Page 101 of Not Mine to Keep

“What’s wrong?” With her free hand, she brought her palm to my face and ran it along my clenched jaw.

“How do we ...?” I choked out, feeling ridiculous, but I wanted this to be what she wanted and needed, and I’d spent almost two decades removing emotions from the equation.

She slid her palm down the column of my throat and to my bare chest, drawing her hand beneath my open shirt. “The only difference is you use your heart this time.” Her light-green gaze flew to my face as she added, “You look me in the eyes like you wanted to last time.”

I let go of her wrist and dragged my hands along her silhouette and around to her ass before lifting her up to carry her to the bed.

“Pretty sure my heart was in it back at the office, too.” Climbing over her, I held the brunt of my weight on my forearms, staring down at her.

“Mine, too.” She reached between us, searching for my belt. I’d forgotten we were both still dressed.

Tonight, I took my time removing our clothes. I stretched out every moment of every single second, because tomorrow wasn’t promised.

Once we were both naked and back on my bed, I worked my mouth from the inside of her ankle up her thigh, slowly swiping the pad of my thumb along her other leg. I skipped over her pussy, which had her clawing at my hair with an adorable groan of frustration.

Mouth over her belly button next. Then up to her breasts. Her taut nipples.

“I’ll know every inch of your body before the night is over. Every freckle. Every spot that makes you laugh,” I promised before working my way back to her face, prepared to take her mouth again.

She anchored her arm behind the back of my neck, urging me closer as she arched into me.

“What if we make love first, then foreplay second? Then sex again?” She bit her lip, staring at me with those seductive eyes of hers. “Then repeat in a different order. And throw a little naughty and dirty in there for good measure, too.”

My stiff cock pressed against her center, lined up in the perfect spot, begging to give my little siren what she wanted and then some.

“You don’t want my mouth on you first? You’re sure?”

She bucked against me at my words, my lips hovering over hers so close I could nearly taste her already. “I need you inside me.” Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. “But I want to feel you ... you know?”

My arms tensed, going as rock hard as my dick at what she was asking. “Bare?”

“That breath you just took ... Is that your about-to-lose-control one or your panicked one? They’re close. I can’t tell right now because I’m so nervous.” She kept moving her hips in tempting little circles, and the invitation to feel this woman was too much.

But she wasn’t just anyone.Fuck, you’re my wife.We’d said vows before God. Signed the paperwork.It’s not pretend. It’s real.The idea of her having my child didn’t scare me. But her giving Armani an heir sure as hell did.

I hated to break the moment, to destroy it with that reminder, but it needed to be done.

Not that I had a chance to do it, because she beat me to it. “I know what you’re thinking.” She gave me a little nod as if that would settle things. It didn’t. “What if you pull out just before?”

A low laugh rumbled free. Was she kidding?

Her other hand went to my chest, and she parked it there. She’d see how much my heart really was in this right now. “I know what’s at stake. It’d be crazy; I get that.” I lost sight of her eyes as she sealed them shut, but she didn’t stop moving her hips. Didn’t stop grinding against my cock. Didn’t stop killing me.

“But it’d also be very us,” I admitted, and that earned me her eyes again. “Three weeks tomorrow since we met ... are you sure you want to risk it?” And yet, I could see us together, not in a penthouse but on a farm. Lots of land. Animals. Our children running around.Holy fuck, what’s happening to me?

“Three weeks. Three years. Three decades.” A soft breathy sigh left her mouth, and I knew her breaths and looks, too. That was my determined, strong woman peering at me. “If you know, you know.”Her brows slanted. “The question is, do you know, too? And do you want it?”

I bit down on my back teeth, resisting the urge to push inside her as my answer. “I’ll pull out, but if ...” I let the warning hang in the air for a beat. “You sure you want my kid inside of you if it were to happen?”

“Give my childyouas a father?” She nodded, emotion catching in her voice when she added, “Yeah, you could say I’d be good with that.”

Me, a father?Leaning in even closer, I kissed away the tear at the edge of her eye, then reached between us to position my cock at her center. She gave me a firm nod of permission, and I pushed inside her. The connection freed whatever had been caged inside my chest for so long. No longer trapped there for what felt like an eternity.

I gave this woman my soul just then, knowing she’d redeem it.

And I’d give it to her again and again, no matter what.

Die for her. Sacrifice the world for her.

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