Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 207002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1035(@200wpm)___ 828(@250wpm)___ 690(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 207002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1035(@200wpm)___ 828(@250wpm)___ 690(@300wpm)
Two things currently framing her in my view.
Two things that embodied Neri in one perfect picture: a creature of spirit and stars, dwelling on the seafloor with fish and dolphins.
Tugging her forward, I nipped her ear. “Get off me, get on your hands and knees, and lift your nightgown. I won’t ask again.”
She shivered.
I waited to see if she’d disobey—I almost wanted her to because part of me needed to chase, discipline, and punish her for making me love her like this—but then a coy little smile twitched her lips, and she did exactly as I asked.
Our sex life had only gotten better as we’d gotten older.
I was no longer afraid of letting go.
We played with toys.
We shared our fantasies.
Not a day went by that we didn’t seduce each other with dirty promises.
I often joked that if my heart was going to stop beating one day, it would be when I was balls deep inside her because she always took my breath away.
Moving off my lap, she kneeled on the chaise lounge. Her eyes remained locked on the radiant waterworld beyond, and with a flick of her wrist, she flipped up the short skirt of her silky nightgown.
The globes of her ass.
The glisten of her arousal.
The pinkness of her pussy.
I groaned as my hard cock popped out of the waistband of my boxers.
Without fail.
Every single time.
She bewitched me body and soul. I could barely breathe as I kneeled behind her, tugged my boxers down, and grabbed her hip with my left hand.
“Are you wet, aşkım?”
She moaned and hung her head. “For you? Always.”
I feathered my fingers over her core, finding her heat and slick invitation. Hissing between my teeth, I sank two fingers inside her, stretching, claiming. “Do you need me as much as I need you?”
“God yes,” she whimpered, pushing back against my hand. “Don’t tease me, Aslan. Not tonight.”
“Why shouldn’t I? Why shouldn’t I make you writhe?”
“Because tonight is the anniversary of the first day I found you. My head’s been swimming all day with a boy who looked so lost, so broken. A boy who stole my heart with a single stare.”
“Fuck,” I grunted, my heart rampaging through my ribs, drumming its own possessive beat. “How many years has it been, Nerida, since you fell for me?”
“Twenty.”
“Twenty wonderful years.”
“I want twenty more. A hundred more.”
“I can’t promise you that.” I withdrew my fingers and wrapped them around my erection. Spreading her desire over me, I reared up behind her and notched myself in that perfect spot. “But I can promise you that I’ll love you for every day I’m alive and beyond.”
I thrust.
Hard and punishing, sending her falling to her elbows.
She moaned.
The reflection of us on the glass painted my mind red with lust. The vision of her on her knees, ass up, and me rocking behind her made the urge to come slam through me.
Only her.
Always her.
A reef shark glided past as I withdrew, then plunged back in.
A bloom of jellyfish floated nearby, their tentacles trailing like glitter-string as I bent forward and placed my hand on her nape.
The coral glowed brighter.
The moonlight dazzled.
And Neri gasped beneath me.
I lost myself.
To my wife.
To our love.
I fucked her.
I worshipped her.
Together, we said no to death and yes to life.
Yes to a life worth living.
Chapter Fifty-Three
*
Nerida
*
(Love in Spanish: Amar)
THE SILENCE FOLLOWING MY VOICE SOAKED UP our story and hoarded it in the shadows of the conservatory. The house that Aslan had built for us huddled around me, almost as if it didn’t want our secrets being shared.
But it was too late.
I’d confessed every shred of truth.
I’d spoken until dawn.
My throat was scratchy and dry, no matter how much lemon water I sipped. My eyes burned and blurred from exhaustion. And my old body was no longer used to all-nighters when I longed to return beneath the sea and the reef where I truly belonged.
It’d been a long time since we’d lived in this house on the shore. This wonderful house where Teddy and Eddie still lived and Ayla now dwelled with her husband and their two daughters.
Aslan and I had been too busy with creating Lunamare and running his empire in Turkey to spy time to have another baby, but we’d gotten the joy of grandchildren in our later years.
Needless to say, Teddy and Eddie had been beside themselves to have yet more children to dote on, and I had a sneaking suspicion that Melike and Bella preferred those two grandfathers to the one-legged one and strange Nana who lived beneath the sea.
Dylan shared a look with Margot.
I rubbed my eyes, doing my best to stay coherent for a little longer.
I hadn’t expected this to take as long as it did, but I was grateful I’d done it.
Grateful that our love story was told because that was my biggest legacy, my greatest lesson, triumph, and tragedy. Dropping my hands, the image of the two reporters before me was jarring after sharing the last moments of the romantic interlude in our sphere so many years ago.