Free Web NovelChapter 90: He Is Here
Anastasia slowly turned, her breath catching in her throat as she took in the tall, powerfully built figure standing behind her on the balcony.
He was dressed in formfitting black fatigues that molded to every chiseled line and sinewy muscle of his body like a second skin.
She blinked slowly, the muted glow of moonlight playing across his ruggedly handsome features. "Are you...real? Or am I drunk already?"
A low, gravel-toned chuckle rumbled from deep within his chest as his lips curved into a lopsided smirk - part sarcastic amusement, part undisguised yearning. "Why don’t you come closer and find out for yourself?"
As if in a trance, Anastasia abandoned her wine glass and drifted towards him. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
Her fingers trembled ever so slightly as she reached out to ghost over the curved planes of his bicep, the taut musculature unyielding and scorchingly warm even through the thin fabric separating their skin.
Emboldened, she cupped his jawline in her palm, admiring the steel-edged rasp of his five o’clock shadow. "You’re here? You came..."
He dipped his chin in a subtle nod.
That simple affirmation shattered something within Anastasia’s carefully cultivated restraint.
Her vision blurred with a hot rush of unshed tears as she surged up on her tiptoes to crash her lips against his in a searing, demanding kiss.
He met her onslaught with equal intensity.
Their mouths linked and warred in an ages-old dance of possession and conquest, every ravaging snap and clash of tongue and teeth kindling that smoldering primal need coiling low in their bellies.
Anastasia’s fingers scrabbled and clawed at the muscled expanse of his shoulders and nape as she arched herself fully against his body, seeking that burning sublime friction.
Somewhere in the heat and madness of their embrace, her heels were kicked aside, as she pushed him backward.
"God...are you drunk, Liam?" She asked against the swell of his throat as palmed his muscles.
He shook his head and pulled her close to kiss her again.
She reclaimed his mouth in another soul-searing kiss even as her nimble fingers worked at the buttons of his shirt to rasp over each newly exposed swathe of chiseled musculature.
When she finally broke away, chest heaving with ragged pants, he caught her gaze with darkly blazing intent. "And you? Not too drunk yourself to know exactly what you’re doing here?"
Again that minute shake of her head, amber eyes glittering with naked desire. "Just the one glass..."
Liam moaned into the kiss and took her dress off while she took his clothes off.
He gently pushed her onto the bed and hovered on top of her, supporting his weight on his elbows.
His brows furrowed when he noticed how Anastasia stopped kissing him back.
"One glass, hm?" H chuckled when he found her soundly sleeping.
His low, rumbling chuckle was the last coherent sensation Anastasia registered before that bone-deep weariness bore her down into sweet oblivion.
He pulled the covers on their bodies and held her closer to his body.
_________
The first hazy tendrils of dawn’s gentle glow filtered in through the gauzy curtains, rousing Anastasia from the most blissfully vivid dream.
She surfaced lazily amid the warm cocoon of rumpled sheets and downy pillows, every inch of her skin still humming with ephemeral echoes of exquisite pleasure.
A slow, deeply contented smile curved her lips as she stretched like a sated cat, relishing those delicious residual tremors lapping through her muscles.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had such an intensely erotic dream.
A low, rumbling chuckle from somewhere beside her shattered the moment with a start, instantly drawing Anastasia’s widening gaze over her shoulder.
And there he was - all tawny bronze skin and corded muscle and ruggedly etched masculine beauty.
He propped himself up on one elbow, chin cupped in his palm while he gazed down at her shamelessly.
"Good morning?" she breathed, her voice emerging as a timid husk laced with naked disbelief.
His full lips curved in a slight grin.
"You’re still here," Anastasia wondered, unable or unwilling to shake off the remnants of the fantasy shrouding her mind. "You’re usually gone by this time..."
With a soft groan, she shifted her body completely towards Liam’s magnetic warmth, wrapping her arms around him, and burying her face in his neck.
Another low, sensual rumble of laughter ghosted across the sensitive whorls of her ear, stoking her flush into livelier embers.
"So you dream of me every day, do you?" He asked with a sly grin on his face, enjoying this so much.
Anastasia could only hum in a delighted tone, her hands sliding in greedy sweeps up and down his shoulders and nape as she turned her face to nose against the heated column of his throat in quiet reverence.
"Mmm... this is the sweetest dream of them all," she breathed, savoring the vibrant taste of his skin on her tongue as Liam tightened the arm banded around her waist in a crushing caress.
"I never want to wake..." She mumbled, yet another delectably graveled peal of laughter escaped his mouth.
"Oh, but you are awake, Anastasia..." His fingertips traced gossamer spirals of molten electricity over the sensitized skin of her lower back. "I’m here with you, real and alive..."
Immediately, every last nerve ending in Anastasia’s body zinged into a heightened awareness, leaving her utterly motionless as her eyes snapped wide.
She slowly disengaged herself from the cradle of those brutal limbs to stare down at Liam in utter disbelief and wonderment.
"You...you mean..." The first wisps of uncertainty evaporated like morning mist as she raked her gaze over the intimately familiar, heart-stoppingly male vistas of his physique bathed in soft golden-dappled rays.
The satiny ruby sheets tangled sinuously around his nude lower body and all that gloriously bare bronzed skin left so negligently on display for her eyes alone...
When he finally settled again, it was with a slight tilt of his head and one ebony wing raised in wordless gesture.
Anastasia’s gaze helplessly trailed after to land upon the gleaming object dangling delicately in his fingertips - a necklace unlike any she’d ever seen before.
An intricate cascade of milky pearls laved in liquid diamonds, each shimmering bead perfectly sized and cupped in seemingly infinite latticework swirls of white gold filigree.
"Did you like my gift?" Liam’s low rumble shattered the enraptured moment,
"I spent these past weeks searching for the perfect pieces to craft specifically for you..."
Anastasia couldn’t seem to tear her eyes from the audacious twinkles of precious stones spilling in an opulent froth along the silken bedsheets.
Finally, she compelled her gaze back up towards her mate - her mate who had returned to her at long last.
Her chest tightened with so many rioting emotions that she could only gulp back a choked whimper before reaching out to frame the beloved angles of his face in her palms.
"You’re here..." The words appeared as little more than a shuddering exhalation of awe. "You’re truly here with me again?"
Liam’s virile features softened with naked tenderness, his searing emerald eyes glittering like newborn jade in the morning’s radiance as he covered her trembling hands with his calloused heat.
"Yes, Anastasia... I’m right here with you in your room," he murmured.
Unable to speak around the tightness in her throat, Anastasia merely nodded and surged forward at once to enfold Liam in the most fiercely possessive of embraces.
And as they clung together with the same desperate reverence.
_________
Anastasia stood motionless in front of the large bathroom mirror, droplets of water still clinging to her skin from her recent shower.
Her eyes were transfixed on Liam’s reflection across the room, watching as he leisurely dressed himself.
Every small movement he made - the flex of his muscular arms as he pulled his shirt over his head, the ripple of his toned back as he bent to step into his pants - it all captivated her completely.
A low rumble of laughter came from Liam, and he made his way over to where Anastasia stood frozen. freёweɓnovel.com
Wrapping his strong arms around her waist from behind, he nuzzled his face against the crook of her neck affectionately.
"You can blink, Anastasia," he murmured teasingly. "I’m not going anywhere."
Anastasia’s throat tightened as she replied in a tremulous whisper, "What if you disappear when I do?"
She could feel the rumble of Liam’s chuckle against her back. "I promise you, I will be here," he assured her.
Gently taking her hand in his, he gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Hold onto me and go ahead and blink. You’ll see."
With her heart pounding, Anastasia gripped his hand tightly and slowly blinked her eyes.
When she opened them, Liam was still there, solid and warm behind her.
She blinked again and again, never taking her eyes off his reflection for more than a second. But each time she looked, he remained.
The reality hit her fully. Liam was here, he was back, he wasn’t just a dream.
His embracing arms around her, the tickle of his breath on her neck - it was all tantalizingly, undeniably real after all this time.
Anastasia turned in Liam’s arms to face him.
Drinking in every detail of his handsome features, she reached up with trembling hands to cup his face, needing to feel that he was truly flesh and blood.
Liam simply held her tightly, letting her experience this reunion at her own pace.
He pressed his forehead to hers, their eyes locked together in an intimate gaze.
"I’ve missed you, Liam," he rumbled in that deep voice she had ached to hear again. "I’m home now. I’m not leaving you."
The words Anastasia had longed to hear for so long shattered the final remnants of her composure.
She wrapped her arms around Liam desperately, burying her face against the reassuring strength of his neck.
He was here, he was real, he was hers once more.
