She lifted her hips, meeting him, taking him deeper, surrendering completely.
"Then show me," she whispered.
And he did.
He moved slowly at first, letting her feel it, letting her feel him.
Every thrust, every rock of his hips against hers was a vow, a confession, an apology, a prayer.
He kissed away the tears on her cheeks.
He worshiped her with his hands, his mouth, his body.
She met him with everything she had, her nails scraping down his back, her gasps breaking into his mouth, her body tightening around him, drawing him deeper, deeper, deeper.
This wasn't just need.
This wasn't just heat.
This was love.
This was everything.
And when Hannah shattered beneath him—her body trembling, her mouth gasping his name like a benediction—Jake let go, following her into the abyss, coming apart in the only arms that had ever felt like home.
Their bodies remained tangled, their breaths ragged, hearts pounding in time.
Jake brushed her hair back, tracing her lips with his thumb, watching her, memorizing her.
"No more secrets," he murmured against her lips.
Hannah exhaled, soft and tired and so damn beautiful.
"No more lies," she whispered.
Jake pulled her closer, pressing a final, reverent kiss to her temple.
"Just us," he promised.
Hannah closed her eyes.
And for the first time in years—she believed him.
CHAPTER 35
Hannah
Hannah stoodbefore the wreckage of Sugar & Spice, her body rooted to the spot even as the world spun around her.The morning light caught on broken glass, on charred wood and blackened walls—on the remnants of the place that had once been her whole world.
She'd fought for it, bled for it, burned for it.
And yet…
A breeze stirred the copper wind chimes above the door, somehow still hanging, blackened but unbroken.
The sound cracked something inside her.
A hand settled at the small of her back—steady, warm, grounding.
