Chapter 243: Why Did You Stop?

Eve didn’t need to be told twice. The pleasure built quickly, intensely, and when it crested, she came with his name on her lips.

Her inner muscles clamped down on him, rippling around his length, and Dimitri groaned....a sound of pure relief.

But he didn’t finish. Just held himself still inside her, breathing heavily, his entire body shaking with the effort of control.

"Why did you stop?" Eve asked when she could speak again.

"Because I need this to last." His voice was raw. "Need to stay inside you. Need to feel you like this for hours."

He pulled out slowly, moved to her side, pulled her against his chest with her back to him. His front against her back. His arm around her waist. His legs tangled with hers.

For a long moment, they just lay like that.

Then his hand started moving....stroking down her spine, over her hip, across her inner thigh.

"Again?" Eve whispered.

"Always again." He positioned himself behind her, entered slowly from this new angle. Shallower. Different. Making her feel the stretch of him in a completely new way. "I’m never getting enough of you, cara mia. Never."

He moved in slow circles, grinding deep, not looking for speed or intensity but for connection. For the feeling of being as close to her as two people could possibly be.

Eve pressed back against him, meeting his rhythm, her hand reaching back to grip his hip and pull him deeper.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you." His voice was absolutely certain. "More than my life. More than anything. You understand that, right? You’re not just the most important thing....you’re the only thing that matters."

"I know." She turned her head, found his mouth, kissed him softly. "And you’re everything to me too."

He increased the pace slightly....still not fast, but with more intensity. His hand slid down between her legs, finding her clit, circling it with precision.

Eve whimpered, her entire body responding to his touch.

"That’s it," he murmured against her shoulder. "Let me feel you. Let me know you’re here. Let me...."

She came again....a slower, deeper orgasm that rolled through her in waves. This one was quieter than the last, more intimate, more emotional. Dimitri held her through it, his cock still moving inside her, prolonging the pleasure.

"One more," he said, though it wasn’t quite a command. More like a desperate plea. "Please, baby. One more time. I need...."

Eve rolled onto her back, pulling him on top of her.

"Anything you need," she said, spreading her legs wider, tilting her hips up. "Take whatever you need from me."

His eyes went dark....almost black with emotion and need.

He drove into her harder this time, his control finally starting to fray. His pace increased. His breathing became ragged.

But his eyes never left hers.

"I almost lost you," he said roughly, his movements becoming more urgent. "When I was in that facility, when everything was falling apart, all I could think about was getting back to you. Getting back to this. Getting back to...."

"I’m here," Eve said fiercely, her hands gripping his shoulders. "I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. Come on, baby. Let go. I want to feel you come inside me. Want to feel how much you need me."

Dimitri’s head fell back, his jaw clenched, and then he was coming....hard, deep, overwhelming. His entire body went rigid as he spilled inside her, his groan echoing through the bedroom.

Eve wrapped around him, holding him through it, her arms and legs locked around him like she could physically keep him from disappearing.

When it was over, he collapsed on top of her, his full weight pressing her into the mattress. But instead of moving, he just stayed there....breathing heavily, his heart hammering against hers.

"Don’t move," he said hoarsely. "Please. Just stay like this. Let me feel you like this."

"I’m not going anywhere," Eve promised, stroking his back, her fingers tracing the scars that mapped his body. "I’m right here. With you. Always."

They lay like that for a long time. Minutes turned into an hour. Dimitri stayed inside her, softening but not withdrawing, his full body weight pressing her into the bed like he needed the physical contact to ground himself.

Eventually, Eve felt his breathing even out. His heart rate slow.

She thought he might be sleeping.

But then his hand came up, cupped her face, forced her to meet his eyes.

"I love you," he said, and the words sounded like a vow. Like a promise. Like the most important thing he’d ever said. "I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure you never question that. Making sure you know every single day exactly how much you mean to me."

"I know," Eve said softly. "And I love you too. So much it scares me sometimes."

"Why does it scare you?"

"Because loving you means accepting that you live in a dangerous world. That threats are constant. That someday...." Her voice broke slightly. "That someday someone might succeed where they’ve failed."

Dimitri’s expression hardened.

"No one is going to succeed," he said absolutely. "No one is going to take you from me. I will burn this entire world down and salt the earth behind me before I let anyone hurt you."

"I believe you." And she did. Completely. "But I’m also terrified every time you leave. Every time you take a call that makes your expression go cold. Every time I realize that loving you means accepting the possibility of losing you."

"Then we don’t accept that," Dimitri said fiercely. "We reject it. We decide right now, in this moment, that losing each other is not an option. That we fight. That we survive. That we build something so strong, so unbreakable, that nothing can touch it."

He pulled out gently, rolled to his side, pulled her against him with her back to his chest.

"Rest," he said, kissing the top of her head. "Sleep if you can. I’m going to stay right here and make sure nothing happens to you."

"You can’t watch over me forever," Eve said softly.

"Actually, I can." His arms tightened around her. "I absolutely can. And I will."

Eve settled against him, her eyes drifting closed, feeling safer than she’d ever felt in her life.

Outside the bedroom, the city continued its chaotic existence.

But inside this bedroom, in the circle of Dimitri Valentino’s arms, there was only peace.

Only love.

Only the two of them against everything else.

And for now, it was enough.