He shifts closer, sliding one arm beneath my neck, the other settling on my hip. Skin to skin now, nothing rushed. His palm glides up my side, over the curve of my waist, along my ribs, stopping just beneath my breast. He waits until I arch the tiniest bit before he cups me, thumb brushing back and forth across my nipple until it tightens and I sigh into his mouth.
“That’s it,” he murmurs against my lips. “Just focus on feeling me and nothing else, okay?"
He kisses a path down my throat, avoiding the bruises, choosing instead the places that still feel like mine. When he reaches my breast he circles the peak with his tongue, soft wet strokes that make my fingers curl into his hair. He hums and takes me into his mouth with gentle suction, rolling the nipple carefully until I’m breathing deeper and steadier.
His hand drifts lower, tracing the line of my stomach, pausing at the top of my thigh. He looks up, eyes searching mine in the half-dark.
“Can I touch you? I just want to make you feel good, nothing else.”
I nod, throat too tight for words and he slides his fingers between my legs, parting me carefully. I'm not aroused at all, but his touch is so soothing to me, and the idea of letting him have me feels like the only thing in the world that will calm my panicked heart.
He groans softly when he feels it. “So soft… always so soft for me.”
One finger slips inside, curling just enough to make my hips lift toward him. He adds a second, stretching me gently, stroking that spot that makes my breath hitch. His thumb finds myclit and circles with the lightest pressure, learning my rhythm tonight instead of demanding it.
I cling to his shoulders, forehead pressed to his. “Jace…”
“I know,” he whispers. “I’m right here. I'm not going anywhere.”
He keeps the pace languid, almost lazy, drawing pleasure out of me like warm honey. Every time my breathing quickens he eases back, kissing me deeply until I relax again. When the first small climax flutters through me he doesn’t speed up. He holds me through it, murmuring soft praises against my lips.
“Good… so good… let it come, sweetheart… I’ve got you…”
Only when I’m limp and pliant does he shift over me, settling between my thighs. He braces on his elbows, framing my face with his hands.
“Look at me,” he says quietly, and I do.
His eyes are steady, full of an emotion I'm desperate to hear him articulate to me. My heart needs it, to know I'm good and clean and wanted. That that man's filth and what he did to me doesn't taint me and that I'm still loveable.
He reaches down, guides himself to my entrance, and pushes in with one slow, smooth glide. We both exhale at the same time. He’s thick and hot and perfect, but tonight there is no urgency—only the overwhelming sense of being joined and cared for.
He starts to move in long, unhurried thrusts that fill me completely and then leave me empty for only a heartbeat before he’s back. His hips roll gently, grinding against my clit on every inward thrust. I wrap my legs around his waist and he groans, burying his face in my neck.
“You are so precious, Sabine… So beautiful."
The words unravel me and tears prick my eyes again, but they’re tears of affection and comfort, like the hard parts are over and my body knows it can release. Jace makes me feel that way, and feeling him inside me makes my world feel stable.
He kisses them away as they fall, never changing his rhythm, keeping every motion tender. His hand slips between us again, fingers circling my clit in time with his thrusts until pleasure coils low and sweet in my belly.
“Come with me, Sabine,” he whispers. “Whenever you’re ready. I’ll be right here.”
It builds so gentlythis time, nothing like a storm—just a warm, steady wave that rises inside me. My breath catches, then stutters, and I feel myself tightening around him in slow pulses. The pleasure swells, until it spills over. I cling to him, face buried in his shoulder, gasping his name over and over while my whole body shivers and clenches in long, rolling waves. Every flutter drags a quiet grunt from my throat, and I hold him tighter, letting the warmth wash through me until I’m limp and trembling in his arms.
He keeps moving through it slowly, drawing it out until I’m boneless. Then I feel him tense and his hips press deep one last time before he stills, buried completely. A low, broken sigh leaves him as he comes, pulsing heat inside me again and again. I feel every throb. He stays there, perfectly still, lips soft against my temple, breathing my name while the last tremors fade from both of us.
For a long minute, we simply breathe together. He smooths my hair, kisses my eyelids, the tip of my nose, the corner of my mouth.
“You're safe now,” he says quietly.
He pulls out carefully, then gathers me close, tucking me against his chest, one hand stroking up and down my spine in slow, soothing passes. The bruises on my throat throb dully, but the ache feels distant now, wrapped in the safety of his arms.
"Thank you… for making me feel whole again," I tell him, because I do feel whole. I feel so whole with him, I never want to not feel whole again. I want this man in my life and in my bed every day when I wake up, and I don’t know how to tell him or how to make the world obey my wishes.
“Sleep, baby,” he murmurs into my hair. “I’ll be right here when you wake up. Always.”
The last thing I remember as I doze off is Jace's lips pressed to my forehead as he breathes promises that tomorrow will be better.
21
