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I murmur softly, though I know that the words don’t quite capture what I’m feeling.
It doesn’t matter though.
They understand.
They always do.
Pulling me close again, they wrap me in their warmth.
Their hands roam my skin, slow and tender, a gentle contrast to the hunger they always seem to carry for me.
It’s different now, not less intense, but softer somehow.
It feels like they’re memorising me all over again, tracing the shape of my body with their fingertips.
Nikolai’s thumb strokes up and down my side as he presses his mouth to the side of my neck, and Mikhail’s lips brush over my temple.
Their warmth seeps into me.
I shift slightly, and their hands adjust with me, never losing contact.
Nikolai’s hand drifts down my thigh, curling around my leg to pull me in even closer.
“Are you okay, Chiara?”
He asks me, his voice soft.
Mikhail’s palm settles low on my belly, his fingers slayed possessively, like he’s already imagining what it will feel like when I’m round with their child.
“Yeah.” I reply, my eyelids becoming heavy, and my body relaxed between theirs. “I’m perfect.”
They both move to kiss me at once.
Nikolai’s mouth finds mine first, kissing me slowly before he pulls back as I turn my head slightly, meeting Mikhail’s lips soon after. We kiss, slowly and unhurriedly, then I turn back to Nikolai, breathing him in.
There’s no rush.
No urgency.
Just the quiet certainty that we belong here, like this together, with each other.
Their hands move again as they each continue kissing me, sharing me with one another, loving me in a way so sweet.
I know I’m exactly where I’m meant to be.
Between them.
Always.
Forever.
Chapter Twenty Three
Mikhail
Months Later
Chiara’s hands grip the sheets, her swollen belly brushing against the mattress as I kneel behind her, my hands holding her hips as I guide her body into the slow, lazy rhythm we’ve found.