007

EPILOGUE

MELANIE

The sun was rising in shades of orange and deep violet as we drove down the open highway, the landscape stretching endlessly ahead.

Ivan had one hand on the steering wheel, the other resting lazily on my thigh, keeping me pressed close to his body. I felt his fingers tracing small circles over the bare skin of my leg.

I glanced at him, drinking in the sharp cut of his jaw and the way the sunlight cut across the salt and pepper coloring of his trimmed beard.

Ivan was so much older than me, but that wasn’t even the taboo aspect of our relationship. No, my grandfather was the reason no one would ever accept us being together.

I shifted in my seat, a teasing smile curving my lips. “Do you ever think about what people would say if they knew about us?” We got looks when we were together and Ivan couldn’t keep his hands off me. People just assumed we were in a major age-gap relationship and not that I was letting my grandfather fuck me senseless.

His deep chuckle sent a shiver through me. “You already know what I think, little girl.” He glanced at me. “I don’t give a fuck what anyone says. You’re mine. End of story.”

I loved the way he said it. Possessive. Unapologetic. There was never any room for doubt with Grandpa Ivan. He wasn’t the kind of man who cared about the rules of others.

We made our own.

“Besides,” he continued, his fingers tightening on my thigh, “you like it this way. The secrecy. The games we play.”

My face heated because he wasn’t wrong. The chase, the cat-and-mouse, the stolen moments where no one could reach us—where him taking me by force and without my “consent” made everything so exciting.

I turned in my seat, pulling my legs up, my feet on the soft bench seat so I could face him better. “I like being yours, Grandpa Ivan,” I admitted. “I like how we do things our way.”

His grip on the wheel tightened briefly, his knuckles turning white. His expression was unreadable before he exhaled. He reached for my hand and brought my fingers to his lips. He kissed the digits, his voice a rough whisper against my skin as he said, “Good Girl. Because there’s no changing it now.”

I rested my head on his shoulder as the truck rumbled down the highway, the world passing by in a blur of headlights and fading daylight.

I didn’t care where we were headed next—only that I was with Grandpa Ivan. Because, with him, every moment felt like an adventure. Every touch was a promise that no matter how taboo being together was, he’d never let me go.

Because, with him, every moment felt like an adventure. Every touch was a promise that no matter how taboo being together was, he’d never let me go.

And thank God for that.

The End.

*****