Instead of doing what I wanted—bolting toward her and slamming her on the bed—I took a step back, locking my hands on the doorjamb of the bedroom. “You’re coming home with me. Now.”

Her chin tilted. “No, I’m not. I want to spend the night with you here. I miss you, Q. I want what we used to share.” Her fingers went to the towel on her head, unwrapping it and letting damp blonde curls cascade over her milky skin. Boldly, she tugged at the knot on her chest, stepping from the second towel and revealing her stunningly naked figure.

My fingernails stabbed into the doorframe, holding me back with strained willpower. “Tess, put some fucking clothes on.”

Her lips curved. “Make me.”

“I’m not coming near you.”

“Why?”

“You know why.”

Her gaze hooded as she stepped toward me, bringing temptation directly to my door. “I do know why and I want it. I want it so much, Q. I need you. Please, we both know vanilla isn’t working. It’s not satisfying either of us.”

“Reste loin.” Stay away.

Tess ignored me. Her hands landed on my belt, quickly undoing it and yanking it from the belt loops.

I saw red. I saw pleasure. I saw damnation.

“Tess…”

“Yes, maître.”

“Get away from me.”

Instead of obeying, she kneeled at my feet, holding my belt in outstretched hands. “Make me.”

Oh, my fucking God.

I swayed as the animal inside sprang and snarled, demanding to maul her and take what I’d wanted to take for weeks.

My teeth almost cracked I clenched so hard. “I can’t.”

“You can.” Her eyes narrowed with grey-blue fire. “And do you know why?”

I didn’t reply, focusing too much on fighting her temptation.

“Because that night five weeks ago, when you took me drunk and bare, was the night you achieved what you wanted. The past month of mollycoddling and chaste kisses have been for nothing.”

I froze.

I couldn’t speak.

But Tess didn’t need prompting. Swatting her own thigh with my belt, I hissed at the pink welt left on her perfect skin. “I have a secret.”

My frustration deepened as she ran the belt between her thighs. “I’ve been keeping something from you.”

The insane need to punish her for such a thing overtook me. I struggled to bite the words. “What? What have you been keeping secret?”

Was she sick?

Unhappy?

Because right now, I was both those things. Sick with want and desperately unhappy for not having the freedom I adored between us.

She smiled coyly. “I’m fine. However, I do have some information you might want to know.”

I trembled in place. “Spit it out, Tess.”

Raising her eyebrow, she whispered, “I’m pregnant.”

My knees gave out, depositing me before her. “What did you just say?”

Her lips stretched into a blinding smile. “You knocked me up when you let yourself fully go. That was what I needed. What we needed. We come alive when we’re together with no cages or locks between us.”

I shook my head. “Again. Tell me again.”

Her gaze melted with adoration. “I’m pregnant.”

“Pregnant?” I couldn’t compute. “Pregnant…as in…pregnant?”

She nodded with a wide smile. “And for our child’s sake, I hope it’s a boy.”

I couldn’t…I didn’t believe her. “You’re—you’re—”

Tess touched my cheek with all the love in the world. “Congratulations, Q. You’re going to be a father.”

“And you think it’s a boy?”

“No, I don’t know what it is yet. I just hope it is so you don’t die of a heart attack trying to protect a daughter. You don’t need to go to war to protect a baby girl just yet.” She chuckled softly. “Maybe once you’ve learned to relax a bit more…then we could try for a daughter.”

First, she told me she was pregnant. The one thing I wanted more than anything else. Then, she said she wanted more with me. A family of our own. Multiple children.

I couldn’t do it.

Grabbing her, I lashed my arms around her naked form. My lips landed on her throat as I kissed and nipped and thanked her.

“Fuck, is this true?”

She giggled. “Yes, it’s true.”

I wasn’t a man who cried. I’d seen a lot in my life and never shed a tear.

No, that wasn’t right.

I’d let a few escape when Tess had strapped me to the bed, and I screamed for mercy before she killed me. Even now, the faint scars from that day still graced my face and body.

I’d given Tess what she needed to break her past and finally be free. And she’d just done exactly the same for me.

We’d both learned so much from each other.

And soon, we would learn so much more.

But that was life.

A never-ceasing evolution to our perfect happiness.

My gaze landed on her flat stomach. “How can you be pregnant? You’re not showing.”

“I’m too early to show. And I’m pregnant because of the usual way.” Unable to stop her good mood, she added, “I booked a private meeting with a gynecologist here in Paris. I was going out of my mind with your incessant need not to touch me. I needed to know either way.”