Chapter Twenty-two Estera Roberts’ POV (Present Time)

After cuddling for a few minutes just lying there, holding on tight with my arms wrapped around his neck and my face pressed to the side of his face, pressing my lips to his skin. He trailed his fingers down my naked back, while slowly regulating his breathing.
“Baby… I’m sorry I was a bit rough, it's been…”
“Shh… I know,” I whispered. He gently nudged my face and crane his neck so he could face me, and with our noses touching, he smiled at me. Christ! How was I able to survive all these years without him? I remember this smile -- this rear smile that always lights up my inside like an explosion of fireworks. This smile that I would spend a whole day anticipating and looking forward to doing something that would make him look at me like this.
To my dismay, my shoulders shook and my eyes welled with tears. Why is life so unfair? Why do they have to tear me away from him? I released a shaky breath and felt his hand snaked to the side of my face and his long slim fingers gently caressed the nape of my neck.
“Shh … we are going to be just fine, my love,” he said, brushing his lips against mine. And I truly wished he was right and that promise could truly come true, but I know better. I wasn’t the Estera he used to know, that naive girl that believed love breaks all barriers. I got a cruel awakening soon enough. I just wished it didn’t have to be this way. I wanted to stay in his arms forever.
His kisses invaded my head and chased my gloomy thoughts away. Evan was the only person I knew who could do that to me, he has always been like a drug in my bloodstream, always creating a euphoria of intense desire and need that makes my world center on only him. He was my world.
“I’m in shock this is your first time,” he whispered with a pleased smile tugging his attractive lips.
“You made me promise I will be yours forever and always,” I whispered back and felt him entwining his fingers with mine, drawing the clasped hands up so he could kiss the back of my hand under my watch. “You also promised to kill any man who touches me,” I said in a shaky whisper, giving him a wavering smile.
“If you recall you almost drove me to insanity with jealousy and from wanting you,” he replied with an arched eyebrow. I giggled.
“You were uncontrollable!”
“I was crazy about you. I am … insane about you,” he replied with a profound look of happiness emanating from his eyes. I couldn't help raising my hand to caress his handsome face. The smile never left his face. He looked happy -- an infectious feeling.
My eyes darted in their sockets as I took him in, wanting to soak in the sight of him, wanting to remember this smile for the lonely nights to come. I pressed my lips together as the tears threatened to spill again. He cupped the side of my face and took my lips. The kiss started slow and playful, I was certain he had done that to get me out of my head, then he bit me and I gasped with surprise. He buried his face in my throat and planted loud, wet kisses on my skin, making me giggle despite my mood. Then he suddenly wrapped me up and lifted me off the bed, hoisting me over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I squealed loudly, and he responded by giving me a playful slap on my ass.
“Evan!” I cried.
“Yes, baby?” he replied. I could hear laughter in his tone. He sounded different from before. I wiggled from his grip and ended up on his back with my arms wrapped around his neck and my full breast flattened on his bareback. He made a long, suffering sound that made me giggle, and then I bit him on the shell of his ear, enjoying how his body quivered against mine.
“You are going to pay for that,” he promised. I laughed.
He carried me inside the bathroom and in the shower stall, standing under the shower spray, he twisted the knob, and I cried out loud when the cold water hit my skin. Slipping down his back I tried to back away and he wheeled around catching me.
He backed me up to the tiled wall with a roguish grin brightening his attractive features.
“What did I say about you paying?” he threatened. I doubled over in laughter. When I raised my face to hold his gaze the playful mood had vanished, and his eyes had gone dark and intense.
“I miss… your laughter, your beautiful body, your voice, your scent. Estera…” He stopped when his eyes caught the small tattoo of a bird in flight below my left breast on my ribcage. He raised a hand to brush his fingers over the delicate body modification, and I watched the play of emotions on his face. “A one-wing bird…” he whispered barely audibly, and a deep frown furrowed the center of his thick and shapely eyebrows, “I wanted a tattoo of your name on my back you didn’t let me do it, and when you pick something to ink on your body you pick a broken, wingless bird…” he paused and raised his dark, intense gaze to hold mine, the depth swirled with emotions. “Did I contribute to this? Am I responsible for this wingless bird, my love,” he asked in a passionate tone that matched the turmoil in his eyes.
My chest quivered and I lunged forward, stretching upward to cup his jaw and pressing my lips against his. He picked me up instantly and wrapped his arms around me in a crushing hug.
“You made me so happy…” I cried in a fervent whisper against his lips.
“Estera…”
“I love you… I love you. I love you,” I mumbled repeatedly, crying.
“I will make it right. I swear it to you, baby, I will make it right,” he said fervently.
“Love me, Evan—” I cried.
He backed me against the tiled wall and my arms wrapped around his neck, holding his face against mine, and kissing him like I would die if he stopped. He cradled my ass and I felt his throbbing need at the entrance of my vagina, I shook and bucked uncontrollably wanting him inside me. He made me hold still and thrust into me. I moaned deep in my throat, and my entire frame quivered.
His lovemaking was almost punishing as he drove steadily into me, drawing cries from my lips. I threw my head back to draw in air and he buried his face at the nook of my neck, planting kisses on my skin, up to my jawline, and down to my throat while he continued to slam hard into me. The pleasure was profound.
His thick and long shaft filled me up, stroking every pleasure nerve inside me. I felt weak as if all the bones in my body had turned to rubber, and holding on to him got increasingly difficult. And as if he could tell, he slipped out of me. I groaned and whimpered in protest, feeling suddenly empty.
I tried reaching for him with a pain-filled cry, wanting to feel us as one again. He turned me around and held my back to his chest. One arm wrapped around my front to cup my right breast while the other held my hips, making me push back my ass nudging my legs apart, he thrust into me.
I shivered from the intense emotions that raked me inside. Evan held me tight, holding still for a second -- I suppose to calm us both before he started to move inside me again.
“Don’t stop, Evan, please don’t stop—” I panted.
“I love you—” he replied. I lost the remaining strength in me then, overwhelmed with emotion. He wrapped himself around me with my feet barely touching the floor and truly possessed me.
I woke up to his deep baritone voice calling me, and I opened my eyes and found my back was turned to him. He shook me gently by the shoulders, and I turned to face him. He was backing the table lamp, and I couldn’t see his face clearly.
“Evan?” I called hesitantly.
“Your friends—” he replied.
“Oh!” I exclaimed and sat up quickly. With Evan's reappearance and the turmoil of emotions I had gone through in the past hours, I had completely shut out my reality. He offered me his mobile phone, and I quickly took it from him.
“Estera! Are you alright?” Ameera was the first to speak
“Are you safe?” Ashley interjected
“Do you need us to come to get you?” Ameera spoke again
“Where are you?” Ashley demanded almost at the same time. Acutely aware that Evan was right there listening in on our conversation I didn’t want to say much but knew I had to ease their fears.
“I’m fine, I promise. I am so sorry I made you worry,” I replied.
“If you need us to come to get you, use a public phone, okay?”
“Yes, I will … see you in the morning…”
“Are you certain you are fine?” Ameera asked again.
“I promise,” I replied with a small smile tugging the corners of my lips, feeling blessed I have the girls in my life.
I looked up to meet Evan’s eyes and noticed he was much closer to me now. I let out a shaky breath when I felt his hand stroking the side of my breast. My eyelids fluttered and dropped when he gently brushed his thumb against my nipples. The feel of his hand on me was so exquisite, that I breathed through parted lips. I had forgotten I was naked and exposed to him.
“Jacob, I will see you tomorrow. I got to go,” I heard him say in a husky tone.
One of his hands moved to cup the side of my face with his fingers caressing the corner of my mouth and the back of my neck.
I moved my skin against his palm, enjoying the feel of him, and then I felt him rise to kneel over me, and slowly made me lay back on the bed.