LOGINCIARAThe dare started with a lazy smile over morning coffee."Stay naked," Cain said. "All day. Penthouse only. Just you."I nearly choked on my drink. "You're serious.""Dead serious." His eyes dragged down my body like he could already see me bare. "You’ve been healing. Reclaiming shit. This is part of it. No clothes. No hiding. Just you and me."My stomach flipped. Part fear. Part thrill. The idea of being completely exposed, even here where no one could see, made my skin heat. But the way he looked at me pushed me over the edge."Alright," I said. "But you touch me whenever you want."His grin turned wicked. "Deal."I stripped right there in the kitchen. Let my robe fall to the floor. The cool air hit my skin and my nipples tightened instantly. Cain's gaze burned over every inch. The stretch marks on my belly. The softness of my hips. The way my breasts sat heavier after having our daughter."Fuck," he muttered. "Perfect."He didn't touch me right away. He let me walk around like
Ciara's POVAlice showed up right at six with a bottle of wine and that nervous smile she got when she was trying too hard. I hugged her at the door longer than usual. She smelled like hospital soap and the same perfume she’d worn since college.“You look good,” she said, pulling back to study me. “Really good. Motherhood suits you.”I laughed but it came out shaky. “Come in before the baby wakes up and proves me wrong.”Cain was in the kitchen finishing the pasta. He wiped his hands on a towel and greeted Alice with a nod. “Good to see you. Wine’s on the table.”Dinner started normal enough. Forks clinking. Alice asking about the baby’s sleep schedule. Cain giving short answers while his hand rested on my thigh under the table. But every time Alice looked at me, really looked, I felt the old stuff rising up.“So,” she said halfway through her second glass. “You seem... settled. Happier than I’ve seen you in years.”I pushed pasta around my plate. “It’s been a process.”“Yeah.” She he
CIARA'S POVSix weeks postpartum turned into eight, then ten. The walls of our house started closing in. I loved our daughter more than I thought possible, but the constant cycle of feeding, rocking, and worrying was wearing me down. I needed air. Real air. Normalcy.“I want to go out,” I told Cain one morning while he was making coffee. “Just for a few hours. Mall. Something normal. Seraphine said she’d watch the baby.”He looked at me for a long moment, eyes searching my face. “You sure you’re ready?”“I’m going crazy here. I need to feel like me again. Even for one afternoon.”He nodded slowly. “Alright. But we do it my way.”That “my way” turned out to be a sleek black remote vibrator nestled between my legs under my dress. I stood in front of the mirror adjusting the straps of the sundress while Cain watched from the bed, eyes dark.“This is insane,” I whispered, cheeks already hot. “What if someone hears?”His smirk was pure trouble. “That’s the point. You wanted normal. This is
CIARA'S POVThe crying started again at 4:12 a.m. I was already half awake, breasts throbbing, when the monitor lit up. This time I didn’t wait for Cain. I dragged myself out of bed, wincing as my core protested every step. Six weeks postpartum and my body still felt like it belonged to someone else.By the time I reached the nursery, our daughter was red-faced and furious. I scooped her up, murmuring nonsense against her soft hair. “Hey, little one. Mama’s here. Shh.”She quieted a little against my chest but started rooting immediately. I sank into the rocking chair and got her latched. The pull was still sore, but the relief of her eating settled something deep in me. Cain appeared in the doorway a minute later, hair sticking up, eyes bleary.“You should’ve woken me,” he said, voice rough.“I’m up. You had the last two.” I rocked slowly, watching her tiny fist knead my shirt. “Besides, you have that meeting in the morning.”He crossed the room and knelt beside us like he always did
CIARA'S POVThree weeks in and I still hadn’t slept more than two hours at a stretch. The baby monitor crackled to life at 2:37 a.m. again. That familiar hungry cry cut through the dark. I groaned and started to push myself up, but Cain’s arm was already moving.“I got her,” he mumbled, voice thick with sleep.“You got her last time.” My breasts ached, heavy and leaking. “My turn to feed.”He sat up anyway, rubbing his face. “Then I’ll change her after. Teamwork, remember?”I nodded, too tired to argue. We shuffled into the nursery like zombies. Our daughter was working up to a full scream by the time I lifted her out of the crib. The second she latched, the crying stopped. That rush of relief mixed with the sharp tug of let-down always hit me the same way. Love. Exhaustion. A little panic that I still didn’t know what I was doing.Cain knelt beside the rocking chair, one hand on my knee, the other gently stroking her back. “She’s eating good tonight.”“Yeah.” I leaned my head back, e
The front door clicked shut and the quiet settled over us like a blanket. Cain carried the car seat with both hands like it might shatter if he breathed wrong. I followed slowly, every step pulling at the stitches and the deep ache low in my belly. Our daughter slept through it all, tiny chest rising and falling under the soft blanket.I stopped in the hallway, staring at the nursery door we’d painted together months ago. The reality crashed into me all at once. She was home. No more hospital monitors. No nurses coming in every few hours. Just us.Cain set the car seat down carefully on the living room rug and straightened up. His eyes found mine immediately. “You good?”I nodded but my hands wouldn’t stop twisting together. “It feels different. Being here with her. Like the whole house is holding its breath.”He crossed the space between us and pulled me gently against his chest. One big hand rubbed slow circles on my lower back, careful to avoid the sore spots. “It’s a lot. You just
Ciara's POV I drop my hands over the headboard as I watch his reflection through the mirror. "I didn’t know the company had a three-day emergency." "Oh yeah," he says, adjusting his tie. "You see, it was last minute. So only the top board members were informed." "Oh, I see. So the emergency…
Ciara's POV "Why the hell is Gabriel calling you?" "What? Gabriel?" He snatches the phone from me, then looks at it. "Which Gabriel is calling you?" I pause, unable to let the next words out. "My husband’s Gabriel?" "Ciara, princess, it's not what you think—" "Don’t you— Why is my husban
Ciara's POV "Fuck," he muttered, biting his lower lip hard enough that I saw the flash of teeth. He glanced quickly toward the backseat, where Simon slept on, oblivious. For a second, a tiny voice in my head whispered: Your husband is right there. And for the first time… maybe I didn’t care. M
Ciara's POV I should pull away. I should remember whose bed I’m supposed to be in tonight. Instead, I swallow hard as Cain's grip tightens in my hair, pushing my face down between his widespread thighs. "Suck it," he orders, buckling his hips forward, the hard tip of him already brushing my







