The challenge in his voice made something wild unfurl in my chest. I lifted my chin higher, meeting his intensity with my own.
“One.”
His eyes darkened to molten silver.
“Two.”
His hand slid into my hair, fingers tangling in the strands.
“Thr—”
He crashed his mouth to mine, and every coherent thought evaporated. This wasn’t gentle or sweet or careful. This was years of pent-up desire exploding between us, consuming us both. His tongue swept into my mouth, and I moaned, shameless, fingers fisting in his shirt, pulling him impossibly closer.
When he lifted me against him, I wrapped my legs around his waist without hesitation, like my body had been waiting for this moment forever.
As he carried me down the hallway, his mouth never leaving mine, hands gripping me like I might disappear, one thought echoed through my mind.
I am completely, utterly, and irrevocably in love.
And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
45
LET HIM GIVE YOU AN ORGASM IN A BUBBLE BATH. #LIFEADVICE
DAKOTA
Axel’s lips were soft, and this time, whatever he’d been holding back came completely undone. His fingers threaded through my hair gently, his eyes sweeping over the wound on my head to make sure he wouldn’t hurt me.
I pulled back to whisper one loud declaration. “I love you too.”
A moment. A beat of our hearts, and then Axel crashed his lips to mine.
The kiss took on a life of its own. Our bodies pressed together with all the unleashed passion we’d both been denying for years. I trailed my hands down his chest, feeling every ridge and dip of muscle that tightened with each movement of his body.
And with each movement, he ignited that familiar heat coiling in my lower belly, that throb between my thighs that made me want to feel these magnetic lips everywhere. Made me want to pull him on top of me and finally, finally …
God, if only I didn’t feel so dirty and gross right now. It was massively inconvenient—the dried blood streaked through myhair and down my neck, staining my dress. Equally inconvenient that instead of smelling like roses, the antiseptic scent of the hospital clung to my skin. Neither exactly the ingredients for a romantic encounter.
And not just any romantic encounter.Theromantic encounter. The one I’d pretended I hadn’t dreamed about for years. The one I’d fantasized about alone in my bed, in the quiet darkness of my room, pretending it was Axel’s hands on my body.
Because looking back on it now, I realized that every step we’d taken over the last few years had been centered around each other.
The truth hit me like ice water in my veins, sharp and sudden and impossible to ignore. Mathew had once held my affection. But Axel?
Axel had always had my bones.
He lived in the marrow of me, in that primal place where logic went to die. Every cell in my body still turned toward him like a plant seeking sun, even after he’d learned to look through me as if I were made of glass. Even after he’d trained himself to grimace when I entered a room, as if my very presence burned.
I’d buried this want so deep, I’d almost convinced myself it was dead. Almost.
But all these years, he’d invaded my thoughts. I’d replayed that moment outside Knox’s college home when some guy hit on me and Axel shoved him against the brick wall so hard, dust rained down. The sound of the impact, the way his knuckles went white, gripping the guy’s collar. Not because Knox asked him to, but because something fierce and possessive had flashed in those eyes, turning them almost black.
How at that party Knox invited me to, Axel had stationed himself in the corner, nursing a beer, his gaze tracking me through the crowd like a laser. Every time some drunk fratboy got too close, Axel would somehow materialize nearby, his muscular presence alone enough to send them scurrying.
The time I’d tripped on that sidewalk crack, how he’d scooped me into his arms without hesitation, my body flush against his chest. I remembered the sharp intake of his breath, the way his arms had tightened around me for just a second too long, like it was the excuse he’d been waiting for his whole life.
And, God, how he’d held me that starlit night, looking down at me while his smile slowly faded, his heart hammering so hard, I could feel it against my ribs as his gaze dropped to my mouth. How his lips had parted and he’d drawn closer and closer, and I’d wanted his mouth on mine so badly, I could taste it. Until Knox’s hand smacked Axel’s shoulder, bursting our bubble like a pin to a balloon.
