Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 90075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
I snuggled deeper into his arms, smiling as he threw a leg over mine, trapping me in his embrace. “Oh? And what’s that?”
“To hold you.” He kissed my cheek. “I just want to hold you because after what we just did, after my heart just burst wide open and I came harder than I’ve ever come before, I’m so fucking afraid that you won’t be here when I wake up.”
I smiled and pressed a kiss to his forearm. “I’m not going anywhere. For the rest of your life and beyond.”
He groaned with a harsh chuckle. “I suppose that will do as an apology.”
I wriggled even closer. “I’m sorry, Master. For making you fall in love with me.”
“I’m not.” His arms banded excruciatingly tight. “And it’s Nicholas, if you don’t mind. When you’re crying for me, I’m your ruler. But when we’re cuddling, you’re my fucking queen.”
No one.
Not even storybook knights, warriors, and princes could hold a candle to this man.
Mine.
All mine.
I couldn’t contain the joy, the tingling, blood-singing joy.
“Nicholas...” I kissed his arm, my heart glowing brighter than a nebula. “I—”
“I love you, Ella,” he murmured into my hair. “Fear, pain, and all.”
I twisted in his arms.
I cupped his cheek as our eyes locked and tangled.
Leaning in, I kissed him. “I’m obsessed with you.”
His cock twitched.
Our hearts stirred.
And our shower didn’t happen until dawn.
We fell into one another. We kissed and stroked, petted and worshipped. For the first time, we had sex without discipline or whips or others. We rode each other and clung to one another and when we found that pinnacle of delirious pleasure, we promised infinity and forever in the dark.
The next morning, as I sat at the dining room table and Nick made us keto pancakes with fresh fruit, I did my best to step outside my besotted addiction and set aside my rose-coloured glasses long enough to message Hunter.
I’d done what he said.
I’d earned what I wanted.
I owed him the biggest thank you.
You were right.
He came.
He claimed.
He’s mine.
Thank you, Hunter.
For everything.
I sipped the coffee Nick had brewed and set my phone aside, only to snatch it up again when a short text replied.
Told you.
No one can withstand your magic, little witch.
I’m happy for you.
I guess our date in one year is null and void, but I’m okay with that.
As long as he adores you, he deserves you.
I wish you guys nothing but kink and love.
Hunter xxx
Replying a final time, I typed:
I’ll never forget you.
I hope you find the same happiness one day.
Stay safe.
Goodbye.
I got up and wrapped my arms around my Master and mate.
I tipped up my chin for his kiss.
I ate the food he made me.
I accepted the creams he rubbed on me.
And then, I kneeled for him and melted for him as we began to play...
Epilogue
ONE YEAR LATER
A BOUQUET OF WILDFLOWERS PERFUMED THE HOUSE AS I opened the front door and stepped inside. My eyes instantly locked on their riot of colour, my heart glowing with love.
He remembered.
I wondered if he would.
A lot had happened this year, so I would’ve understood if he’d forgotten our unofficial anniversary.
Unofficial because we’d never really announced we were going steady.
But also official because the night he took me, spread and trapped on the living room wall—the night where he stripped me back to sobs and screams, then filled me with love and devotion—had bound us together stronger than any vow or ceremony.
The other Ella from The Black Peacock had been right.
This lifestyle of ours was intense.
We were the air and sustenance to each other. We played and protected and did everything together, and...it was absolutely perfect.
Kicking off my heels, I padded into the kitchen and plucked the card from the flowers.
Dear Miss Infinity,
An incomparable year where I go to sleep every night with you in my arms and wake with you in my heart every morning.
Happy anniversary, sweetheart.
I’m still madly obsessed with you.
See you soon.
N
Xxx
Hugging the card to my chest, I stuck my face in the flowers and inhaled.
Sweet and sensual...just like him.
Nicholas...the perfect contradiction of ruler and partner: fierce and kind, dominating but attentive, ruthless but loving.
God, I’m so lucky.
A year and I just kept falling.
A year and we couldn’t stop tripping deeper and deeper into one another.
We’d tried to keep our secret from work, but...it hadn’t been long before we’d been called out.
Mainly because of me.
The passionate mistake I’d made a year ago when I’d told Kate it was me in the middle of a Nick and Hunter sandwich had ensured we’d become office gossip to the point where we’d been summoned to explain ourselves.
The moment we’d stepped into our boss’s domain, Nick had taken all the blame. He’d offered to quit, even though he wanted to stay at our lab instead of relocating to Singapore. He’d said he would give up his career—the same career that drove him to find a cure for men like his brother and father who’d been robbed of so much time—to keep me.