Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Nicolo chuckled even as I glared up at him.
“Stop it! I’m—”
“Overthinking.”
And then he was spinning me around, his hands moving to the zipper of my wedding dress, and this time, all I could do was whimper.
“Just follow my lead.”
He purred the words into my ear as the dress pooled at my feet, and cool air caressed my skin. I had already started to tremble, but when he turned me around to face him, and I saw the way his gaze ravished every inch of me—
My knees threatened to fold even as my entire body tightened with heat.
All I could do was watch as he unbuttoned his shirt, my throat drying as inch by slow inch, the beautiful hard panes of his body were revealed. By the time we were both naked, there was no chance for me to overthink.
Because I could not think at all, period.
He lifted me onto the bed with the kind of easy strength that made my stomach flutter. The sheets were soft against my skin, but not as soft as his hands as he touched me with careful reverence.
“I love you,” he said, settling over me.
Oh, how my heart sang at this even as the same words made me feel hotter and more restless.
“I love you, too...”
I had barely finished speaking when he was cupping my face to kiss me, and my toes curled hard as I lost myself in the taste and feel of him. His hands mapped my body like he was memorizing every curve, every sensitive spot, every place that made me gasp and arch beneath him.
When he finally moved to join us together, it was slow and careful and perfect.
“Okay?” he asked, his voice strained with the effort of holding back.
“More than okay,” I breathed.
He began to move, and I forgot how to think about anything except the way he felt inside me, the way our bodies fit together like they’d been designed specifically for this purpose.
The pleasure built slowly, a warm glow that started in my belly and spread outward until every nerve ending was singing. I could feel something else building too, something deeper and more fundamental than just physical sensation.
“Nicolo,” I gasped, my nails digging into his shoulders.
“I know,” he said roughly. “I can feel it too.”
The bond. It was starting to form, invisible threads of connection weaving between us with every heartbeat, every breath, every movement.
“When you’re ready,” he murmured against my throat. “When you’re close.”
I nodded, understanding. The mating bite had to happen at the moment of climax for both of us, when our barriers were down and our souls were most open to each other.
He shifted slightly, changing the angle, and suddenly I was flying apart in his arms.
“Now,” I cried out, and felt his teeth sink into the curve of my neck.
The world exploded.
Not just from the physical pleasure, though that was intense enough to make me scream. But from the sudden, overwhelming rush of connection as the mating bond snapped into place.
I could feel everything he was feeling, his love, his relief, his desperate joy at finally being able to claim me completely. I could sense his thoughts at the edges of my consciousness, his absolute certainty that this was right, that we belonged together, that nothing would ever separate us again.
And beneath it all, I could feel the bond itself, strong and golden and permanent, binding us together in ways that went deeper than marriage or law or even love.
We were mates now.
Truly, completely, forever.
ONE YEAR LATER
“You’re expending pointless and unreasonable energy glaring at me,” Alexei said without glancing up from the sleek tablet in his hands.
Nicolo didn’t stop glaring.
They were seated at the edge of the Celestini estate’s southern courtyard, where the first anniversary party was in full swing around them. The terrace had been transformed into something out of a supernatural fairy tale, with ancient oak trees blooming with flowers that shifted color with the music. Tables draped in midnight blue silk were scattered across the stone patio, each one surrounded by chairs that seemed to have grown from the earth itself, their wooden frames twisted into elegant spirals.
“We both know it is your wife’s empty-headed assistant who is to blame for the misunderstanding.”
“You have a point,” Nicolo acknowledged grudgingly, crossing one ankle over his knee as he studied his classmate from his Oxford days, a fact that his wife herself had only become privy to just a few months ago. He had been a different person back then, and so that time of his life was simply something he would rather not talk about every so often.
“But it’s not enough. You’re just too good-looking for any husband’s peace of mind.”
“Might I remind you of how many hearts you broke back when we were at university?” Alexei’s tone was dry as the Denver air, and as cool as his tailored obsidian suit. He still hadn’t looked up from whatever he was reading.