He wraps his fingers around my waist, and with a swift move, he turns me over and pulls me into his arms. I curl into him, welcoming his familiar warmth—and I'm at ease for the first time in so long. Comforted by his presence.
“I love you,” he whispers against my hair.
I smile and nestle closer. “I love you, too.”
Laying my head on his chest, I can hear his heartbeat, and it’s the most beautiful sound.
“Leandra.”
“Yeah?”
His chest stops moving. He’s holding his breath, and I feel his muscles tense.
“What is it?” I shift and look up at him, his jaw set and firm. “Alexius?”
When our eyes meet, he cups my cheeks and pulls me close, our lips colliding in a desperate kiss that has the power to erase the entire world around us. His tongue is hot and wet, like velvet against mine, and I wish he could kiss me forever because I won’t ever get enough of his taste. But this one feels different. He’s not claiming. His kiss isn’t consuming or possessing.
His kiss is desperate, urgent, and I feel it penetrating my soul. I don’t think he’s ever kissed me like this before.
A moan slips from my lips when he pulls back, placing his forehead against mine. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, and my heart stops. “I’m so…fucking…sorry.”
ChapterSeventeen
ALEXIUS
“I’m so fucking sorry.” I mean every single syllable. It’s the only thing I could say. It’s something I’ve wanted to say since she slapped the bejesus out of me after I fucked her in front of Isaia. I had the blood of many on my hands, but when she looked at me with fractured eyes, I truly knew what it meant to be the villain.
I wanted to say it a thousand times over and over. And after I heard my babies' heartbeats, I wanted to scream the words that kept burning the tip of my tongue and plaguing my conscience. But my pride kept me chained up, and I couldn’t do what I knew I needed to.
That’s why I sat in the dark for over an hour watching her sleep, her hair fanned out over the pillow, her chest rising and falling in a calm rhythm…my babies growing inside her belly. The shadows tried to hide her from me, but I could see her silhouette in the white silk nightgown. Or maybe I’m just used to the dark because I’ve been basking in it for almost my entire life—that’s until a poor waitress from the other side of town gave me a taste of the light.
Before she woke, I sat there musing over my uncle’s plans to harm her and how I would slaughter everyone who dared to come near her, a part of me wondered…what if?
What if something had to happen to her? What if something had to happen to me? What if I never get the chance to tell her how fucking sorry I am for hurting her?
Until now, it’s only ever been words. Words with meaning that didn’t apply to us. A Del Rossa never apologizes. We don’t relent, and we don’t wallow in guilt. At least that’s how it was…before her.
They’re the hardest words I’ve ever had to say—harder than saying goodbye to my father—but I had to find a way to make it right, even if she had forgiven me.
Apologizing is the only way I could make her see that my love for her is stronger than my life within the Dark Sovereign.
“I love you,” she whispers, and I swear to God I feel those words sink into my soul.
“I don’t deserve your love, but I’ll take it anyway.” I brush my cheek against hers. Her hair smells like orange blossom and coconut, and I thread my fingers through the soft tresses, tucking them behind her ear. “I love you, too, stray. More than anything in this entire goddamn world.” I drag my lips down to hers and kiss her lightly, a mere brush of lips and a colliding of warm breaths. “Being apart from you was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through.”
She leans into my touch, closing her eyes. “I thought it was what I wanted, but I was wrong. I couldn’t breathe without you, and I never want to go through that again.”
The selfish bastard in me loves hearing her say that because there’s no chance I’ll ever put myself through that torture again.
“We’ll never be apart again. I swear it.” I reach down, placing a palm on her belly. “You and these babies are my life now. My sole existence is to protect you and give the three of you the world.” I’ve never been more serious in my life. “You are my world now. Just you and nothing else.”
Her beautiful, plump lips pull in a smile. “You know how much I love your dirty mouth, but hearing you say all these heartfelt words,” she shifts and slides over me, straddling my hips, “it does things to me.”
God, she’s been a vision before. But now, with the gentle swell of her belly and full breasts, she’s a goddess.
I lift my hips, and a groan rumbles in my throat as she slides her wet cunt along my cock, igniting a deep lust that hums in my balls. “Should I start writing you love letters and reciting poems?”
“As much as I love your words of affection, I think I prefer the filthy ones more.”