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“I want to give you what you want,thee mou. Let me, Mira. Let me make it up to you.”
Mira buried her face in his neck, licking at the salty taste of him, breathing in the wild scent of him. At the back of her mind, thoughts floated like a low-level hum. They hadn’t really sorted anything out. He’d purposely put distance between them. And the past was a specter that seemed to cut through the present.
“I need to touch you, Mira.”
Every concern melted away at the feral hunger in his words. Here in the now, she was surrounded by his hard warmth and she just wanted to stay there. Forever if possible. “Yes, God. Now, Aristos.”
“Tell me,agapi. What do you need from me?”
Bringing her mouth back up to his ear, Mira told him, with no hesitation in her voice, no inhibition in her flesh. Nothing but pure pleasure.
And how he delivered. With his fingers strumming at her core, his wicked mouth coaxing and cajoling and tormenting her aching nipples, his words—his hot, filthy words—vibrating against her skin, and his other hand coasting all over her trembling body, he kept her at the edge for so long that she was nothing but sensation.
And when she fell, she fell apart in a spectacular way, pleasure splintering her. His teeth nipping at the pulse in her neck made it keener, sharper, just...everything more.
And when she floated down to earth, he held her close and kissed her temple and held her as he’d held her once, a long time ago.
Mira clung to Aristos, the afterquakes of her orgasm leaving her panting and limp in his arms. Beneath her buttocks, he was hard and heavy and she wished she had enough energy to straddle him, to take him inside her, to give him what he clearly needed but was determined not to take.
“If you can lift me and flip me around so that I straddle you, you can have me,” she said, licking the shell of his ear.
He chuckled, and sudden, inexplicable tears filled her eyes. “As inviting as that sounds, you can hardly keep your eyes open,thee mou.”
“I give you my blanket consent, Aristos. You can finish even if I fall asleep on you.”
He was still laughing, his face buried in her neck, and it sent vibrations through her body. “What a thoughtful wife you are, Mira. But when I’m inside you, I’d rather you participate than snore in my face,agapi.”
She was laughing too then, and his arms tightened around her, and however the day had started, the ending was perfect. She’d changed him a little, she thought, chipped away at the remoteness just a little today. And it left her with a giddy joy.
This moment was so perfect that her heart lurched into her throat, a painful yearning filling her chest. She wanted to bottle that laughter and hide it away. She wanted to always make him laugh like that. She wanted a chance to...learn and love the man he’d become. If only...
No, the past and its hurts didn’t belong with her anymore.
Not when the present was a thing to be savored, not when they were finally building a foundation for their future. And somewhere in the last few months, she’d even begun to understand what might have driven him all those years ago.
For so long, she’d viewed the past through hurt and betrayal and a shattered heart. But now... Now she could see them both for who they had been—teenagers masquerading as adults with their hearts bearing the weight of their love for each other and past hurts and new fears.
God, the initial pull between them was because they both intrinsically knew what it felt to be abandoned by parents who should love them. Their baggage had been astronomical. Still, she’d at least had the security of having grandparents who’d loved her, the security of knowing her place in the world and what she wanted to do with it.
But Aristos... He’d had a whole heap of expectations crushing his shoulders, even as cousins and aunts had been waiting on the sidelines for him to fail. He’d barely turned eighteen with enormous pressure from Leo to mold himself into something, although he’d grown up on the streets with no education.
Was it any wonder he’d seen her as a prize, especially when she’d been dangled as such in front of him by both their grandfathers?
Could she truly let the past lie and build a new foundation?
Yes, came the resounding answer.
Dipping her hands into his hair, she pulled his head down for a rough tangling of their mouths.
“I want to ask you something,” she whispered, the lingering echoes of pleasure making her bold and brave.
“What else would you have of me, Mira?” he asked. Even his sudden stillness couldn’t puncture the haze of happiness that pervaded her very limbs.
“I want us to leave the past where it is. I...want this to be a fresh start, Aristos, a real start. I want us to truly forgive and forget.”
A jaw-cracking yawn took hold of her and his answer was lost to her in the fuzziness of exhaustion-driven sleep. Sliding her off his lap, he gathered her to him and sleep began to claim her deep.
CHAPTER EIGHT
