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“My head is…” I close my eyes and marvel at the truth. “Quiet, actually. It’s my heart that’s making a racket. I didn’t think I’d ever see this day.”
He lets out a deep sigh of contentment, and I can feel the steady rhythm of his heartbeat against my back. “Neither did I. But fuck, I feel like I’m getting a second chance at life.” I turn to him and see a mischievous glint in this eye. “And I want to say … I’m ‘sorry, not sorry’ for fucking with your love life in Paris.”
“There was never going to be anyone else for me,” I admit. “Even before you scared them away. It didn’t help that I was still in love with this one man from my past.”
“Oh yeah,” he purrs in my ear. “Tell me about him.”
“He’s six three, hot as sin, tattoos everywhere. Although he has this one tattoo of a butterfly that I think is really sweet. He has great hair—thick, dark—looks best when he grows it out to shoulder length… hint, hint… and”—I raise my left hand out of the water—“I’m already wearing his ring.”
He threads his fingers with mine, his thumb brushing over the diamond glinting on my finger. “It’s very convenient indeed. Know why?”
“Why?” I ask, playing coy.
He turns me around so I’m straddling him, looking into his soulful brown eyes. “Because I’d really, really like it if you married me. How about it, butterfly. Are you gonna say yes and make me the luckiest man in the world?”
“Yes! Fuck yes!” I laugh and kiss him, my chest feeling like its going to burst with all the happiness in the world. “The only thing I care about is being with you. But there is one more thing.” Because this time, it needs to be his choice. “If being part of Kozlov Bratva is what you want, if it makes you happy, I won’t take that away from you. I can make peace with it.”
“No, butterfly, I’m ready to cut the ties. Andrei is not my father, he doesn’t see the honor in forcing a destiny on someone who never wanted it in the first place. My brothers will always be my brothers, that will never change, but you and our future is all that matters to me now.”
Emotion clogs my throat as I wrap my arms around his neck. Our tongues meet and intertwine, break apart and meet again. I can’t get enough of him. His taste, this touch, his scent. Not only in this moment, but forever.
I want to uncover all the layers of him I didn’t know about—the good, the bad, the messy—all of it. As long as he is by my side for this crazy journey of life.
When I finally pull away, he grins and cups my jaw, guiding my gaze to his. I can feel the head of his cock nudging against my opening under the water, and I adjust my hips, my core lined up perfectly to take him in. His voice is hoarse when he says, “You look damn hot with my ring on your finger.”
He groans, his fingers digging into my hips as I slowly sink down on his hard length, loving the way he fills me up to bursting. “And you feel damn good with that piercing in my cunt.”
“Butterfly,” he whispers, his voice thick, “there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. Whatever you need, whatever you want. You are my fucking queen, and I will obliterate anything that stands in our way.”
I writhe against him, barely able to form the next words out of my mouth, lost in the rising tide of pleasure. I raise my hand, covering the butterfly right above his heart. “I’m ready for forever with you, Leonid Kozlov.”
“Fuck, you’ve stolen the word right from my lips.”
EPILOGUE - 3 MONTHS LATER
ALYONA
“Ah-ah,” gurgles Anya from her blanket on the sand, her little hands reaching out towards me. I bend down to pick her up, her gummy smile warming my soul as I spin around just to hear her giggle.
“Thank you for being my flower girl,” I tell her, pressing our foreheads together. “You did a wonderful job.”
Still a baby, her role as flower girl consisted of her wearing a wreath of flowers while Georgia walked her down the aisle, but she was adorable, and waved to all our guests like the little princess she is.
As swiftly as she’s come into my arms, her attention shifts towards her papa, who is approaching us. “Congratulations Alyona,” Andrei says, kissing my cheek. “You were always my sister, but now I also get to call you my sister-in-law.”
“You sure do,” I smile, passing Anya back into her father’s capable arms. “Now I just need to remember that Georgia, Bianca, and I are all Mrs. Kozlov. That’s going to get confusing.”
Andrei grins, bouncing Anya gently in his arms. “Seems like a good problem to have.”
“Agreed,” I say as Andrei gently heaves his young daughter onto his shoulders.
I never imagined I would see this man barefoot in the sand playing with his baby, but Andrei continues to surprise me at every turn. This includes dressing in a pair of jean shorts and a Hawaiian shirt to embrace the casual beach style of our wedding.
Our wedding in Lipari.
Because the irony was too rich to resist returning to Italy and exchanging vows on the exact island where I once declared to Giuseppe that we would never tie the knot because I was just using Leo for his body.
Joke is on me.
