Ava
Luc said nothing to my news, which worried me. Instead of reacting, he sipped his tea and watched the fire, as if he hadn’t even heard me.
“Uh, Luc?” I asked. “Earth to Luc?”
He took one more sip of his tea, setting his mug down on the rug in front of him.
“You there? If you’re mad, just say so. Saysomething.”
A smile formed on his face. “Sorry,” he said finally. “It’s just… I’m taking a moment to savor this.”
“You are?”
“I am. You see, for nearly all of my adult years, my life has been about a family that wasn’t mine. It’s been a pleasure serving the king, serving your mother, and now serving you. But there were times when I found myself wondering if I’d ever have a family of my own. When I reached my forties, I began to accept the idea that my destiny was to care for Alaric’s family only, and that was it, that starting a family was forever out of my reach.”
He sipped his tea one more time.
“But it’s not the case. I have you, and now this child. I can’t imagine being any happier than I am in this moment.”
I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t known exactly what to expect from him, but I was pleasantly surprised by his reaction.
He took my hand. “Thank you, Ava. Thank you for coming into my life.”
Tears formed in my eyes. He wiped them away with the pad of his thumb and leaned in for a kiss.
Like the last kiss we shared back at the palace, there was something different that I felt the moment our lips touched. There was passion, as there always was when we were together, but there was something more to it—there was love.
I fell into the kiss, Luc wrapping his arms around me as he laid me down in front of the fire. The twin warmth of his body and the flames surrounded me in comfort, and soon Luc and I were down to nothing at all, our clothes in messy piles at the side of the rug.
His hand moved between my thighs, teasing me and touching me in the way only Luc could. I moaned, closing my eyes and listening to the fire crackle, feeling his lips on my stomach and then my breasts, Luc’s mouth returning to mine and our tongues finding one another’s.
He knew just how to make me feel so damn good, taking his time letting the orgasm build. When he’d teased me a bit more, he began kissing down my body, glancing up at me with hungry eyes as he traveled down below my waist.
I ran my hands through his hair as he ate me out, his tongue dancing over my clit, his mouth only taking breaks to kiss my inner thighs, his hands on my breasts as he teased my nipples. The man was a damn expert, and it didn’t take long at all before my back was arched in climax.
When I came back to reality, I couldn’t resist reaching down and taking hold of him by those huge, powerful shoulders and bringing him over top of me. When he gazed down at me with those steely eyes, the fire reflected in them, I thought I might melt on the spot.
“Tell me what you want,” he growled.
“You know what I want.”
He nodded, as if that were the answer he’d been expecting.
“I want to hear you say it.”
I could barely form the words, so intense was the anticipation.
“I want you. You, you, you.”
He smirked. “Good answer.”
We kissed hard and deep as he reached down and took hold of his cock by the base, guiding it into me. I whimpered with pleasure as he entered me, spreading me open, stretching me out, his cock so familiar and welcome. Our bodies became one and all I could do was wrap my legs and arms around him, holding his solid, muscular form close.
Luc moved in me, his body like a perfect, fluid machine. It took no time at all for another orgasm to build and rise, his cock pushing in and out, my legs shaking as the second climax ripped through my body. Luc came with me, his cock releasing deep, his seed filling me full.
When we were done, we lay by the fire holding one another, his right arm draped over me and his left serving as the perfect pillow.
“I love you, Ava.”