Check out the author's note at the end if you haven't seen the little surprise I promised 😉🤫

"My Love bug, are you crying?" Everything Nate has in his arms drops, along with his heart, the second he catches sight of Anastasia's glossy eyes and wet rosy cheeks, and after two steps from the door, he too is falling to his knees in front of her curled form on the armchair. "What's happening?"

His damp thumbs try to brush the tears off her cheeks, though they only wet them more with raindrops, and his eyes are searching hers for clues, while his mind is already coming to the worst conclusions.

He's left her here barely ten minutes ago to prepare and load some gear for tomorrow in his trunk. She's looked fine, talking seriously, but still with the hint of an excited smile on her lips, through their whole Love Bug video conference with the others, and they've discussed every important point before he's got out. Could they have found a fault? Or something has happened after she's ended the call? But what? She's supposed to be safe in their treehouse.

"I'm fine," she reassures him with a small smile, which only tightens the knots in his head and stomach. "I've just read a sad story..." Her blurry eyes blink in front of his big teddy brown ones, gazing at her with so much tenderness, care, worry, and actually, an infinity of emotions that are drawing more tears to her eyes.

It is the truth though, and she tries to recall the last ten minutes to explain him from where this waterfall of tears has come.

The video call has ended sooner than expected because everyone has other plans tonight. Sacha is meeting with his best friend, Teresa. Molly has a dinner with her parents, and finally, Andy and Hadi are perfecting the details of the bug, which is in fact, a pretext for a date that Andy has planned. So everyone has been pretty eager to settle the last details of the Love Bug quickly to enjoy this last night before the big day, maybe just in case...

Nathaniel and she, themselves, have started a romantic picnic here at the treehouse. Yet as she has found herself alone for a few minutes, her mind has wandered a little too far with the 'in case' and 'what-ifs'. That's why she has decided to grab the book she has left here the other day and finish the last few chapters. It is the perfect way to distract herself and escape the shadows of the world after all. A forbidden love story... What has she even thought?!

She has found more darkness through another sad ending, and the words that usually allow her to escape have trapped her with more fears and doubts, adding to the ones she is keeping inside since too long.

How does she even begin to explain this to Nathaniel, when everything is spinning inside?

"'Romeo and Juliet'?" He lifts her hand that is clutching the book, understanding falling on his features with a sigh as he catches sight of the cover. "Oh, no... Why did you read that tonight?"

"You've read it too?" Her eyes peer up at him from under the outline of her frown, following his movements as he puts the book away behind the closest shelf, as if not seeing it could erase the words she has read, as if it was as easy to forget everything...

"No, I've seen the movie the other day. But it's just a story. It's not because it didn't work for them that we can't write our own happy ending." He smiles, and now that her tears are drying, she can already glimpse the happy ending through the shine of his eyes. "We're stronger than them because we're together. Romeo was stupid because he didn't talk to Juliet. But we're planning this together, and we have help."

She can also see that he is not stopping, not until a smile will replace her sad frown, and one corner of her lips is already stretching, while he leans closer to poke the other side.

"That's great arguments..."

"That's the truth and only the truth," he swears with a hand over his heart before sealing his promise on her lips and reminding her of every wish and vow they've made for their happy ending.

As always, he is pouring all his heart through the simple yet intense caresses of his lips, maybe even more as his heart is beating faster tonight, and he's glad to feel, and then see her more relaxed smile when he pulls away.

"Stronger together," she murmurs, sliding her hand in his, and he takes the opportunity to pull her up with him and lead her to the center of the room.

"And until we have our happy ending..." He grins, his other hand reaching for the two cups in the middle of the coffee table. "I think we started our own little date with green juices and–"

His enthusiasm, his words, and his smile are stopped as soon as he turns back to Anastasia, though not as much as his heart is freezing with the quick twitch of her lips. It may last less than a second, yet he catches clearly the expression that he would make after drinking one of those green juices.

"But if you don't want to, that's okay. If you're not hungry or if you wanna do something else?" He rushes to put the cups back down, his eyes staying worriedly on hers, and from their chocolate shades dripping softness to the drinks surrounded by half-empty plates of so many various snacks, tapas, French cheese, toasts, and pepper-free dips, with of course, their Dulce de Passion choux, and a few lit candles here and there, she doesn't know what looks more cozy and delicious.

Yet her stomach is shriveling.

"I'm sorry. I'm spoiling our night..." She sighs, trying to let out some of the pressure inside and make room for this beautiful picnic that has made her so hungry and excited barely an hour ago.

While now, staring at it, she feels so full, and it isn't because of the few bites they have started snacking before the Love Bug meeting. It's a pit filled with so many fears that, as impossible as it seems, is overfilling her stomach and even her chest.

Crying should have released all those tensions inside, but new ones keep appearing, and she knows she won't get rid of them until they have freedom.

"You're not spoiling anything! It's perfect as long as we're together." He softly turns her head to him with two fingers under her chin, and she is left breathless, except that it isn't like usual, where her breath is caught and she forgets the world.

Nathaniel still looks as breathtaking; it isn't about that. He is even more handsome than ever as he has dressed for their 'date', and now, his white shirt and slicked curls are wet from the rain.

However, it's her ribs squeezing together tighter and tighter that are annihilating the oxygen in her lungs, while the strong arms that always shelter her from the rest of the world are reminding her of all the dangers tonight, and the tenebrous eyes pouring with infinite love are blurring hers.

He has made sure everything about this evening is perfect, and even more than this, it is full of love, and he has of course succeeded in this mission. Yet it is also a reminder of how precious it is, how precious Nathaniel is, and it makes the thought of losing all of this even more unbearable.

As much as she tries, as much as Nathaniel tries for her, she can't erase the impression that it could be a glimpse of the future, the first of many dates, yes, but it could also be their last.

"We can do something else, anything you want, except reading!" He tries with a smile, though he isn't stupid.

He knows it isn't about the book. It's just been the tiny drop that has made everything overflow, and now, he can see that she is fighting to hold it all inside, barely keeping it with the shimmering veil over her soft eyes.

Even for him, it's hard to not get overwhelmed with everything these days. But he's more used to lock everything inside, and he's preparing himself for tomorrow like he always does for a mission, maintaining his steel shield for a little bit more. He has to stay strong and focused, for Anastasia, for them, for everyone.

"We can talk if you need?" It isn't what he's used to, but it may be what Anastasia needs as his words release her shaky sigh and soon, the overflow.

"I don't even know what to talk about... There are so many what-ifs and scary possibilities. I don't want to bring you down with my fears." She shakes her head, physically battling to not let the shadows haunting her reach him.

However, he doesn't even hesitate as he leads her to sit on the bed with him, welcoming her in his arms. "I don't think you could because I already know very well all those what-ifs and possibilities. They're always in my mind too..."

This makes her peek up at him from under her lashes as it's probably the first time they really discuss all those dreadful shadows since they've started working on the Love Bug plan. Maybe it isn't the best time, but when she looks at him with these transparent and piercing eyes, she digs the words out from his ribcage.

"I'm terrorized too, and I wish that I could have a magical formula to make all those clouds disappear from your mind and just make you happy."

"You make me happy," she assures, the glistening reflections in her eyes not even weakening her conviction. "You really do, despite all the what-ifs and reasons to cry, and that's what is even scarier. Tonight, being here with you makes me happy, but... I don't want it to end..."

That last sentence is whispered like a prayer, so quiet that he wouldn't hear it if her forehead wasn't resting on his, and with her gaze diving into his, he can also glimpse the thoughts chasing her before she lets them out, and he understands, even when it may not make sense to anyone else.

"I shouldn't even say things like that when people are dying... and being tortured right at this moment... I'm horrible..."

"No, you're not horrible!" Nate immediately argues, his voice much louder than her wavering murmur.

He's okay to listen and let her talk, yet he can't let her say things like that, and even less believe them.

 "You have the right to be scared, and happy too," he continues softer. "We're fighting, it's already a lot. We can't change the world in one day or even alone, but we're doing the best we can, and we'll stop all of that... I don't know if it'll ever stop those haunting shadows of what has happened. We can't go back in time or erase the past... But we're fighting for the future."

Stopping with a shallow breath, he realizes he's let out more than he's intended to.

He's been supposed to listen, but once again, she has managed to bring down his shield with her magnetizing eyes, and it's like a weight has been put off his chest, or more exactly, his ribcage has opened up to leave more space for the strong beats of his heart.

He's wanted to soothe her, and she's the one who has eased his worries. Though as incomprehensible as it is, Anastasia also looks calmer, her breathing steadying and her features relaxing. Maybe she hasn't needed him to be strong. She just needs him to be there, and that's what he does as he pulls her closer in his arms, if that's even possible.

"And you're the one who has initiated all these possible changes. Do you realize that, without you, there would have no possibility of stopping all those horrible actions of the government, of ending 'hell', my angel... my love bug?" He smiles, the shine in his eyes almost dazzling her, yet she can't blink away, only return the same adoration.

"No, the Love Bug is your idea, and it's together that we initiated everything, my hero," she concludes, and maybe they should have talked sooner because the words left echoing in the silence of their dazed grins don't sound as scary as she has expected.

Nathaniel has found a way to express all those dreadful shadows and turn them into the right words to bring her more light of hope.

She indeed feels really happy in this moment, staring into each other's souls and wrapped in their bubble of happiness. Tonight, it doesn't shield them away from all their torments, yet they are sharing them, and they look so much less frightening when they are together, stronger than ever, to face them.

The past and the future aren't erased, but they enjoy what they have now: the present, and not ready to let it slip through her fingers yet, her soft voice breaks the silence after some minutes.

"Stay the night."

Actually, it might have been more than 'a few minutes', as they haven't even noticed the dimness around, gazing at the light in each other's eyes, and they both realize it as her gaze flickers to the window behind them.

However, it isn't now that Nate will come back to the time and place, when her words are his biggest dream.

"That's what I want to do: stay the night here with you."

It isn't a dream. It's real; she is real, his angel, and he's left speechless, hearing the request the most simple yet also the most impossible.

"If you can't, I understand. I know that–"

"Okay."

"Okay?" Her gaze snaps back up, as fast as her eyebrows are shooting up, and her heart is following, no matter how much she tries to slow down its takeoff.

"Okay," he repeats with an assured smile, as if her request wasn't like asking for the moon, though he's already bringing millions of shooting stars in her chest as he adds, "That's what I want to do too."

"The whole night?" she makes sure to clarify, when her heart is already lost somewhere in the infinite of his eyes.

"The whole night until tomorrow morning."

"Waking up in each other's arms and sleeping peacefully?"

"No nightmare. No staying awake with the what-ifs." He nods, reading her mind, or more exactly, sharing her mind as the dark circles under his tender eyes are proof that she isn't the only one haunted day and night. "Just you and me together."

And before any of them can question the craziness of this idea, and her eyebrows can lower back into that rational frown, he suggests, "I'll text Pamela and pretext another mission to get my promotion."

It isn't the wisest right now, but he doesn't want to think tonight.

"And I'll tell my parents I'm staying at Khloe and Andy's for a pre-bachelorette party."

Her mom might not believe her, yet she knows she won't argue, as she is quite understanding these days, maybe because she has no clue about the Love Bug.

It's a lot of lies and risks just for one night, but as soon as they put their phones down, all of these are forgotten, and it's worth it.

Watching Nathaniel setting off the closing of the roller shutters and light the bedside lamp, she can even picture a future where this is their reality, and it is easily outshining all her doubts, especially when he comes up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and whispering above her ear,

"This is our first night of many."

His murmur tickles his way all along to her heart, and she breathes in to capture all the details of this simple and precious instant.

The warm scent of candles, his unique spicy perfume, hers... the smell of home is engulfing her, almost as cozily as his arms, and the incessant deluge of rain outside is creating a steady lapping against the roof, which is perfectly in sync with the dancing light of the flames, just like the rise of Nathaniel's warm chest is guiding hers.

Although while everything is of a surreal peacefulness around, it is the contrary inside her. Her heart is hammering faster and stronger, and when she turns around, resting her hand over his compass pendant, she can feel that they are once again completely in sync.

"Thank you."

Nate doesn't have time to question why she's thanking him as her lips connect with his, but it definitely expresses more than a 'thank you' for tonight, and each languorous caress of her mouth makes it very clear.

A million words are rushing in his mind to reply to her, yet they stay on the tip of his tongue as he traces her plump lips, and he answers her the same way she does: with passion and love, his hands reaching for her waist and sweeping her up in his arms.

She lets out a small squeal at the unexpected gesture, which she hasn't seen coming as her eyes are still closed, and she is lost in the kiss that doesn't stop, not even for a second. Thus, she can only guess and feel what he is doing as he is holding her bridal style, and the rest doesn't really matter.

Only his strong arms, the passion of his lips, the beats of their hearts, and... the softness of the mattress under her back when, after a few more minutes than it is necessary to cross the room, he lays her down. Yet they still don't pull away from each other's lips. 

They keep kissing again and again, translating words the best way they can, and even tracing back the last three months as their lips go from slow and light to rushed and passionate, teeth stinging from time to time and tongues following afterward to brush the burning sensation. After all, that's how it has all started without even introducing themselves properly, acting on a forbidden word they haven't known at the time.

They are running out of oxygen, and their lips are flamingly swollen, yet it doesn't stop them. Nothing could stop them. They could go on forever, or at least, all night because they can.

It is exactly her definition of a peaceful night as her mind is blank, and she feels like floating, even though the rush in her veins resembles the fusing lava of a quiet volcano ready to erupt at any second.

Their movements may still be as slow, but there is a rumbling intensity appearing in the faint brushes of her bare legs against the rough fabric of his pants and in their tongues swirling together.

When his fingers slide to their linked pendants, she has to pull away, already shivering from the gentle touch, and the rest of her ragged breath is knocked out when she reopens her eyes, and in the darker chocolate shades of his, she can see everything that has passed through the kiss and so much more: the promises of all these future nights together.

They're both smiling widely at this simple realization that they still have trouble processing fully.

It isn't much different from the many times they've been together though. They've shared passionate kisses and close touches that from the desire invading his veins and her pupils, will without a doubt lead them the same way. Yet tonight, they don't have to part, even if his fingers are still prickling with the apprehension that she could disappear at any second.

That's surely why his touch stays featherlike, savoring each inch of her smooth skin under his pads and tracing the concrete symbol of their magnetized pendants like a proof that nothing will break them apart.

The meaningful items stay in his hand all along actually, when he presses a kiss to her chest under, when the jump of her heart echoes immediately against his lips, when his own heart is following the uneven rhythm, and when he trails his lips languidly over the skin exposed by her low-cut neckline.

And slowly, with her breathless moans filling the air and her fingers finding their way through his damp curls, the certainty that she is really here to stay is sinking in deeper – unless it's just the heavy desire outweighing his fears as he's growing harder with every contact of their hips, and his hand lets go of their pendants to slide under her flowing dress, gripping her soft flesh instead and making her arch.

His sinful angel arching for him. She may be wearing a revealing black dress tonight, yet she still looks so pure, the black fabric highlighting the white of her skin and following her silhouette to make her look more fragile. He wants to keep her protected in his arms forever like this. Though he isn't fooled; he knows the fire she's hiding under, and he can even feel it as her small hand sneaks to grope his bulge over his pants, turning the fabrics of their clothes into a suffocating barrier that he can't stand between them.

He needs them off now, his movements becoming faster as he leads her to sit up, and his hands run desperately over the smooth fabric engulfing her back to find an opening before he tears it off. It might be tempting when the zipper seems lost in her slim silhouette, but he can't ruin another outfit of hers when he's noticed she's picked a new dress especially for tonight, wanting to make this date as formal as they can.

She's even put on a little bit more make-up, nothing too much, just a few more colors on her eyes to make her gaze even more captivating and the red on her lips that always drives him wild, although by now, the red must be smeared on his own mouth as much as it is on hers, both parting for the same sigh of relief when he finally finds the zipper.

In one swift motion, the dress is slipped off her body, and she has barely opened one button of his shirt when his talented fingers make her bra disappear too, the fine lingerie she has chosen just for him thrown away somewhere on the floor. Yet she can't care less when his gaze is roaming hungrily all over her body to then dive into her eyes, and his whisper breaks the silence.

"You're so beautiful."

In this quietness of shallow breaths, growing moans, and maybe also of the lapping of the rain somewhere, they don't need words to express themselves and understand, but when he talks, he always has the right ones.

Maybe it is his eyes giving so much more meaning and intensity to every sentence, or maybe it comes from his smooth and raspy voice making everything sound like a melody. The two combined, it reaches deep inside her chest to wrap around her heart and lower.

"You too... I mean, you're handsome," she tries to articulate between two heavy rises of her chest, and it isn't easy when his hands reach there to cup her naked breasts, the caresses of his sinful fingers turning her murmur into a moan. "You're sexy..."

His eyebrows are lifting at the unexpected confession, which has been on the tip of her tongue since their first encounter, and even though at this instant, his sexy body is still covered with the smooth and wet fabric of his shirt, she is much more assured, freer, to tell him and even show him how much she likes what is under as she continues with his undressing slowly, ever so slowly...

Today, his buttons aren't torn off. On the contrary, she opens them one by one, trailing kisses on the skin revealed inch by inch. She takes her sweet time because they have it, and it is a delicious sensation as she slides the shirt off his shoulders, replacing it with her lips grazing softly, and his fingers are still indolently tickling every part of her sensitive breasts.

However, it is something else starting to hurry them as another ticking is appearing in her body and his groans are growing impatient. 

Before she even realizes it, their lips are rushing against each other again, fast and slow at the same time, and her head is spinning, trying to grasp the desire that seems to always come faster and hotter. It is surely because now, Nathaniel knows every inch of her body and soul, reaching her soft spots and always finding new ways to make them tingle.

He's still trying to discover new hidden spots actually, her sweet moans guiding him as he savors the unique taste he can only find on her burning skin. Tonight, his appetite is even sharper as it's just a foretaste, and it instinctively leads him down her left arm.

There, like always, the meaning of her naked slender finger against his lips echoes in a bang inside his chest, and once again, she is breathless as she catches him staring at her left hand.

It is like the naked skin of her ring finger is holding a million questions and answers that she glimpses flying through his gaze. Though, right now, what she mostly sees is a special determination shining in his tenebrous eyes as he brings his own left hand to intertwine their fingers.

Her heart is threatening to shatter her ribcage as he fiddles with their fingers in a way that looks mindless, though it is anything but mindless when he untangles them and lifts his hand.

"Take it off."

This time, it is sure; her ribs are crumbled on the floor from the strong jump of her heart, yet she doesn't care. Her heart has a better nest in Nathaniel's dark and warm eyes, and it becomes dizzying as her gaze flickers too fast from those penetrating chocolate shades to the only thing she has ever wished to change about Nathaniel, trying to comprehend if she has heard him right. 

"Are you su–"

If his three little words couldn't be more clear, he silences her, answering her questions, all her questions, as he slides his finger between her parted lips.

In this instant, she knows, despite all her doubts for the future, that she will never give herself to any other man no matter what happens, and Nate can watch the biggest smile he's ever seen illuminate her features.

If he's thought he's witnessed her widest grins sparking from laughers, victories, hope, or even love, they have been all outshined by this smile, and his own cheeks are hurting, almost as much as the inside of his tight pants, when she sucks eagerly on his fingers.

There is something more meaningful than any solemn vow as her teeth slowly scrape his finger to slide off the ring, and her tongue swirls around the clear skin that hasn't been exposed since too long, leaving her own mark with ardent tingles there, but also all along their path down until his hardness, while of course, passing through his heart.

When the ring ends up between her lips, he is fully burning, and he'll gladly let her fire consume him forever as she puts it away on the nightstand, fighting the possessive urge to just spit it away. It isn't that Nathaniel would care, as his gaze is too captivated by his liberated finger, yet they are both aware that he will have to put it back on tomorrow, even if at this moment, it isn't the important.

For tonight, he is only hers; she is only his.

This is our first of many, his lips are already promising her through a world-shaking kiss, and she whispers a breathless 'Je t'aime' in reply, as she can't find any other word to describe the euphoric daze tingling her veins, which is more than everything she has ever felt.

Through messy kisses, tickling smiles, sweet love words, and sinful moans, he slowly lays her back down on the white bed, and she jumps when she feels the warmth of his now-naked fingers inside her lacy panties. It's a leap of her heart, of her reactive nerves, and of her whole body as all the flutters he has ignited everywhere are rushing back down her core to remind her how throbbing wet she is.

She could have almost forgotten with his meaningful promises and the aftershocks they are still sending in her heart. But he hasn't, and neither has her body as her thighs are already spasming under the flicks of his fingers, and he makes sure the pulsations between her legs are as strong as the ones in her chest, that she is overwhelmed by the intensity he is offering her from everywhere.

Only then, does he pull away, his gaze roaming down her body for what is probably the billionth time tonight, although there is still new astonishment appearing in his parted lips and ravenous eyes, especially when they stop on the only tiny piece of fabric remaining.

While she has chosen these lacy, almost transparent panties especially to catch his interest, she is now regretting it as his fingers are carefully tracing each pattern of lace. It has worked; all his attention is on them, and she knows he can see and feel the throbbing and heat through the flimsy and now damp fabric.

However, she is the one caught in all of this, all her nerve endings stretching painfully for the lightest brush of his fingers too close but too far to where she is burning for him.

She is wriggling, trying to pull him closer, yet his featherlike touch is crippling her under the desire, and she can't do much except panting his name again and again. The power he has over her body is tremendous, and tonight, he has one thing that makes him even more irresistible: time, which he uses to lead her to the edge, following the most sinuous ways, and when she is tiptoeing on the rim of sinking down into her orgasm, her nerves already jumping, he switches pace, rushing to push down her panties and shoving two fingers into her entrance.

Like he plays the strings of his guitar, he is sending zings of electricity along her outstretched nerves with the powerful softness from his fingers curling perfectly, to his warm hand caressing her blazing heat, and to his eyes boring into hers. She isn't over the edge anymore; she is higher, on cloud nine, and ready to fly.

"Oh mon– Nathaniel!"

He softly cups her cheek with his right hand, locking his gaze with hers as he leans the closest he can, watching all her reactions as attentively as if it it was their first time.

It is: their first time of many others, and he wants to make it unforgettable for her, while he tries to imprint each detail in his memory.

His eyes, though, stay only fixed on hers, diving there and catching every shade of pleasure crossing them. It shows him everything as she is the most vulnerable and the most powerful at the same time, the most open, the freest. He's captivated by the expansion of the dark desire melting over the last few specks of green, by the light glaze appearing as she's fighting to keep her eyes from rolling back, and mostly by the infinity of emotions striking him.

She's almost sharing her pleasure with him as he lets it invade all his senses, and even without blinking away from her eyes, the sweet scent of her arousal is progressively reaching his nose. Her moans are tickling his lips as much as they are filling his ears, and all her shivers are resonating against his skin, while the clenches of her tight walls are claiming his newly-free fingers.

He's hung on all this bliss coursing through her, and like a string, it's wrapping the pressure tighter inside his own body as she pulls him closer, and he rubs his throbbing bulge against her trembling thighs in a desperate attempt to release some pressure, even though it only makes it more suffocating.

As if sensing it, she comes to his rescue, offering him her shaky breaths through a messy but passionate kiss and slipping a hand to his belt. It doesn't loosen anything except his pants, yet it's exhilarating, and he's once again breath-taken by how agile her fingers are while she's still quivering, flying high through her orgasm, or maybe floating back down. She isn't sure herself as he is pushing her to new heights already with his fervent lips and relentless caresses.

All she knows is that she needs him fully, and he is clearly yearning the same thing as she releases his length, standing harder than ever, when she hasn't even touched him.

"Ana," he grunts under the bare brush of her thumb on his leaking tip, and he pulls her hand away to take off his pants and boxers in a haste, while she watches him, awestruck and wondering if she is still high, drifting in heaven.

She will never get used to how surreal he looks, and even less understand the surreal fact that he is here, standing before her, for her, and offering himself to her. It still feels like a dream.

This devious mix of an angel and a god... He is as breath-taking as when she has first seen him, and she is burning even more as she catches the details that make all the difference now.

He isn't wearing this ring that has pressured her chest in a tight squeeze night and day. His eyes, despite the dark desire melting over the lighter shades, are more transparent than ever, shining with hope and love, and his muscles are of course tensed, but he is still emanating something wilder and freer. He also has one more scar on his arm, yet she promises herself that she won't let fire or anything hurt him again. Finally, his curls are slightly longer, which only makes it better as she threads her fingers in their softness, lightly tugging, a move that always earns her a throaty groan and that she has noticed since their first encounter. 

As their gazes meet, she can see he is thinking the same. They are both recalling the memory, and even though it isn't for the same reasons, her heart is beating as fast as the first time when his hard member pokes against her wetness, and his eyes search over her face with the question she can still hear in the back of her mind.

'Are you sure?' It has been some of the few words they have exchanged, with also his careful 'It's gonna hurt, stop me if...'  and it's these words that have made her be sure that day. She instantly has glimpsed his kind heart, and she has given him so much more than her virginity in that moment.

It has been reckless; it has been crazy. He is her most beautiful mistake, and she would do it all over again. All the regret, guilt, and even the fears she has ever felt are blown away by his soft 'Je t'aime, my angel' as he sinks into her.

"I love you, my hero," she gasps, savoring the feeling of him filling her completely, and they both stay unmoving, while everything is rushing and clashing inside: the memories, the present, and the promises, the need and love, the pulsations coming from everywhere, and this special strength they can't even describe.

It all fuses into the bliss of this present moment when he finally moves his hips, and if his hands have been sliding all over her body, unable to decide which part to cherish the most three months ago, tonight, all his movements are driven. His left hand is interlacing with hers, and the other cups her jaw to crash their lips together, the intention emphasized when, even slower than he's pulled away, he presses into her warmth again.

He wants to prolong every dizzying sensation, from her small hand in his to their lips melting together and down there where she's sucking all his blood to his hard-on, as she is perfectly engulfing him, fitting him. That's why he starts a languid rhythm of drawn-out thrusts each time slower, each time deeper, and each time, she welcomes him more.

They can go on all night like this, and it's an exhilarating yet overwhelming feeling when he's already about to implode under the intensity. It's the sweetest torture he's ever been through, especially when she wraps her legs around his waist, leading them closer – if that's possible, as they're already merging into one – and he keeps the same excruciatingly slow rhythm.

Gentle power, now, she senses it deep inside as Nathaniel is building a cataclysmic power with his dulcet pace, exactly like when he plays his instrument. He is drawing her moans louder and louder, while their hearts are drumming faster, and their breaths are coming out in uneven wheezes.

She hasn't even realized at which moment the kiss has been broken apart to become a messy mix of shallow pants and open lips. But they are currently staring into each other's soul so close, and it heightens every sensation.

She is already pulsating, though she isn't yet reaching the wild phenomenon that is rumbling louder in her core. She isn't even sure what it will turn into. An earthquake? An explosion? An eruption? All of that?

She will find out soon as small shaky sparks erupt from that spot he is hitting with each roll of his hips and she grabs tighter onto him.

"Fuck! Ana... I'm-I'm gonna come if... if you keep doing this..." He stills his movement, dropping his forehead on her shoulder as all his muscles are tensing, clearly trying to hold back to make this instant last and take the time they for once have.

But this doesn't help as it makes all the pulsations stronger in her body from her chest to her core.

"I can't– I can't control it!" she pants, her voice as strained and shaky as his muscles when she uncontrollably clenches around him.

It's like her body is trying to be louder, begging him as he isn't moving, and his body hears it, replying with instinctive groans vibrating from his chest. It's this overpowering force growing for some minutes already, and she doesn't want to fight it.

So she slides her hand from his curls down to his chest, where this power is coming from, wrapping her hand around their magnetized pendants. "Just... let it be."

This argument makes him lift his head, wrapping her plea, literally and figuratively, as she is enveloping his hardness, his heart, and every cell of his body.

"Je t'aime, Ana," he repeats softly what is definitively being his favorite French expression, and she doesn't have time to reply as he wedges the words into her throat with a new unrestrained rhythm of fast and deep thrusts, and his right hand runs to her left breast, where her heart is about to burst through at any second.

"Oh my... I–" She can't even form a coherent sentence, her voice, her breath, and her brain already annihilated by the intensity forming in her core.

It is more powerful than she has expected as Nathaniel's movements become wilder and more passionate, and her nails might be digging into his smooth skin to try to grasp something as her eyes are searching frantically over his face, fighting to not roll back.

Yet like every time she is overwhelmed by the strength of their irresistible attraction, like the first time they have been there, he is there for her, resting his forehead on hers as he rasps the three meaningful words. 

"Let it be."

And just like that, her eyes slide to the back of her head, the last thing she glimpses being his beautiful face contorted in pleasure as she arches into him, and she lets herself be swept away by the devastating power, which is indeed a mix of an earthquake, an explosion, and an eruption.

The sparks are exploding in her core, spreading into tremors and aftershocks to then fuse into ecstasy in her veins, and it becomes a big bang when Nathaniel cries out her name, and his shaky movements are meeting hers to heighten her cataclysm.

The two explosions collide to burst wilder, and they let it be, blown away together, as they keep shivering and moaning a mix of words, from which she only recognizes their names, and she forces her eyes half-open to meet his gaze through the sparks of colors bursting there.

That's just when he jolts forward, reaching even deeper and filling her with his release, and although her own orgasm has been going through her for some long minutes already, when his warmth invades her, his pleasure fuses with hers to make it last longer until they end up in one messy entity of worn-out limbs and sweaty skins, too sated to move.

It's only after some time, which he doesn't care counting, that Nate lifts one heavy eyelid, then two, and finally, his head, as he's still trying to grasp what has happened. His gaze takes in all these details that are proof of how hard and high they've come together: their hands clasped tightly together, their glistening skins, and every part of their bodies collapsed together.

They couldn't be more close, and even if he's savoring this bliss, he has to lean away before crushing her small body under his – not that she seems to mind from the glow of her lazy smile though.

Just looking at her sated expression is keeping him high, and there's not the come-down to reality that always happens, even when he pulls out of her. Sparks of ecstasy are even rekindling in his veins when he meets her gaze, and it's almost in an ethereal daze that his fingers softly brush away the few messy strands standing in the way of her angelic eyes.

Has she finally taken him back to heaven with her?

"Je t'aime." She answers his unspoken question with a soft kiss.

Heaven is right here with Anastasia. There is no going back to the dark world because they still have all night together, and he's never thought something so simple could bring him this kind of pure pleasure as he rolls them around, pulling the covers over their tangled figures.

Even the most basic things awaken the most intense emotions when he's with her, and as she's nuzzling his chest, right above his heart, he knows he doesn't want to ever fall asleep any other way.

He can already imagine how heavenly it will be to wake up engulfed in her sweet scent tomorrow morning, the few beams of daylight peeking through the shutters to illuminate her golden waves, and her velvety skin grazing his instead of the cold sweat from his usual nightmares.

Yes, this is heaven; he smiles, glancing down at his naked ring finger before sliding his hand in her soft curls.

"Sweet dreams, my angel."

There is no sweeter dream than what she is living right now, and as sleep is taking over, she is sure she hears him humming an unknown melody in sync with the drumming of the rain outside.

Aren't they too cute and soo hot? 😍😏🔥 Some of you may complain because we've had lots of sexy scenes in the last few chapters (though I know my dirty-minded people won't complain 😈😏), but every steamy scene has an important meaning (besides making you hot 🔥) and I think it's probably the last sexy scene of the story. So that's why I made it extra long 😘

Don't forget to vote ⭐ and comment to let me know if you liked it! 

Also, the LITTLE SURPRISE I PROMISED IS... *drum rolls* THE OFFICIAL LOVE BUG TRAILER that I made myself!!!! 😝😝🤩😍 Go check out the chapter I just added at the beginning of the book!

PS: I hope you liked the little Romeo and Juliet's glimpse at the beginning of the chapter 😉 Do you think Nate is right and they're stronger than them because they're together? 🤔😉 We'll find out soon, and until then...

JE VOUS AIME, MY LITTLE RAYS OF SUNSHINE!!! 😘❤🌞