Page 156 of Pomegranate Seeds

Yet, a few more tears left my eyes because of his previous words. He thought he was manipulating me, yet I was the one who got him to marry me, and I was the one who put the idea of love into his head. I was the one who made him believe he could have emotions, and even though that was true, I always focused one in particular.

I buried my face into my hands. “Fuck, I manipulated you.”

“What?” Antonio asked. I felt his hands wrap around mine to pry them off of my face.

I let him and looked up at his confused face with my bloodshot eyes. “You thought you manipulated me, but you were wrong. I manipulated you. I did it so you would marry me, and I did so you will love me. You are here throwing everything away for my happiness, and I played you. I am sorry, Antonio.”

He looked at me for a few seconds that felt like years. I held my breath and waited for his disappointed look. I waited for him to pull back.

Yet, neither of them came. Instead, he cupped my face with one hand and pulled me flush to his body with the other. My breath left my lungs as his fell over my lips with his words. “Keep doing it then.”

This time I was confused. “What?”

One side of Antonio’s mouth curled upward. “Keep manipulating me, Priscilla. Keep doing it because I never want to not love you. I never want to not feel this.”

My heart felt like it was going to rip open my ribcage. A smile spread to my face, and then I kissed Antonio. I pressed my lips to his for a soft kiss but changed my mind too quickly. I wanted more. Always more.

Antonio went with my pace. He held me close to him, and his tongue parted my lips expertly. His tongue teased mine as his strong hands roamed over my body. I could feel him everywhere, but the most prominent one was between my legs. Between the love confession, kiss, and pregnancy hormones, I was soaked for him.

I wanted him in me. This time it was not running-away-from-our-problems sex. This time it was just we-are-so-happy-and-so-in-love sex. This time there was nothing wrong with this. Nothing broken.

I pulled back to whisper into his lips. “I need you inside me. You have to fuck your wife after you tell her you to love her.”

He pulled back more, making me almost groan, but it disappeared when I saw his eyes. Those golden irises were filled with hope and love. “This means you are staying?”

“Of course, I am staying.” My lips trembled with the excitement of being able to say it. “I love you so much, Buttercup.”

A huge smile took hold of his lips. He looked so handsome. “Fuck,” he murmured, looking at me like I was the sun. “I am not even mad that you called me Buttercup.” He kissed my temple and then my forehead, my cheek, my nose, my lips. He pressed millions of kisses to my face. “I should have let you say it sooner.”

I bit down my bottom lip and smiled so happily. I had never been happier than this moment right here. “Now I am gonna say it all the time.”

He nudged my nose with his softly. “Me too,” he decided. “I am gonna tell you every morning when you wake in my arms, every morning you watch me shave, every time we take Apollo to walk, every night I come home after work, every time I am inside you, and every night before you fall asleep again in my arms. I’ll keep telling you how much I love you over and over again but even that is not going to be enough.”

My eyes turned glossy, but his words also fueled my fire. “Please,” I begged. “Please make love to me.”

He smiled against my lips and turned us over, getting on top of me. He very slowly stripped me naked and then licked me until I couldn’t take it anymore. Then he slipped inside of me, both of us groaning. When his throbbing flesh filled me, he told me he loved me, keeping his promise.

Then he made love to me. Slow but hard.

After we came together Antonio pressed a soft kiss to my lips like he was afraid I was going to disappear into nothingness. He pushed back a few blonde strands from my sweaty forehead. Our naked bodies were still tangled together, and I loved the feel of him against me.

“I will never be the Heartless when I am with you,” he murmured to my lips. “Because you are my heart.”

My eyes welled, and I tightened my arms around him. I kissed him as an answer, and I knew he could feel my words from the kiss.

You will always have me. You will always have your heart.

For the first time, I knew with my whole being that everything was going to be amazing because it could really not get better than this.

Epilogue

Antonio

“Aria,” Priscilla read the name, looking down at her belly. She was wearing black stretchy pants and a red sweater; they both were rolled to make her stomach naked.

She was seventeen weeks along with an actual bump. For weeks she kept asking me if she was showing. It took her a little while since she was not tiny to begin with. Right now, it was still not too obvious with clothes on, but when she was naked, everyone could tell.

We actually still didn’t know the gender of our baby. Our appointment was next week, but Priscilla still wanted to get name suggestions from her family.

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