“I . . .” My throat is suddenly arid. I can’t believe I’m about to say what I’m going to, and my body is fighting to keep the words inside my mouth. “I love you too, Cain.”

His face lights up on my announcement while a goofy grin stares back at me like a dear in headlights. If there are soul mates in this world, Cain is the only man for me. He’s given himself over freely and hasn’t ever backed down from showing me his adoration.

Who am I to chase him away, when I belong to him?

“Then how about you tell that old bitch at the counter to fuck off and we get out of here?”

How long has he been around to know Cynthia isn’t the most savory of people?

He lifts out of his chair, doing up the top button of his suit before taking my hand. We walk by the counter and I throw the clipboard in front of Cynthia. My silence toward her is the first of Cain’s orders I disobey, but she doesn’t deserve another second of my time.

I’m with him now, and I feel whole again.

Epilogue

Alyssa

Six months later

“Where’s Tony?” Cain asks when I step into the living room, draped in nothing but a satin bedsheet. It’s Saturday night, movie night, and Cain’s gotThe Lion Kingready on the big-screen TV.

“He’s tuckered out from soccer practice and called it an early night.”

I slink towards Cain with as much of a sultry step as my bulging belly will allow. My pregnancy hasn’t stopped him from lusting after me before tonight, and my dripping slit prays he doesn’t have a change of heart now.

“So, it’s only us then?” Cain asks the obvious question. He plays dumb to my advances as if I’m wearing my sweatpants and one of his oversized t-shirts. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to play along or be hurt.

“Yes, big boy, it’s only us. And I want you too,” I mouth the wordsfuck me savagely.

Cain tries to fight it, but can’t stop his grin from stretching ear to ear.

“I have a better idea,” he says when I stop before him.

He grabs the satin sheet at both ends and tugs it down exposing my bare body. His eyes wander my form, from my swollen breasts to my round tummy. He licks his lips, gets a firm grasp on my ass, and pulls me into him.

“What are we going to name him?” he asks.

Cain’s golden glowing eyes stare at me from below. His stubbled chin brushes against and tickles my skin.

God, can this man do any wrong?

“I’ve put a lot of thought into it,” I say. “I want to name him James, after my father.”

“James?” He mulls the name over in his mouth. “James.”

Cain sinks to both his knees and wraps me into a tight hug. He lingers there with his ear against my belly, waiting for a kick from our boy.

“Soon we’ll welcome you into this world, James Hawthorne. You will do great things,” Cain says.

It fills my heart with so much joy to hear those words from his lips. I was terrified to bring it up with him. Cain is a decision maker and he won’t yield until he gets his way. But to see this side, tender and sweet, I can feel myself falling deeper and deeper in love with him.

“But before you come, my son, there is something else I must do.”

“Oh, really?” The words come out in a mix of confusion and anxiousness.

I know the man Cain Hawthorne is and the life he leads. What dark dealings does he have to do now to be free of his past? How much more does he have to suffer before he can be mine and mine alone?

“Alyssa Dresden,” he says my last name like its sour candy puckering his lips. “I used to live alone before I knew you. I have servants and handmaids to tend to my every need. Herman Vance is always eager to please and won’t ever bat an eye at me. But this place feels empty every time you walk out my door.”