*Amelia*

The receptionist at the hotel smiled at me when I walked up to the counter. Her hair was done in a high bun and she looked classy as usual. "Good morning, Dr. Miller. I hope you slept okay with all the renovation happening. They're working late into the night to speed things up."

"I slept okay. I'm a late sleeper so the noise hasn't bothered me."

She smiled again. "How can I help you today?"

"I would like to pay for next month's stay," I said, reaching in my purse for my credit card.

"It's already been taken cared of."

I frowned and looked up at her. "What do you mean taken cared of?"

Her fingers moved like rapid fire over the keyboard in front of her."Yes, taken cared of by a... Mr. De Vries? He's paid for the rest of your stay here."

"Oh no, he did not."

"Oh yes, he did," a manly voice said from behind me. He was closer than I thought as I could smell the tantalizing cologne wafting from his skin.

My heart pounded in my chest at the sound of his deep accented voice. Although a month had passed, I wasn't ready to face him yet. I loved how everything seemed to be going so well with us. We were in a good place and I was afraid that seeing him in person would sabotage that.

I felt his hand on my shoulder. Warm. Strong. And then his lips moving against my ear as his hand traveled up to my neck. Goosebumps rose on my skin and my eyes fluttered shut when he said, Schatje, I can't tell if you're happy to see me."

My goodness, he was here and I wasn't just imagining this? "Please be real," I whispered. "Please be real."

"Why don't you turn around and find out?"

Licking my lips, I turned to face the love of my life. I liked the way love had crept up on me just by the sound of his voice ringing in my ears. Was falling in love always this calm? But I wasn't just falling in love, was I? I was in love. I loved Willem.

But when did this happen?

Maybe it had happened as he opened up to me every day for the last month. He'd shown me pieces of his soul that no one else had seen, and I opened my heart to listen to him, and my eyes to truly look at him. Maybe it happened because I didn't feel so alone with him in my life although he was a thousand miles away from me.

Maybe it happened because I decided to let love in. Because I decided to be vulnerable for a change. Because he had given me a reason to believe in fairytales once again.

Amid everything happening around me, the receptionist moving on to talk to someone else, the sound of suitcases rolling on old carpets, the ding of the elevator doors as it opened, and the hum of construction in the background, I felt at peace.

I turned around and that peace transformed into something serene as joy poured from my pores. Willem smiled, his dimple piercing his cheek and for a moment time stood still and I couldn't breathe.

He blinked, grey eyes sensual, and I jumped into his embrace, wrapping my arms around his neck. He smelled like sin and sex, like wood chips and citrus fruits.

I leaned back and then lifted my lips to meet his. His hand cupped the side of my jaw and he sighed into my parted lips before ravenously claiming my mouth with his tongue.

We stopped for a second to breathe, not caring that we were probably making a spectacle of ourselves in a public place.

"I'm so fucking happy to see you," I said before kissing him again. "So happy."

His mouth tasted like a fantasy and I couldn't get enough. However, logic prevailed and we decided to go up to my room.

We walked through the door and I started stripping, taking off my shirt first and then my jeans. Willem was still standing at the doorway, a quizzical look on his face when I turned to peep at him.

"Why aren't you taking your clothes off?" I asked, breathing hard, my body coiled with arousal. For the first time, I noticed the bouquet of red tulips in his hand.

"I'm just watching you, Schatje. I haven't seen you in a month and I need a minute to take you in. Your beauty floors me."

I smiled, feeling suddenly shy. His stare was full of adoration and desire. And maybe love?

He had said he loved me once and I remembered laughing, brushing his words off, pretending they didn't mean anything. What if he'd meant it and because of my reaction he'd never said it again?

Or maybe, he never meant it and he soon realized how wrong he'd been and never said it again?

Oh god, please let it be the former. I desperately needed to share this indescribable feeling coursing through me like wildfire one moment and then like calming rain the next.

I wondered if he could see how much I cared for him. Loved him. But that wasn't enough. I had to tell him with my words.

I sashayed toward him in my bra and panties and took the flowers from him, smelling them and then smiling when they brought me back to the time he was supposed to pick me up at the airport and had sent Omar instead with a bouquet of yellow tulips. Which I had unceremoniously left sitting in the backseat of his Chevy Camaro.

"Thank you for these. They're beautiful." There was an empty vase sitting on the dresser and I filled it with water at the mini kitchen sink before arranging the flowers in it.

William had taken a few steps forward and was now standing by the window. I turned to him and went straight for his belt. He was dressed in a suit as usual and he looked just as hot in it as I remembered.

I dropped to my knees in front of him once I was done unbuckling his belt and had pulled down his zipper.

His hard cock pressed against my hand before I reached for his Calvin Klein boxer-brief and pulled it down too.

"Amelia," he hissed when his erection popped out, almost hitting me in the face. He grabbed himself and gazed down at me as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt with one hand. "I'm conflicted. I don't know if I should fuck you now and talk later, or talk now and fuck you to sleep later."

I licked my lips, fascinated by the sensual movement of his hand gliding up and down his erection. "What did you want to talk about?"

His gray eyes darkened when he looked down at me. "Our future."

"Tell me," I said, replacing his hand with mine.

I fucking missed this. I loved feeling the pulse of his heart beating in his cock as he grew harder in my hand, the dark pink tip leaking onto my fingertips.

He ran his hand through his curls which were a lot shorter now. "I don't ever want to be separated from you again. Not like this. I want to love you fully. I don't only want the pretty parts of you. I want your doubts, your tears, and the days when you don't feel like being superwoman."

"Tell me more," I said, opening my mouth to lick the crown of his leaking arousal.

His hand shot down to my hair and he yanked my head back so he could tap his cock on my tongue. "Fuck," he muttered.

I smiled and took him deeper, wrapping my mouth around his thick girth like it was my favorite thing to do. "You were saying?"

"I refuse to go on living another day without you, Amelia. I won't settle for less when I can have you like this." He pumped into my mouth hitting the back of my throat. "You're so fucking sexy."

I pulled back, leaving strings of saliva on his dick. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I'm here to stay if you'll have me. I want to love up on you every minute of every day."

"I'll have you," I said. "I want those things with you too and I can't do that when I only have half of you. Now I know why loving you feel so familiar to me and it's because I have loved you before. All those years, I loved and hated you. But now I can say, I'm in love with you and there is no hate or anger."

He tipped my chin upward, his keen eyes drilling into mine. "I love you, schatje. I always have and I always will."

"I love you, Willem. With all my heart."

"And your mouth," he said, laughing.

I chuckled and took him back into my mouth, showing every inch of him how much I loved him.

At some point, we were both naked on the bed and he showered my body with kisses, going from my lips to the apex of my thighs. I could hear my soft moans in the quiet of the room and then his harsh groan when he penetrated my wet core in one swift move, lodging himself deep inside of me.

Our bodies rocked together, our breaths intermingling, our hearts beating in sync. Fire and desire danced under my skin everywhere he touched me and kissed me.

My orgasm carved through my body like an arrow and his followed right after. We fell on the bed, spent from our exertions, wearing our hearts on our skins and I knew that five years from now our love would grow into something magnificent.

William kissed my forehead and pulled me closer to his warmth. I played with his ear as we stared lovingly into each other's eyes.

"What about Bradley?" I asked.

"He woke up from his coma."

I got up to my elbows. "What? When? That's great news."

He nodded, his eyes smiling with happiness. "It's fucking great news. He woke up about a week ago "

"Did you tell him?" I was nervous all of sudden and immediately felt the need to sit up in bed.

"I did. And then I told him about us."

"And?" I bit my lip, waiting impatiently for him to continue.

The joy in his eyes faded and the corners of his lips turned down into a grimace. "He feels betrayed. He thanked me for being his father but told me that being his uncle would have been just as good in his eyes. He said it would have hurt less."

"Hmm. That makes sense."

"Remember that time you told me that he wasn't my son? Before you knew about Jan being his father?"

"Yes."

"It caused something to shift in me. That maybe I didn't have to be Bradley's father. He had a father. Pieter was his father and I was his uncle. That should have been enough."

I snuggled up under him and he threw his arm around my shoulder, drawing me close to his heart. That's exactly where I wanted to be. Safe, warm, loved.

"Why did you feel the need to raise him like your son? I know you said he started calling you dad, but I think there is more to it."

He ran his fingers lightly down my inner thigh and back up, his touch leaving a trail of need in its wake. "Right before Pieter died, he told me to raise his son like I would my son. And I guess the only way I knew to do that was to adopt him and make him my son."

"And now he's your brother."

"Yeah, and he thinks that cool. He's eleven and I don't think he fully understands the gravity of the situation."

"I think he does," I said, "but children deal with betrayal and loss differently from us." I turned in his arms and kissed him softly on the lips. "I'm sure you did a wonderful job raising him."

"Thank you. I would like to think so." He kissed me back, his hand moving under the sheet, up over my ribs to cup my breast.

I moaned, loving the way he touched me with obvious possession and confidence. "And he was okay with you leaving him a week after he wakes up from his coma?" I asked, breathlessly pressing my breasts into his eager hand.

"I may have put the idea in his head, but he was the one who told me to go as if it was his idea."

"You're shameless, Mr. de Vries, and I love it."

He laughed and the sound was beautiful. "I love you, Amelia. You make every moment special."

"I love you." Oh, how good it felt to say those words. Willem wanted me the way I always wanted to be wanted, and to me, that was everything.

❤️

One more chapter and an epilogue and Amelia and Willem's story

will come to an end.

Thank you so much for reading and supporting this book with your votes and comments. Thank you for your patience too. Until next time.

Love, Lady Altagracia