I pull the sheet over her as she turns on her side, and I start a trail of tender kisses over her shoulder, collarbone, and neck, stopping below her ear. “Until death do us part.”
ChapterEighteen
LEANDRA
Things have been simpler since the tension between Alexius and me has been severed. I’ve moved back into his room, and he’s been there every night, making love to me and sleeping with his hand on my belly.
His touch is gentler, and so is the way he fucks me. He’s becoming increasingly cautious when it comes to my body and the babies and tries to control himself the best he can with me.
I love his softer side, but I miss the fiery, carnal explosion when our twisted desires take control. The way he dominates me, giving me the pain I crave and the humiliation I need to be consumed. But I know it’s only temporary. Once the babies are born, we’ll…unravel yet again.
Even though Alexius and I have made up, and we’re finally on the same page again, there’s still an ominous current in the air around the house, especially when the brothers are together, disappearing into the Dark Sovereign meeting room. I can’t help but feel like Alexius is hiding something from me—that they’re all hiding something from Mira and me. But for now, I’m done fighting, done digging into things that don’t directly affect the babies or me. Alexius will always have his secrets, and Dark Sovereign business will never be pillow talk for us.
Mirabella and I are wrapping presents for the local children’s home, and I try to avoid her knowing looks, but I can feel her curious gaze on me.
“Yes, Mira?” I say with a grin.
“So, you and Alexius are okay?”
“We are.” I place the lid on the box and tie the red ribbon around it. “We’re okay.”
“Good. I was a little worried if you had to run away, I would have to travel halfway around the world to see my niece and nephew…or niece. Have you thought about a name yet?” She shrugs. “For the girl, at least.”
“It’s not something we’ve had a chance to discuss yet.”
“You know what would make a beautiful name?”
I eye her with suspicion. “Let me guess. Mirabella?”
“Ew, no.” She wrinkles her nose and starts stacking a few presents on top of each other, placing them on the other table so we have more workspace. “I’ve always loved the name Aria. I think it would be the perfect name for your little girl.”
“Aria.” I say the name, wanting to hear the sound of it with my voice. “That is a beautiful name. I love it, actually. But don’t you want to keep it as an option if you have a daughter one day?”
She presses her red lips together, folding a blue boy’s t-shirt into a box. “If I have a girl, I want to name her Natalia, after my mother.”
My heart constricts. “That’s a beautiful name, Mira,” I say, noticing the light shimmer in her green eyes. I know what it feels like to lose a parent. What I don’t know is how it feels to lose a loving parent.
She brushes a finger below her eye, sweeping away a bead of moisture. “I’m not getting my hopes up, though. Who knows if I’ll ever get married.”
“Don’t be silly.” I toss a piece of torn and bundled-up wrapping paper at her. “There’s no chance a beautiful woman like yourself will grow old as a spinster.”
“Clearly, you have forgotten what a hound my brother is. At school, guys simply talked to me and they’d have a broken face the next day. The school’s star quarterback somehow gathered the nerve to ask me out. God, I was so excited, and Liam Collins was so hot. But he never showed, and I thought I was stood up.” She clears her throat. “The following day, everyone heard that Liam was in some sort of accident and broke his leg in two different places. But I knew the truth. It had my brother and the Del Rossa brothers written all over it. After that, guys didn’t even dare to breathe in my direction.”
“Whoa.” I’m shocked. “That’s…insane.”
“Right? When I came walking down the hall, guys would turn around just to avoid eye contact with me. It was like I had leprosy or something.”
I twirl a string of blue ribbon around my finger. “Considering how you lost your parents and older brother, I guess I can understand why Maximo is so protective of you. He doesn’t want to lose you too.”
“How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Always see the good behind everyone’s actions?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s my way of convincing myself that people aren’t just all bad, that there’s at least one pure intention behind a hundred bad ones.”
“Clearly you haven’t lived in this house long enough or had a single adult conversation with my brother.”