“You need him to be who you are,” he says. “You don’t want to anger him by conceiving a child with me because he will leave you. I know that as well as you do. You are terrified of living without him and that’s okay for now. One day, you will come to your senses and you will see that you don’t need him, or any man, to make you feel good about yourself.”
I glare down at him. How dare he make assumptions about me? “You are wrong,” I say as I sit down next to him, curling my legs up to the side so that my knees are resting on his thighs.
“I know you think that,” he replies. “I love you, Aefre. That will never change. I have no ulterior motive in wanting you. I never did. Our love was pure and simple and real.”
“You don’t think that my love with Constantine is real?” I ask incredulously. Sebastian once described it as “epic” and the “stuff of legends.” Which is exactly what it is. “We have loved each other for over a thousand years.” I ignore the pang of sorrow I feel over my dead sibling. He was a good man once.
“That doesn’t mean that it comes without its motives,” he says. “It is enough for me, for now, to know that you want me, desire me. Still love me, even. But I am a man with needs, Aefre. If you refuse to help in that area, then I will find someone who will.”
“You are an infuriating creature,” I snarl at him. “You are giving me an ultimatum.”
“Not at all,” he says. “I told you, I won’t play games with you, Aefre. It’s not in my nature. I am straightforward and all this sneaking about and deception isn’t good for the soul…essence, whatever.”
“Jesus, when did you turn into such a saint?” I complain.
He laughs at me, but the air is clear and light. I may not fully understand what he is thinking, but I know that he believes it, and he knows that we can’t be together. But he also knows what I feel for him.
“Just a man trying to be honest,” he says with a sigh. “Here, she has fallen asleep.”
I look down at my daughter, who is flat out in Vito’s arms. “Not yet. I don’t want to wake her and incur her wrath,” I say with a chuckle.
“She definitely has your temper,” he whispers.
“And don’t you forget it,” I say with a smile and shoulder bump.
He grins down at me and I put my head on his shoulder. I am so tired, but I don’t want to disturb Thia yet. I just want to rest my eyes for a minute.
I am roused to the brink of consciousness by CK’s voice hissing at Vito for holding his daughter. I try to open my eyes, but they are too heavy. I didn’t get much sleep in the Fae Kingdoms yesterday. I am jostled as Vito passes off Thia to her father and then he stands up, scooping me up with him.
I hear CK growl.
“Unless you want to swap, let me carry her down. She is exhausted,” Vito whispers to him.
“Fine,” CK grumbles and, I assume, Teleports off.
“Why you love him is beyond me,” Vito mutters under his breath, clearly not expecting me to hear him.
I open my mouth to reprimand him but it’s too much effort. I snuggle further into his strong arms, enjoying the feel of his muscles rippling as he walks me down the steps.
He gently kicks open the door to the room that CK and I have moved into and he lays me down on the bed with a sigh. He pushes my hair out of my face and pulls the covers over me.
“Sleep well, beautiful,” he murmurs. “I’ll be seeing you.”
I turn over to get more comfortable as he leaves, and that’s the last thing I remember.
I awake to the pleasure coursing through my body in this unfamiliar bed. It is still dark out, but I wiggle on the sheets and push my hands into CK’s hair as he licks my pussy again before he nibbles on my clit, making me gasp.
“Oh, my sweet. Your nectar quenches my never-ending thirst for you,” my husband says to me, rearing up to kiss me, his lips coated with my juices.
“Don’t stop,” I pant as he breaks away and with a smile, he ducks down again, pushing my robe even further apart to expose my breasts to the chill air.
He inserts two fingers into me while his thumb presses down on my clit and I shudder intensely under him as the wave of my orgasm hits me. He slides his tongue inside with a moan of desire and it makes me shiver. He reaches up to cup my breasts, pushing them into two soft mounds before he rubs his thumbs over my nipples and then tugs on them roughly until I cry out with pleasure.
“Take me, Constantine, please. I need you,” I beg him, and he does.
Again, and again until I am spent and falling back into a restful sleep in his arms.
Chapter 20