AllFreeNovel
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“Are you running for governor?” she asked, swiping a bit of chocolate icing and putting it on her tongue.
“Let’s talk outside.”
I took my whiskey off the tray and pushed the balcony doors open. Letting in the faint sounds of the city. She lounged in the doorway and her dark gaze followed me as I gripped the balcony and studied the cars moving back and forth below.
“Do you want another cigarette?” she asked.
“No, I don’t need more of that shit.”
“Tonight is about relaxing,” she said. “You can go back to cutting them out tomorrow.”
She padded out to me with my lighter and a cigarette. I bent my head and let her put it between my lips. A quick inhale sent a wave of relaxation through my body.
Her brow furrowed. “What is the mental block with this choice, Lucien?”
“There isn’t one…at least not anymore,” I said. “At first, I thought I could have my cake and eat it too. But now I want different things. I’m not running for anything again, unless you have an objection to that.”
It was the most vulnerable I’d been with her in a long time. She picked up her champagne and stepped out onto the balcony.
“Being the mayor didn’t make you happy,” she said quietly.
I shrugged. “Being your husband makes me happy. Everything else is shit. But it’s necessary shit.”
Her lids flickered. “Do you really feel that way?”
“Happiness has never been my goal,” I said. “But I found it with you and the boys. Maybe that’s the only thing I need.”
She laughed aloud. I stared at her, jaw twitching. My wife fucking laughed at me without a flicker of remorse.
“Oh my God,” she said, rolling her eyes. “That is such bullshit, Lucien.”
“Watch your tone, Liv,” I warned.
She turned her back to me, going to the railing. She was a sight, standing there in her silver silk and diamonds, her red nails stark against the bubbling gold of her champagne. I’d made her this way, I’d shaped her into my queen. And with that had come unexpected strength.
She was the only person who stood up to me.
“What will you do, Lucien?” She grinned, letting her head fall back. “Fuck me rough? Go on, it’ll just make me come.”
My palm slid down her lovely back and gripped her ass hard enough she gasped. I leaned into her neck, nuzzling her shoulder.
“I don’t need to do anything to you to make you suffer,” I said, kissing her soft skin. “I could deny you once and it would break you into pieces.”
Her breath sucked in and her eyes went heavy.
“But you won’t,” she murmured.
“Never.” I rubbed my face against her neck.
Her body sank into my side and I held her against my warmth, tangling my fingers into her curls. Absently, I tugged the pins from her hair and pulled it down around her shoulders. After the twin’s birth, she’d cut it short to help with postpartum shedding. Now, it was full and halfway down her back. Thick, dark paradise that smelled like spring flowers.
“Staying in politics isn’t what I want anymore, Liv,” I said, forcing my guard down. “Maybe I like who we were before too much. After you stopped going to the foundation as much, I remembered what it was like when we were first married. When we had so much time to just…live.”
Her mouth curved, a glitter in her dark gaze. “You mean, when you had time to fuck me three times a day.”
“Hmm…that was nice,” I said. “But I still fuck your pussy raw as it is. No, I was a less complex man then. Now, I stand in two worlds.”
“Part of that is my fault,” she sighed. “I wanted to start the foundation.”
