Petite fingers trace over the contours of my bare stomach to the trimmed patch of hair below my belly button. Kat’s body molds behind mine, our bent knees tucked together. “What time is it?”
Between my lashes, I can just make the clock on the bedside table. “Seven-oh-eight,” I tell her, wriggling closer to her warmth. “How’d you get to be the big spoon? I’m supposed to be the big spoon.”
A gust of breath beats against the back of my neck. “You wanna fork instead?”
My lips curve into a sleepy grin. “Abso-forking-lutely.”
Kat’s leg curls around my hip, rolling me onto my back as she slips her body on top of mine. The neckline of my T-shirt falls past her golden shoulder, pale-pink tendrils of hair picking up the scattered shards of the morning sun. My hands slip under it, my knuckles grazing the soft silk of her skin as I pull it over her head and whisk it away before fingering the purple butterfly on her chest. A girlie version of the same piece of ink I have on my neck. It was already there when I arrived here suddenly over a year ago, flapping its intricate wings over her heart. When I asked about it, she said, “There are moments which mark a person’s life. Brief periods of time when you realize nothing will ever be the same. It divides everything into two parts: before this and after this. Being with you was that moment for me.”
I fell in love with her all over again right then and there.
A delighted gasp shoots from her mouth when I flip her onto her back. “You want it soft and slow, or rough and wild?” I ask, toying with the fabric of her panties.
Her bottom lip disappears between her teeth and slides out gingerly as she pretends to mull over my question. “All of the above?”
“I only aim to please, Goddess,” my voice rumbles against her neck.
“Ooh, Goddess. I like the sound of that,” she whispers, pushing her pelvis against my hand. A hiss leaks between her teeth when my thumb grazes her clit and causes her hips to buck. My cock throbs harder with each wanton moan, but I’m in no hurry. Watching her squirm is too fucking hot.
Husky whimpers play on her lips as I kiss a trail from hipbone to hipbone. I tear my hand from her wanton heat and slip her panties down her legs. The lacy fabric is already drenched. Why she even puts them back on at night is beyond me. She should know by now that I’m only going to tear them off again in the morning.
Fiery heat burns between her thighs, the sparkling remnant of her desire glistening on supple skin. The scent of her arousal builds a pool of saliva on my tongue. The minute it passes her slit, her back bows off the mattress. “Oooh, Chase . . . agápi mou,” she mewls, her head rolling to the side. She exhales slowly, melting into the mattress as I work her pussy with my mouth and lips but, when two digits slide knuckle deep, her breathing grows heavy and desperate. I grate my tongue against her throbbing bud, feeling her body tighten until it’s squeezing the life out of my hand.
A keening cry rips from her chest. She unleashes a jumbled mix of Greek and English as sugar bursts on my tongue and slides down my throat.
I push to my knees and watch her body convulse, still drawing my fingers in and out. Her orgasm is beautiful. Over a year together, and I’m still as enthralled as I was the very first time. Just seeing her naked body sprawled out in front of me, the letters between my knuckles disappearing inside her body then reemerging wet and glimmering is better than any drug, any porno, or any high I could ever muster. It’s fucking ecstasy.
Removing my hand from between her thighs, I move it up and press both my palms against the mattress on either side of her head. A rosy flush creeps across her cheeks and down her neck. “I love you, babe. You know that?”
She nods, her black eyes sparkling under hooded lids. “I love you, too.”
“Good. ‘Cause I got something I’ve wanted to ask you.” I push up to one knee and reach between the mattress and box spring of our bed. This is not what I had planned at all. I wanted flowers, candles—a big moment she will remember forever—but in the end, none of that other stuff really matters. Our bed, our home. With our dogs snoring at our feet and our bodies pressed tightly together. This is what’s real. This is true love. “Tha me pantrefteís?” I ask, setting the velvety box down on her chest.
“What the fuck did you just ask me?”
“You heard me.”
The pulse in her neck beats like a kick drum. “I think I need to hear it again.”
I sit up on my haunches, plucking the little black box from above her breast. “I want you to marry me.” It opens with a creak. Her eyes widen, and her jaw goes slack. “Before you lose your mind, I didn’t buy it,” I explain, taking the two-carat diamond between my thumb and forefinger. Fractals bounce off the center stone and reflect off the gem encrusted platinum band. “It was Grandma’s. She’d want you to have it.”
“I can’t take your grandmother’s ring, Chase. What if . . .?”
Kat’s latent fears rear their ugly heads every so often. I see them brewing in her gaze each time I tell her how I feel. It’s as if she’s lying in wait for the moment I change my mind and tell her it’s over, but that’s never going to happen. She’s entrenched so far within my heart it would take a bulldozer to get her out, but doing so would only kill me in the process. I’m in this. For better or for worse.
“There is no what-if. What we have is forever,” I say, pressing my fingertips to her trembling lips. “I knew it the minute we met. You weren’t just made for me; you’re a piece of me. The other half of my soul I’d been missing all along. Marry me, Kat. Make me whole again.”
Tears burst from her eyes and stream down both temples. “Yes. Nai, Chase. Tha se pantreftó.”
With a smile, I slip the ring onto her slim finger. There are few days in a man’s life that he’ll cherish forever—I’m talking, like, two or three perfect moments that will live in his memory with as much crystal clarity as the day it happened. Hearing her say yes is definitely on top of that list. “I told you our love story would be epic.”
“The end?”
“No.” I drop a kiss on her nose. “This is only the beginning.”