She shudders when I bite the skin below her ear. “A minute isn’t enough.”
It’s not. It’ll never be.
I drop to my knees in front of her, gripping her thighs as I press my face against the softness of her stomach. The place where our baby grew. The place I should have been kissing every damn day.
“Ethan—” Her fingers tangle in my hair.
I look up at her, my hands sliding up to her waist. “Let me love you. Let me show you how sorry I am.”
Cassidy doesn’t answer with words. Instead, she pulls me up, her mouth crashing into mine again as she walks us backward into Britney’s old bedroom. The door clicks shut behind us, and I turn the lock before we’re falling onto the bed.
I peel off her sweater, kissing every inch of skin I uncover. The dip of her collarbone. The swell of her breasts.
“Please,” she begs, her fingers fumbling with my belt.
I take my time. I need to.
Every button undone is a year we lost. Every kiss is an apology. Every touch is a promise.
“Make me forget the pain,” she whispers, her voice breaking.
I capture her wrists, pinning them above her head with one hand while I lean down to kiss her neck. “We’re not forgetting,” I murmur against her skin. “We’re remembering. Every second we lost, we’re taking back.”
When I finally slide inside her wet pussy, it’s with a slow thrust, and we both shudder at the feeling of being whole again.
Her legs wrap around me, pulling me deeper, her nails scoring down my back. “I love you too. And I’m never letting you go again.”
The bed creaks beneath us as I deep stroke her pussy and she holds on to me like I’m the only thing keeping her from drowning. And maybe I am. Maybe we both are.
Years of grief, of longing, of missing is all here, in the way her body clings to mine, in the way her tears mix with mine as we finally, finally find our way back to each other.
And when she comes, it’s with my name on her lips, her body trembling around mine, her fingers gripping me like she’s afraid I’ll vanish if she lets go.
I follow her into oblivion, burying my face in her neck as I spill inside her, hoping another baby takes root.
Afterward, we lie tangled together, the back of her head on my chest, one hand cupping her sex and the other her breast.
“Ethan... I’ve missed you so much.”
I press a kiss to her temple. “I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“There’s something powerful about this,” she whispers, turning to face me. “Finding each other again in her house, after everything she did to tear us apart.”
The way she’s wiggling her body makes it hard to think straight. I want to kiss her again, want to fuck her until—
“Mr. Ethan?” Axel’s voice drifts up from the other side of the door. “The movie finished. Can we build that snowman now? You promised!”
“We should get dressed,” she says. “He’s been waiting, and we did promise.”
“Just a minute, buddy!” I call back, then lower my voice. “But Cass? We’re not running anymore. Either of us.”
“No more running,” she agrees, smoothing her hair.
We scramble to get our clothes back on, me pulling on my pants while she searches for her discarded sweater.
“My hair’s a mess,” she whispers, attempting to smooth it with her fingers.
“Beautiful,” I whisper back, stealing one more kiss.
