in my arms and love shining in her eyes, the only thing that makes it less than perfect is when the discomfort of the cock ring registers.

Wincing, I roll onto my back and slide the ring off, then place it with the vibrator on my nightstand. When I turn back toward Lily, she’s lifted onto one hand and is staring down at me with a frown.

“Are you in pain?” she asks.

I shake my head with a smile and pull her down onto my chest. She braces her forearms on my chest as she waits for my answer.

“I’m fine, Liliana,” I reassure her. “I’m just not exactly used to the sensation of a cock ring.”

That at least earns me an amused smile. She drops her chin on top of her hands and stares up at me. “Have you used other sex toys?”

I shake my head as I prop an extra pillow behind my head. “I was a bit of a purist. Before.”

She lets out a thoughtful hum. “Same. But that just means we get to experiment together.”

I’m smiling as I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, lost in the knowledge that she’s just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.

She’s the sunshine I needed to illuminate the dark parts of my life, to show me just how not-scary they were.

Something catches her eye, and she pushes up to her forearms again with a pinched brow. Then she places her hand on my shoulder.

“Is this a new tattoo?” she asks.

Realizing what caught her eye, I only nod in answer.

Her touch moves over my skin. “Is it…a phoenix?”

Another nod.

Biting her lip, she asks curiously, “But aren’t they supposed to rise from the ashes?”

Placing my hand over hers, I guide it along the lines of the tattoo. Over the beautifully intricate fire-color bird, to its tail, down to the white lily blooming open on my chest. Her eyes meet mine, glassy with realization.

“They are. But mine rose from a lily.”

EPILOGUE

ROMAN

2 Years Later

“You ask him!”

“No,youask him!”

“I bet he’s an assassin with that cane. Maybe it’s a secret weapon.”

A smile stretches across my face as I’m looking over some papers at my supervising teacher’s desk. The kids are supposed to be discussing the question on the board in small groups, but…I’m realizing middle schoolers have a fairly short attention span. Especially when a teacher walks in with a cane.

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