Page 83 of Hostage of the Russian
“Don’t,” he whispered. “Stay like this. I want to feel you a little longer.”
So she stilled, still filled, still cradled against his chest, and they breathed together—slow, measured, whole.
Minutes passed like that, heavy with quiet awe. And then his hips shifted slightly beneath her, just enough to draw a soft gasp from her lips.
“You’re insatiable,” she breathed, smiling even as heat rushed back through her.
“For you?” His voice rasped, deep with want. “Always.”
He began to move again, slow and languid, coaxing every ounce of pleasure from her already-sensitive body. It wasn’t about climax this time. It was about devotion. About loving her until there was nothing left but the sound of her name on his lips.
And when they stopped again—spent, trembling, utterly unraveled, he kissed her softly, reverently, like she was something made of starlight and fate.
When he finally rolled to his side, he pulled her with him, keeping her close, one hand resting over her heart.
“I feel you everywhere,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.
He kissed her forehead. “That’s because you’re mine. And I’m yours.”
And in the quiet afterward, wrapped in each other’s arms, they didn’t need words to know what they meant.
They had each other. Completely.
Afterward, he held her close while their racing hearts gradually slowed. His fingers traced lazy patterns on her bare shoulder while she drew circles on his chest, both of them content to simply exist in this perfect moment.
“What are you thinking about now?” he asked softly.
“How lucky I am,” she replied honestly. “Six months ago, I thought my life was over. Now I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”
He tightened his arms around her. “You saved me, too, you know. I was so focused on revenge and power that I’d forgotten what it felt like to actually live. You reminded me.”
She lifted her head to look at him, seeing the truth of his words in his expression. “We saved each other.”
“We did.” He brushed a strand of hair away from her face. “So what happens now?”
“Now we live,” she said simply. “We build our careers, we love each other, we fight sometimes, and make up spectacularly. We have babies someday if we want them. We grow old together.”
“That sounds perfect.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” She settled back against his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. “I never believed in fairy tales before.”
“Is that what this is?”
“Better,” she said with a smile. “Fairy tales are fantasy. This is real.”
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and she felt him smile against her hair. “Real is better than fantasy any day.”
As she drifted off to sleep in his arms, she couldn’t help but marvel at the journey that had brought them here. It hadn’t been easy, and it certainly hadn’t been conventional. But it had been theirs, and that made it perfect.
Tomorrow would bring new challenges and new joys. But tonight, she was exactly where she belonged: home in the arms of the man who loved her, surrounded by the life they’d built together from the ashes of their separate pasts.
It was more than she’d ever dared to dream.
It was everything.
*****
THE END
