Page 98 of Darkest Game
“She has to be. You’re my future.” I grab his hand. “This is my future. I… I know we haven’t known each other long in the grand scheme of things. But I need you to know… I love you, Liam. I know I do.”
“Irina. I love you too. I’ve never been in love but I know it’s love. I know it.”
I give him a tender kiss and infuse as much of my love for him into it as I can.
I enter the ballet studio for the first time in two years. My heart is pounding and my underarms are sweaty but I’m ready for this. Ready to dance again. Ready to reclaim my own life for myself.
My previous dance instructor, Camille, welcomes me inside with a large smile. “It’s nice to see you again, Irina.”
“It’s nice to be back. I’ve missed dancing.”
“I’m glad to see you’ve returned. This is your home here.”
It’s not fully my home. My new home is with Liam. Dance is just an added bonus.
He’s still recovering from his gunshot wound and I know is getting antsy to get back into work. He encouraged me to return to dance so I could perform for him while he’s stuck in bed most of the day.
My mom still hasn’t fully come around to the idea of me and Liam being together but it’s getting easier for her.
My sisters have accepted him. Even Mikhail, who’s out of the hospital now, and Nico, have agreed to continue their alliance with Liam.
All the pieces are fitting together. I knew that dance was the last piece for me.
“Ready to start?” Camille asks me.
“Ready.”
Chapter Twenty
Irina
Liam stands in our bedroom in the house we share, looking tall and strong. His wound has completely healed, even if it has taken a few months. In that time together, we’ve been spending almost every day just talking and getting to know each other better. Sex was off the table with his injury.
But now, tonight, we finally get to make love again and my body is tingling with excitement. We’ve only been together the one time before. My body has been desperate to be with him but I knew I had to be patience and let him heal. It’s also given my throat a chance to fully heal as well.
Both of us are strong and healthy again.
My mom has somewhat come around to me and Liam being together. Each day gets easier. My sisters have accepted me with him, though I think it was easy for Natalya and Sasha given who their own husbands are.
Elaine is dead. Denis is in the wind. And Liam has a strong alliance with Nico and Mikhail.
Everything is perfect.
Except for this last piece.
He stands before me shirtless in just his pajama bottoms. His chest is just as strong and handsome as I remember. I’m breathless as I sit at the end of the bed, looking up at him. Ready for him to take me again.
Liam presses his hands on either side of me on the mattress as he kisses me. It’s sweet but it soon turns passionate and rough. We’ve kissed over the months that his body had to heal but we stopped ourselves from going further as I didn’t want to accidently hurt him. Liam would tease me and say that he was ready to have sex when I knew his body wasn’t technically. I had to instill patience in both of us.
I’ve waited years to have my own freedom and life and happiness. A few months was nothing to me.
He slips my silk nightgown off, leaving me naked before him. My body throbs with pleasure. Desperate for him to touch me again.
I moan softly when he parts my legs and cups me right between them. His fingers know how to light me on fire as he runs them over my pleasure spot. My sensitive nub has been aching for his touch. He offered to touch me while he was healing but I said no. I wanted to wait until this moment when we could be together again.
My hips begin to arch into his hand as I lean back on my hands and spread my legs wider. No more shyness. Liam has helped meblossom into a confident woman, in part because he showed me what it was like to fight for someone. To be brave for someone.
If it weren’t for him, my life would be the same boring one I used to live. It would have been safe but there was no life to my life before him.
