Page 40 of Darkest Craving

WOLFGANG

Eight months later

I t’s April. The smell of blossoms floats in the air, the birds fully returned to the forest surrounding our new home. It’s nice and quiet here. No one ever bothers us, and my wife gets to enjoy all the time she wants outside with the horses.

Her birthday is in a few days. I haven’t told her yet, but I’ve arranged for Anya and her mother to come visit. They should be here soon. And so will Sasha. The message from Ivan pops up on my phone—they boarded the plane, and they’re on their way.

In the distance, I hear the gallop of a horse.

If I were to guess, I’d say it’s Cerber, the black stallion I gifted to Victoria's family that first day I met her. She learned to appease him, and he’s completely under her spell, needing her constantly.

So much so that Alaska whines when she sees them together, even though most of Victoria’s attention remains on her.

I walk around the manor, her silhouette coming into view. Her hair is out, blowing in the wind behind her as she bounces on the stallion’s back seamlessly. Alaska follows right behind them, but she’s not ponied. She used to be for a while, until she got used to riding along Cerber, but not anymore.

I stop outside the fence, watching them, my wife’s back to me.

It reminds me of the first time I saw her—when she turned and finally saw me…

I’ll never forget the look on her face. She was scared, her lips and the tip of her nose rosy from the harsh winter temperature.

Scared, but contained, as if she knew better than to show that weakness in front of someone who could’ve harmed her.

I loved seeing that fight unfold inside her.

The defiance she greeted me with was what piqued my curiosity in the first place.

She doesn’t look at me like that anymore.

Now, when her pretty blue eyes are on me, she lights up like a ray of sunshine.

Looks at me knowing my demons will never get to her. Because they won’t.

When it comes to my wife, I’m worse than that stallion—every moment I’m free, I need her. Crave her. I have to go to great lengths to give her space to be herself without me. And I do it, because fuck, I love this woman.

“Haven’t we done this before?” she asks, catching her breath, jumping off the horse.

I raise a brow. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, right.” She smiles. “I thought you were going out with Ivan.”

She says that with a knowing tone. She knows what she did that made me cancel that meeting.

“Come here, love.”

She takes a sip of water from her flask. “Nuh-uh. I’ve got practice with the kids in an hour.”

She started training our men’s kids to ride shortly after we came back from our honeymoon in the Bahamas. It’s always been her dream, so I made it happen. One day, I’ll be seeing her teach our kids how to do the same.

“Perhaps you should’ve thought about that when you messaged me a picture of your pretty pussy this morning. What, did you think I’d forget?”

Her lips purse. “No, I knew you wouldn’t. In fact—” She approaches me, tilting her head up to speak against my lips. “I was counting on it.”

I look down, the corner of my lips tilting up.

She’s toying with me. And I’m already hard as a fucking rock.

My voice is low, demanding, filled with need. I don’t hide it from her—she needs to know what she’s doing to me. “Leave the reins, Victoria. Or I’ll have to strip you bare right here, on this field.”

“So dangerous,” she drawls, exiting the fenced meadow, latching the gate behind her.

She goes around me, brushing my body with her hand as she turns. I close my eyes, my restraint almost gone from every inch of my body. I reel with it a bit longer, because I enjoy this little game she likes to play with me. But it won’t be enough. I need her.

“Victoria…” My jaw clenches when I feel her hands on me again. On my abdomen, trailing down, close to the proof of what she’s doing to me.

“Yes,” she whispers. “You’re right. We shouldn’t…”

I laugh to myself. She’s good. She’s fucking brilliant.

But now it’s my turn, and I do like to win.

I catch her wrists with one hand, stopping her movement. She gasps behind me, and I turn to her, lifting her chin with my other hand so I can see her eyes.

“I’ve thought long and hard about that picture today, love.

About the things I want to do to you.” I leave her chin, unbuttoning the front of her riding breeches, then unzipping them.

I slide my hand beneath her panties, finding her warm pussy with my middle finger.

She sucks in a breath, melting into the touch.

“So when I tell you to come here, you come. You know what happens when we play this little game of ours.” I get fucking ravenous.

A smile stretches her lips, her eyes fluttering. “Why do you think I started it?”