Page 98 of Inside the Wicked

Her fingers weave through my hair tenderly while our hearts slam against each other.

“I fucking missed you,” I say, breathless.

“You said that already. But it was better to feel it.”

I kiss her, slipping out of her, and we both shudder. “You’re going to feel it every night. I’m going to have my way with you in places and positions that might scandalize you to hear.”

She bites her lip. “Tell me.”

I shake my head, kissing her throat. “I like collecting your reactions, your specific moans. I have a feeling I haven’t even got to the best of them yet.”

As I ease myself off her, Ana props herself up on her elbows.

“I have ways of surprising you too,” she says.

If she keeps seducing me, she’s going to find herself unable to walk tomorrow as I’m seconds from having at her again.

“You surprise me every day, little bird.”

We’ve quickly found warmth in each other, but I need to at least light the fire. There’s heating in the apartment, but I’ve found spending time by the fire is better.

Stepping in for a quick shower to wash off, Ana joins in behind me.

“Do you want children?” she asks quietly.

The question throws me off-guard.

“You’re not trying to tell me your birth control expired?”

She chuckles, circling her arms around me from behind. “No. It might seem crazy to have the thought right now, but thinking of the future helps me believe we’ll get to see it.”

“Of course we will,” I say. I fucking promise that. “I’ve never given any thought to kids before, to be honest. But with you, I could want that if you did.” When she doesn’t answer, I turn and reach for the soap behind her to read her face. “Do you want children?” I ask.

“I don’t know. I love children. I would adore having yours. But I can’t see it yet. There’s no certain number of years from now or age when I think I’ll be ready. But I’m not ready now—not even close, I don’t think.”

Hope blooms in my gut, the likes of which I’ve never quite felt before. Ana would make an amazing mother, and to see her having my kids would be fulfillment like nothing else. But I’m also sure I would be the luckiest, most satisfied bastard alive just to be hers.

“Whatever you want, baby,” I say, kissing her head. I lather soap in my hands, wanting to feel her soft skin as I wash her. “If it’s just you and me against the world forever, I want that. If you decide fun-size Kaisers should join us, I want that too.”

Ana giggles, and it’s the most precious sound.

“They won’t be fun-size forever.”

“To me they will be, and they’ll know it too.”

Her hazel eyes flick up to me, and I don’t know why pride swells in me with the look she gives. Then her sight falls down as her fingers trace the flat line on my chest. I don’t like the way sadness clouds her expression. More so, I hate how the tattoo doesn’t feel right anymore. I will never forget Sarah, and I don’t wish the tattoo gone; it just seems ... incomplete now.

Then I realize it’s missing a beat. The one in my arms that brought a dead heart back to life.

CHAPTER 36

Anastasia

“They can’t file me as a missing person when my dad has a text clearly stating I’m fine, and he spoke to me on the phone,” I grumble in the passenger seat as Rhett drives.

“He may be your dad, but he’s also the President of the United States, little bird.”

He’s concerned about the police detail that might be set on finding me. I am too. Rix is keeping tabs on law enforcement, but I realize the risk I’m putting Rhett and Xoid in by disobeying my powerful, influential father.

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