Page 13 of Ava After Midnight (Chaos and Chemistry #2)

EPILOGUE

AVA

T he sun-warmed sand shifts beneath my feet as I follow the winding path back to our private bungalow, the fading light painting the sky in streaks of molten gold and deep violet. Bali has been a dream, a fevered escape—lazy days exploring hidden temples and lush jungles, steamy nights tangled in silk sheets and each other.

But tonight feels different. Electric. Like the universe is holding its breath, waiting for something inevitable to unfold.

I slip through the intricately carved wooden door, my gauzy sarong whispering to the floor as I take in the scene before me. Candles flicker on every surface, their glow casting restless shadows against the walls. Rose petals—rich and velvety—spill across the floor in a deliberate, tantalizing trail leading straight to the bed.

And at the center of it all, Domingo.

Lounging shirtless against the pillows like a king waiting for his queen. Burnished skin, sculpted muscle, eyes dark with purpose. Every inch of him exudes ownership, control—except for the way his gaze softens, just slightly, when it lands on me.

Something in my chest tightens. I almost need his steady hands just to keep me grounded.

Almost.

"Something on your mind, mi alma ?" His voice is a slow caress, deep and dripping with promise. His accent is thicker when he wants me—and right now, it’s suffocating.

My thighs clench involuntarily. I know that voice. I know what it does to me.

I let my sarong drop, baring myself to him. To his gaze that scorches more than the Bali sun ever could.

"You could say that," I murmur, trailing a single finger along the intricate footboard. My pulse pounds like a war drum. "I was just thinking about how... thorough you’ve been in keeping your promises this week."

His lips curve into a wicked, knowing smirk. "Is that so?"

"Mhmm." I crawl onto the bed, slow, deliberate, reveling in how his hungry gaze tracks every movement like I’m the only thing in existence.

"The waterfall. The sunset cruise. The temple ruins." I pause, dragging the moment out. "Not to mention the things we did in that cabana yesterday..."

His low growl reverberates through my entire body, and I almost let him catch me when he reaches for me. Almost.

Instead, I slip just out of reach, my grin teasing.

"Careful, princesa ," he warns, his voice dark and dripping with heat. "You’re playing with fire."

I lift my chin, daring. "Maybe I want to get burned."

His restraint snaps.

With a rough, commanding grip, he hauls me against him, claiming my mouth with a kiss that feels like devotion and destruction all at once.

I melt. I ignite.

"Greedy girl," he rasps against my lips, his hands tracing, gripping, branding. "Never satisfied, are you?"

"Not when it comes to you." It’s not just a confession. It’s a vow.

Something flickers in his eyes—hunger, reverence, something too deep for words. In a heartbeat, he has me pinned beneath him, his weight pressing into me like gravity itself.

"How do you want to be worshipped, mi diosa ?" His teeth graze my pulse, slow, deliberate. One hand skims lower, teasing, taunting, as his voice drops to something dark and full of reverence. "Give me your orders. Let me prove—again and again—that I was made to serve your pleasure."

I shiver. Not from the breeze, not from the cooling night air. From him. From the truth in his voice.

"I want your mouth." My voice shakes only slightly as my fingers thread through his hair, dragging him lower. "Everywhere."

His groan is pure sin, vibrating through my skin as he kisses, bites, and devours his way down my body. His mouth follows the path his hands have memorized over and over again this past week, taking his time, savoring every tremble, every gasp.

By the time he reaches the ache between my thighs, I’m wrecked, writhing, begging.

"Please, Domingo..."

His breath ghosts over my slick heat, teasing, tormenting.

"Please what, mi reina ?" His voice is silken ruin, pure torment wrapped in honey.

"Your tongue." It comes out a wrecked rasp. "I need it."

He doesn’t make me wait.

His mouth seals over me like a man starving, and I forget how to breathe. He worships me with an unholy precision, devouring, claiming, commanding. His tongue flicks, strokes, plunges, until I am nothing but shattered nerves and broken prayers.

"Yes. Oh god, yes." The words fall from my lips like confessions at an altar. "Just like that... I’m so close..."

His grip tightens, his fingers thrusting deep as he sucks hard on my clit, relentless and merciless.

"Come for me, Ava." His voice is a dark command, breathed against my slick heat. "Let me hear you scream."

And I do.

His name tears from my throat like it’s the only name I’ve ever known.

I shatter, unravel, burn alive.

Even as the aftershocks roll through me, he doesn’t stop. He keeps lapping, tasting, wrecking me, milking every last drop of pleasure from my shaking, spent body.

By the time he kisses his way back up my body, I’m shaking, gasping—utterly undone.

He captures my lips, and I taste myself on his tongue.

"I will never get tired of that," he murmurs against my mouth. "Hearing what I do to you."

"I guess I’ll just have to keep screaming for you," I whisper, voice wrecked and full of promise.

His low, wicked chuckle vibrates against my skin. "That’s my good girl."

His hips shift, the thick length of him pressing against my entrance, and suddenly, I need more.

"I love you, Ava."

It’s not just words. It’s a vow. A promise.

His voice is raw, almost reverent, like a prayer torn from his chest. His gaze holds me captive, dark and unshakable.

"In this life. In the next. In every version of myself, I will always find my way back to you."

I suck in a sharp breath, my chest tight, my heart pounding.

"This is love."

I swallow hard, my voice just as raw. "I love you too, Domingo." The words taste like freedom. Like fate. Like something I never thought I’d deserve but now can’t dream of living without.

"And I will spend every day choosing you, the way you’ve chosen me."

His lips crash against mine in a claiming so deep it drowns me.

He thrusts into me, filling me to the hilt.

We groan in unison, bodies melting, colliding, becoming.

Outside, the sounds of ocean waves and rustling palms blend with our shared cries of ecstasy.

And as he drives into me, pulling me under wave after wave of bliss, I realize?—

This is paradise.

This. Him. Us.

And all the dances we have yet to come.

The End