“I need you,” she gasps.
The words hit me like a bolt to the spine, pure need, no walls left between us. My breath catches. Every nerve ending fires at once.
I settle between her thighs, my cock thick and aching, the head sliding through her slick heat, and my vision blurs at the sensation. She’s already so ready for me, wet, warm, trembling, and I have to grit my teeth not to lose control right then. Her hips lift, seeking me, and I grip them gently, guiding her back down, holding her steady as I press forward.
One slow, deep thrust.
She opens around me like she was made to. Tight and hot and so perfect I nearly black out. My arms lock, muscles straining as I brace myself above her, every inch of me shaking with the effort it takes not to come right then, overwhelmed by the feel of her, the heat, the pressure, the sheer rightness.
Her head falls back, mouth open in a silent cry, and the sight damn near ends me.
“Damn, Josie.” I groan, the words ripped from somewhere low and desperate in my chest. My eyes squeeze shut for half a second, jaw clenched as her body pulses around me. “You feel like heaven.”
She tightens around me, and I lose myself in the rhythm of her, slow, deep thrusts that have every muscle in my body straining, my back arching, my thighs burning as I move with her, into her, for her. The pressure builds fast, white hot, and coiled low in my spine, and every time I push in, I have to fight the urge to come undone.
Her body wraps around mine so perfectly, like she was carved from my ribs, like the universe designed her just to break me open. The slick glide of her, the heat, the grip… fuck, it’s almost too much. My hands fist in the sheets on either side of her, trying to ground myself in something, anything, because I’mshaking now, full body tremors that start in my chest and ripple outward.
Every sound she makes, every gasp, every soft cry, has my control unraveling, thread by damn thread. When she moans my name into the crook of my neck, breath hot and broken, my whole body locks up, hips stuttering as I fight the edge riding me hard.
Her fingers rake down my back, nails digging into my skin, and I feel the sting of it, sharp and grounding. I thrust deeper, slower, wanting to memorize this. Brand it into my bones. Her skin is slick beneath my hands, her legs tight around my waist, and all I can feel is her. Everywhere. Inside and out. I can barely breathe.
Then she whimpersyesinto my neck, and my vision goes white at the edges.
My chest heaves, jaw clenched, every vein in my body pulsing as my hips roll harder, chasing that place inside her that makes her cry out. I’m drenched in sweat now, heart hammering, body burning with the effort it takes to keep from falling completely apart.
And I love her harder with every sound, every breath.
Her legs wrap around me, heels digging into my back, and I shift, angling just right until she gasps and claws at my shoulders.
“Right there,” she begs. “Don’t stop.”
I don’t.
I fuck her like it’s the last time and the first time all over again, like this is what we’ve been building toward since the night we met. She clutches me tighter, her whole body coiling beneath mine until she shatters with a cry, pulsing around me in waves that pull me under, too.
I come hard, buried deep. It hits me like a damn freight train, violent and blinding and full body consuming. My spine bows,every muscle locked tight as the first wave slams through me. My hips jerk forward involuntarily, driving me deeper into her as my release rips loose with a raw, guttural sound I didn’t know I was capable of.
“Josie.” I gasp, her name a hoarse whisper on my lips, but it’s more than a name. It’s a vow. A prayer. A promise.
My vision whites out. My heart’s a drum line in my ears. I swear I can feel her everywhere, wrapped around me, beneath me, inside me. Her legs cinch tighter around my hips, and it pulls even more from me, the pleasure too sharp, too sweet. I groan again, low and broken, as another pulse surges through me, thick and hot and soul-wrenching.
My hands slide to her hips, gripping her like a lifeline, my body trembling with aftershocks as I spill everything I have into her. It’s not just physical. It’s everything. The weeks of missing her, the nights of guilt, the weight of almost losing it all. It all crashes through me in that one moment, like she’s cracked me wide open and poured redemption straight into my chest.
I bury my face in her neck, breath ragged, lips pressed to her damp skin. She smells like salt and vanilla and something that feels dangerously close to home.
She holds me while I shake through the tail end of it, her fingers brushing through my hair, her legs still hooked around me, grounding me in her softness. My arms cage her in, forehead pressed to hers now, as the air between us calms, but inside me, nothing is still. My heart’s still galloping, my chest still tight with the ache of how much she matters.
When we finally collapse into each other, breathless and spent, I pull her into my chest. Her fingers trace lazy circles over my skin. My heart pounds against her ear, but for once, it doesn’t feel like panic. It feels like peace.
Like home.
“I love you, too,” she murmurs against me. “You have no idea how much.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Josie
By the timeI step through the back entrance of The Marrow, I’m already sweating... and not because of the heat.
