Endless Love

by Drake, Tabatha

  She takes a deep breath. I kiss her neck, showering her with all the comfort she’ll let me.

  “I’m better than yesterday,” she answers. “Not as good as tomorrow.”

  I kiss her again. She slowly spins in my arms to look at me. “You’re doing great,” I say. “I’m proud of you.”

  She smiles on one side as she looks at her ring finger. “Forgot to take this off. Almost screwed up the whole thing…”

  “But you didn’t.”

  “Just couldn’t stop picturing the last time I was in one of those Botsford hotels.”

  “I know.” I cup her face. “We’ll start turning down cases that take us there again.”

  “No.” Lilah shakes her head. “No, it’s okay. We need the work and I… I need the closure. I’m glad I did it. Really. I am. It was a job well done.”

  I nod. “All right, then.” I kiss her forehead. She leans into it, slyly taking hold of my loose tie and pulling me closer. “Ready to go home?”

  She looks up, smiling. “Almost,” she hints, tugging me toward her lips instead.

  We kiss. One long, lingering kiss that reminds me of why I fell in love with Lilah Hart in the first place. That fiery vulnerability. That heated touch.

  I press her against the file cabinet, and she mewls, gently pulling me until our bodies are flush together.

  A ringtone breaks the silence, rhythmic and repetitive.

  Lilah smiles against my lips. “That’s my phone.”

  “Ignore it,” I growl.

  She plants her palm on my chest. “Only one person calls this late.”

  I deflate, accepting the truth. I give her rear one more healthy squeeze before she slips free. “Or,” I realize with excitement, “it could be Fitzpatrick. Did we lose?”

  She picks up her phone and shakes her head. I grin, satisfied.

  “Hey, Grams. What’s up?” she answers. “Yeah, the job ran a little late. We’ll be on our way home soon… No, tell him he has to.”

  “Tell him he has to what?” I whisper.

  Lilah tilts the phone down. “He wants to wait up for us.”

  “Again?”

  She shrugs. “Yeah, put him on,” she says into the phone. “Elijah, honey…” I smile at her soft, motherly tone. “You have to go to sleep. It’s late.”

  I pat my chest. “Tell him that I told him he has to go to sleep.”

  “Your dad says you have to go to sleep.”

  “Or we’re not going to the aquarium this weekend,” I add.

  Lilah’s jaw drops. “But I want to go,” she whispers at me.

  “We’ll go,” I say, flashing a wink. “We’ll leave him at home and have a nice, quiet, romantic afternoon without him. Tell him that.”

  “Eli, either you go to sleep now or we’re going to the aquarium without you this weekend…” Her head tilts as she loses her soft tone. “And his eyes are closed! Thanks again, Grams. Love you, too. We’ll see you soon.” She hangs up and sighs. “Still doesn’t feel great negotiating with terrorists like that.”

  I chuckle as I wrap my arms around her waist again. “I’ve been doing it for years. You get used to it.”

  She returns the embrace. “Surely, that wasn’t directed at me, right?”

  “Of course, it was.”

  We laugh as her perfect lips find mine again. She sits back on the desk with her knees open and pleasantly wrapped around my waist.

  “Wouldn’t trade a moment of it, though,” I whisper.

  Lilah smiles. “Yeah, me neither.”

  I kiss her again. “I love you.”

  “I love you,” she replies, playfully wrinkling her nose. “Is it wrong I kinda hope he waits up anyway?”

  “Thank heavens.” I sigh. “I was going to say the same thing.”

  Another shared chuckle. One last kiss.

  “Come on.” Lilah hops off the desk. “Let’s get home.”

  * * *

  Home looks a lot different now than it used to.

  My previous home was a beat-up trailer back in the United States. I lived there, day and night, chasing down bounties to pad my own pockets and those of my former employer, for lack of a better word.

  Before then, I made my home here in London. I was a successful agent with MI-6, but I wasn’t happy. My life was dark and lonely, not as much as my years as a ward of the state, but still not a time I look back on fondly.

  But, as I stated earlier tonight, I wouldn’t trade a moment of it.

  It brought me to her.

  It gave me a son.

  We hadn’t planned it that way. We hadn’t given much thought to anything after Lilah boarded that plane and left her home to be with me. After everything we’d been through, after everything we’d lost, it was all about living in the moment with each other and finding new things to live for.

  She was pregnant within a year. I fell to my knees right then and there and asked her to be my wife.

  Lilah merely rolled her eyes and smiled.

  As the birth of our son approached, we found a condo — two, actually. One for us and our growing family. The other next door for her grandparents, Bernard and Mary Elizabeth. When Lilah suggested moving them here to be closer to us, I didn’t hesitate to agree. They’re good people, the ones who raised my beautiful wife and her brothers. I wanted nothing more than for them to be involved in our son’s upbringing as well.

  The extra help wasn’t bad either.

  And Dante, well…

  Naming him after Elijah was all his idea.

  Lilah and I poke our heads into the room. As hoped, Elijah raises his head off the pillow, his chestnut hair in a state of clumsy disarray. His eyes, tired but still wide open, flash with happiness as we walk inside and take our places on either side of him on the bed.

  Lilah curls her arm around him. “You should be asleep, little man,” she says, kissing his head.

  “I couldn’t sleep,” he says.

  “Why not?” I ask.

  He turns his head up, his eyes looking sneaky now. “Because there was no bedtime story!”

  I chuckle. “And you can’t sleep without one?”

  “No!”

  “What about your Gramps?” I ask. “He can tell you a story.”

  “No!” he repeats.

  “No?”

  Lilah wrinkles her nose. “I’m gonna have to back the kid on this one,” she says. “Gramps is rubbish at bedtime stories. He doesn’t even do voices.”

  I smile. “If I tell you a story, you’ll go to sleep?”

  “Yes!” Lilah and Elijah say together, laughing as she tickles his ribs.

  “Okay, okay.” I pause, thinking fast at where to begin. “Once upon a time, there was a princess—”

  They instantly groan in disgust and boredom.

  “All right. All right.” I clear my throat. “Once upon a time, there was a fierce warrior princess…”

  Lilah smiles as she and Elijah get comfortable, both satisfied with the story’s new start.

  I stare at her face barely illuminated by the night light on the bedside table.

  My Lilah. My partner in crime. And in life.

  “And she was the most beautiful woman in the world,” I continue.

  Sofia

  “And then… before the mighty prince could stop him, the evil wizard swept the princess in his cape and spirited her away!”

  “No!”

  “Yes.”

  I smile from my hidden spot in the hallway outside the bedroom door. The lamp on the bedside table spins shadows on the wall, moons and stars meant to lull our daughter to sleep, but they’re no match for Luka’s riveting fairytale.

  Rosa lies in her bed, wide awake and excited. “What happens next, Papa?” she whispers.

  Luka chuckles. “Next… you go to sleep.”

  She gasps as I do. “But Papa…”

  “Sleep.” He leans over and kisses her forehead. “We’ll continue the story tomorrow night.”

  She’s disappointed to
be sure but as Luka tucks her in, her eyelids grow heavy and she settles on her pillow.

  “Spokoynoy, Papa.”

  “Spokoynoy, Rosa.”

  “I love you.”

  I peek into the room, unable to resist the urge to catch the look on Luka’s face. The moment we discovered our second child was to be a girl, an expression crossed his eyes that I’d never seen before. To this day, I only ever see it when he looks at her.

  Rosa Lutrova. His little rose.

  A spitting image of me in every way but, just like Lucian before her, those blue-gray eyes are all his.

  Luka looks at her now and smiles, his eyes full of love and light. I don’t make a sound, fearful of interrupting the sweet moment.

  “I love you, malen'kaya roza,” he whispers, strong and protective. He leans over her again to plant another kiss on her head before he flicks off the light. “Go to sleep.”

  I ease back a step and wait for him to emerge from the room. He walks out with light feet, carefully closing the door behind him. That sweet moment with her is over, but I can still see the pure joy in his eyes. Joy meant only for his baby girl; the child we were never supposed to have but were somehow blessed with against all odds.

  Luka has believed in miracles ever since.

  He turns to me in the hall and pauses as he studies my scolding eyes. “What?” he asks.

  “That cliffhanger was cruel,” I say.

  His hand finds mine in the dark. “Was it?”

  “What happens next?”

  “I cannot say.”

  “Please.”

  He tugs me away from the door. We start down the hall together toward the master suite.

  “It wouldn’t be fair if I told you before her,” he says.

  “I’m her mother,” I argue. “I have a right to know what material you’re exposing her to.”

  “Sofia, it’s a bedtime story,” he says. “Not a gangster film.”

  “Well, I’m your wife and I demand to know how the story ends.”

  “You demand?”

  “Yes, I demand.”

  “Well, in that case…”

  Luka scoops me up into his arms. I smother my laugh in his shoulder as he carries me into the bedroom. He closes the door behind us and pins me against it.

  “Allow me to indulge you,” he whispers.

  He kisses me, tempting my lips apart. I fall for it, just like always. I melt between him and the door, my heart rapping against my ribs as his tongue finds mine.

  “They live happily ever after,” he says.

  I chuckle. “That’s not good enough.”

  “No?”

  “No! How does the prince find her again? How does he defeat the evil wizard?”

  Luka picks me up, his laughing lips still flush with mine. “Well, it’s not easy…”

  “Uh-huh,” I say, urging him to go on with a kiss.

  “The mighty prince hunts for them through the night, but… he can’t find the evil wizard’s secret lair.”

  “Oh, no…”

  We reach the bed. I lower down onto it, taking Luka with me.

  “Then, what?” I ask.

  Luka guides me with a firm hand until my head reaches the pillow. I lie back as he balances over me on both arms, his hips firmly pressing against mine. “Then, he stumbles on a rogue thief in the forbidden forests.”

  “Ooo.” I feign a shudder. “Tell me more about this rogue thief.”

  “He’s quick and sly… and very ugly.”

  I laugh. “Is that right?”

  “An ugly fiend of a man.”

  “And he helps the prince find his princess?”

  Luka smiles as he leans closer. “For a price.”

  He kisses me, his hand slowly gliding down my chest. I shudder beneath him, just like always. I submit to another deep kiss, another firm touch, another soft caress. A moan escapes me as he kisses down my chin. He pushes his knee between mine, purposefully forcing them apart as he settles between them. His hips sway, gently sparking heat between us. His bulge tents his pants. I tremble as it rubs against me, sending a flurry of warmth up my spine.

  “Sofia,” he whispers as he kisses my neck. “I need you.”

  The heat in his voice sends fire coursing through me. I pull his face toward mine, giving him a long, aching kiss in response. Yes, it says. Kiss me. Take me. Make me yours.

  Luka rises and pulls his shirt off over his head as he goes. I instantly suck my bottom lip between my teeth, my eyes feasting on the shape of him in the dark. The firm rows of his abs. The hard V-shape pointing downward. The black tattoo curling down his arm.

  I shudder, forever turned-on by him.

  Luka grabs my slacks. I raise my hips as he pulls them off, eager to rid myself of as much clothing as possible. I reach for his pants, hooking my fingers around his waistband. The head of his cock sticks out, already swollen and hard, as I push them down.

  Luka crushes his lips on mine. His breath releases a husky growl as he positions me for the taking. We don’t bother with protection. We never have. After Rosa was conceived, multiple doctors confirmed what we already knew: that I was sterile. Rosa was impossible, and yet…

  We decided to always leave it to chance. If it happens again, then our family will grow even more. If not, that’s okay, too. Either way, we are forever complete.

  I place a hand on his cheek. “Luka,” I say, smiling.

  He looks at me, our bodies aligned. “Yes, lyubov’ moya?”

  I raise one thigh, my skin pleasantly gliding along his hip. His hardness rests against my opening, making me quiver with need, but I don’t want to leave this moment just yet.

  The two of us, completely entwined. Our children, happy and healthy in their beds. Our lives, perfect as ever.

  I kiss him as my heart races. “I love you,” I say.

  Luka chuckles. “It’s good that you said that now,” he says. “You’ll be too tired to speak once I’m done with you.”

  He enters me. I gasp, feeling pleasantly filled as he thrusts his hips and envelops my lips again.

  Luka

  I wait until Sofia falls asleep, though that doesn’t take long at all. I kiss her bare shoulder in the dark, smiling as her chest slowly rises and falls beneath the loose bedsheet. She sleeps so well these days, even on nights when I don’t exhaust her like this.

  But the late-night stroll is a hard habit for me to break.

  I throw on some clothes, my slacks and an old t-shirt, before heading down the stairs to the ground floor. Moonlight pools through the windows, lighting the path in front of me. My home has changed a bit over the last few years. Hallways, once clean with muted colors, now show signs of young children. A toy box here. A stack of crayons there. Possible dangers like suits of armor have been moved into storage and out of a toddler’s curious reach. Our household staff and guards, once stiff and proper, now bend a knee and smile whenever Rosa stumbles up to them. She’s stolen the hearts of this household and I’d be willing to bet that there is not a man within these walls who wouldn’t die for the adorable Lutrova princess.

  My ears twitch at the voices down the hall. Laughter and manly grunts.

  They must be back.

  I pick up my pace toward the kitchen. As I step inside, I spot four men sitting around the table. The first is my brother, Yuri, sporting a bandage across his nose that wasn’t there when he left on business a week ago. Another, our friend, Nik Petrovin. Casey Fawn, our head of security (and former Snake Eyes agent, but we don’t hold that against him). And last, sinking lower in his chair as he sees my raised brow, is my son.

  Lucian.

  “Luka!” Yuri says, waving me in from the doorway. “Good, you’re up. Have a drink with us.”

  I step forward, counting the glasses of vodka around the table as I head toward the cupboard. Only three.

  Good.

  I grab a fourth for myself. “Lucian, should you still be up?” I ask.

  He sighs, knowing the answer. �
�Come on, Pops,” he says.

  Nik reaches over and grabs Lucian’s shoulder, his hand large enough to crush it. “Let him live, Luka!” He laughs. “The boy is practically a man!”

  The others chuckle in agreement. I silently remember all the times my father let me sneak downstairs and listen to him and Markov tell old war stories.

  “All right,” I say. “Just don’t tell your mother.”

  Lucian smiles.

  I sit down in the empty chair beside him with my glass. “So, how’d it go?” I ask Yuri.

  He slides the bottle toward me and shrugs. “Business as usual,” he answers.

  “Oh?” I say, purposefully staring at the fresh bandage across his nose.

  “Unrelated,” he says, vague.

  I chuckle, but I don’t push it. My brother has come home with several new scars since he started taking a more active role in the family business. After I retired, he took it upon himself to live up to our father’s reputation. In this business, of course, that means shedding a little blood now and then. This new scar is just a part of that.

  Or he mouthed off to the wrong woman. Could go either way.

  I pour a little vodka into my glass. “Will you be home long?” I ask.

  “No,” he answers. “We’re leaving for Chicago in the morning.”

  I nearly flinch. “Chicago? Why?”

  Yuri looks at Nik, passing the conversation to him with a quick raise of his glass.

  Nik sighs with annoyance. “My little sister,” he says. “She has abandoned her calling.”

  “The convent?” I ask.

  He nods. “Mother Superior called me earlier this week. Apparently, Vera packed her bags and left without a word.”

  “Why didn’t they stop her?”

  “She’s eighteen now. They couldn’t stop her. The good news is that our friends in the Argento family spotted her in the city.”

  “And the bad news?”

  He sneers. “They spotted her in a hotel bar.”

  “Oh,” I say, smothering a smile.

  “Gavin is keeping a discreet eye on her until I can get there and drag her back to the convent where she belongs.”

  “Or bring her back here,” I offer. “I’m sure Ma and Sofia can find a place for her.”