Page 63 of Born into Darkness

“No, but it’ll be impossible for me to keep loving you if you hate my dog.”

I smile and stroke her hair again. “I appreciate the brutal honesty, but you have nothing to worry about. I love animals. My Aunt Alina and Uncle Matvey have a German Shepherd named Rasputin, and Luka and his wife have a cat named Pip. I adore them both. I’ve yet to meet Sasha’s dog, but if he can ever train him to not attack, I’m sure we’ll get along great.”

I feel her body relax as she lets go of that particular worry. “Who’s watching Wallace now?” I ask.

“My cousin Yulia. I know he’s fine and being taken care of. I just miss him,” she says.

“He’s more than welcome anytime. My entire family loves animals.” I wave a hand at the large bed we’re on. “There’s plenty of room up here for him, and the house I own has a large backyard that’s fenced in. I can’t give him a large beach to run on, though. He might miss that.”

“He will,” she says, and I can tell that Wallace won’t be the only one who misses the Oregon coastline.

“We’ll figure it out,” I tell her.

“Figure what out?”

“Living arrangements. It’s not ideal that your family is on one side of the country and mine is on the other, but we’ll make it work. That’s what airplanes are for, right?”

“Right.”

She lifts up to kiss my cheek, but I turn my head so she hits my lips instead. I feel her grin, but then she gives a soft moan and deepens the kiss. In the back of my mind I have a vague memory of her needing sleep, but her lips and tongue and the soft little whimpers she’s giving are quickly making me forget all that.

“Fuck,” I groan when she breaks the kiss on a pant. I can see the desire and raw need in her eyes, and there’s nothing I want more than to give her everything she’s begging me for, but I somehow manage to muster up enough willpower to resist.

“You’re testing my willpower like nothing ever has before,” I tell her. I can tell she’s about to argue with me, so I beat her to it and say, “Everything we do together is a first for me, and I don’t want to rush any of those firsts. I especially don’t want any of those firsts to be when we’re both so exhausted we can barely think. If you fall asleep while I’m eating you out for the first time, I may never recover from that massive blow to my pride.”

She laughs and cups my face. “I would never,” she insists, “but I get what you’re saying, and everything we do is a first for me, too.” Her dark eyes run over me. “I still can’t believe that’s true for you, but I’m really happy that it is.”

I reach down and squeeze the ass that I’ll never be able to get enough of. “It’s definitely true, and I’m glad it’s the same for you. We have all the time in the world to do anything and everything, so make a list, sweetheart, and we’ll start checking off the boxes.”

“Have you made a list?” she asks, and I give a soft laugh at the surprise in her voice.

“A huge one,” I tell her. "I started it in the basement. You’re going to be a very busy woman.”

She laughs and asks, “What’s on it?”

“So many things.”

“Oh come on, you have to at least tell me something or give me a hint.”

I give her ass a soft pat. “Do I?”

“Yes. If I’m going to be an active participant, then I need to know what’s headed my way.”

I think over the massive list I’m constantly adding on to, deciding to skip over the things that might freak her out like anal sex and tying her to my piano or bending her over the bed and spanking her until her ass is nice and red.

Instead, I settle on, “Since my arm is going to be out of commission for a bit, it means a lot of these are going to have to be put on hold, but, for starters, I want to kiss every inch of you. I want to see you naked and memorize every single part of you. I want to feel your hand on my cock, skin to skin with no barrier between us. I want to taste your tits like you wouldn’t fucking believe, and I want you to sit on my face and let me eat my fill of you. I want it all, every single thing you’ll allow me to have of you, I want it.”

I feel the tremor that runs through her body at my words, the way her thigh presses harder against mine as she angles her body closer, and the way her breathing picks up.

“You like my list?” I ask, running a finger along her jaw as she continues to rest on my shoulder.

“Yes.”

“Good. I’ll tell you the rest of it some other day.”

“There’s more?”

“There’s a lot more,” I say. “I want to hear your list, too.”

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