Chapter 249: Patience, We Have All Night

He unbuttoned his shirt from her body one button at a time, revealing skin inch by inch. Skin that he kissed as it became visible...her collarbone, the valley between her breasts, her ribs.

"Dimitri," Eve whispered, her hands coming up to hold his head. "Please."

"Patience," he murmured against her skin. "We have all night."

He continued his descent, kissing her stomach, her hip, the delicate jut of her pelvic bone. He could feel her trembling beneath him, anticipation and need warring inside her.

When he finally reached her pussy, when he finally put his mouth on her clit, Eve gasped, a sharp, involuntary sound that made his cock twitch with need.

He ate her slowly, deliberately, using every technique he’d learned about what made her respond. The specific angle that made her back arch. The specific rhythm that made her thighs clench. The way he could use his tongue and his lips and his teeth to bring her right to the edge without pushing her over.

"Oh God," Eve gasped, her hands gripping the sheets now, her hips beginning to move with his mouth. "Dimitri...I’m....you’re...."

He pulled back suddenly, ignoring her whimper of protest, and moved up her body.

"Not yet," he said. "I need to be inside you when you come the first time."

He positioned himself at her entrance, watching her face as he pushed inside. Watched the way her eyes fluttered closed. The way her mouth opened in a silent moan. The way her entire body welcomed him.

He was careful not to rush it. Pushed inside slowly, letting her adjust to his size even though she knew him now. Even though her body was familiar with his.

Once he was fully seated, Dimitri paused, just breathing, just existing in this space where they were completely connected.

Then he began to move.

Slow at first. Deep. Deliberate thrusts designed to make her feel every inch of him. Designed to take his time. Designed to show her exactly how much he needed her.

"Look at me," he commanded, and Eve’s eyes opened.

Silver eyes met hazel in the darkness of their bedroom.

"I love you so fucking much," he said, and it came out like a vow, like a threat, like a prayer. His hands gripped her waist, controlling her movements, setting a rhythm that was almost too much. "So much, Eve. Every fucking second of every fucking day."

She was close now, he could feel it in the way her entire body had begun to tremble, in the desperate sounds she was making against his neck.

"I will do anything to keep you safe," he continued, his voice rough and raw. "Anything. Burn down empires. End lives. Take on the world. You are mine, piccola. Completely mine. And I will protect what’s mine with every breath I take."

"Dimitri," she gasped, and came, her orgasm hitting like a tidal wave, her body arching back as waves of pleasure crashed through her.

The sight of her....head thrown back, breasts thrust forward, eyes squeezed shut as she gave herself completely to the pleasure.....was too much. He pulled her back against his chest and thrust up into her hard and fast, chasing his own release.

"Fuck, Eve," he groaned, and with one final, powerful thrust, he came, his entire body going rigid as release ripped through him. He buried his face in her neck, breathing hard, his arms locked around her waist as they both trembled in the aftermath.

For a long moment, they stayed like that....tangled together, skin against skin, heartbeat against heartbeat. Dimitri’s hand came up to cup the back of her head, pressing her closer, not wanting to separate by even an inch.

Slowly, their breathing began to normalize. Eve turned her head and kissed him softly, tenderly, a stark contrast to the intensity of moments before.

"Again?" she whispered against his lips, a slight smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

Dimitri pulled back just far enough to look at her face. Her hair was mussed, her lips swollen from kissing, her eyes still dark with pleasure but also something softer....contentment.

"You can’t handle another round again tonight, piccola," he said, but there was affection in his voice. "I’d break you."

"Maybe I want to be broken," she murmured, running her fingers through his hair. "Just a little."

He groaned and shifted, pulling out of her carefully before rolling them both to their sides. She tucked herself against him, her head on his chest, her leg draped over his waist. His hand came up to rest on her thigh, stroking slowly.

"Two weeks," she said softly, almost to herself. "Just us."

"Just us," he confirmed, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Just you and me and the ocean."

"I love you," Eve whispered.

"I know," Dimitri said, and meant it in a way that encompassed everything....her strength, her vulnerability, her ability to demand peace in the middle of a war, her trust in him even when he was asking her to accept things that most women would run from.

She fell asleep like that, tucked against him, completely trusting that he would be there when she woke. And Dimitri held her, running his fingers through her hair, and made a silent promise to himself.

He would make sure he settle the scores with his father within three months, but he also knows that it wont be an easy war

But before that he would give her two weeks, where he would give her the peace she deserved. Where he would show her that he wasn’t just capable of destruction and strategy and cold calculation. That he could also offer her moments of quiet beauty. Moments where war felt very far away.

The light from the windows shifted as the night wore on, and Eve slept on, safe in the arms of a man who would burn down the world to keep her that way.