“I love you, Em.”
Two.
“I love you, too, Ransom.”
One.
His lips crash against mine.
Outside, fireworks bloom.
Midnight.
The beginning of a New Year.
CHAPTER 30
Ransom
Ikiss her with urgency—hard, desperate, greedy.
It’s the same aching heat we shared five years ago, rekindled.
I taste the sharp tang of champagne on her tongue.
She yanks my jacket off my shoulders; the fabric falls with a soft thud. Her fingers fumble at my bow tie until the knot loosens.
She isn’t gentle. I don’t want gentleness.
She pops my shirt buttons one by one, her lips grazing my throat, each exhale warm and trembling against my skin.
“I need to do this,” she murmurs, voice raw as silk.
“Then do it.”
She gets me naked and guides me to the bed, pressing me back into the mattress.
She pulls away and sheds her clothes like she’s discarding chains.
The velvet of her dress slips down her arms and pools around her feet, a whisper of cloth sliding across polished floorboards.
Light from the fireworks filters through frosted panes, painting her skin in honeyed highlights and soft shadows.
Strands of auburn curls tumble across her shoulders, tousled from dancing and the frantic sprint to her room. She’s never looked more alive.
She straddles me, naked, her core brushing against my erection. She exults in our bodies connecting.
I let her set the pace.
My hands hover, waiting for her permission.
When she finally parts her lips and exhales my name, I trace the slender curve of her spine, memorize the gentle slope of her waist.
“I want to touch you everywhere…forever,” I confess.
Her breath catches. Tears gather at her lashes.
Softly, I brush them away with my thumb as they fall. Each drop glints in the soft glow of the sparkling lights outside.
