Her fingers slid up the back of my neck and my whole body shuddered. Finally, I looked into her eyes again, my breathing rapid as the truth bled out of me. “Once we cross this line, we can’t uncross it. We can’t walk it back or take it back, and I sure as fuck am not going to be able togoback to how things were. Are you sure you’re ready for that?”
She didn’t miss a beat. “Yes.”
Another low sound came out of me, closer to a growl this time. Whatever it was, it sure wasn’t human and I’d definitely never made it before, but I sealed my lips back over hers and Iknew, beyond any kind of doubt, that I wasn’t going to be able to put a stop to it again.
CHAPTER 33
CHARLOTTE
The moment it happened, the exact second Trent stopped holding himself back, I felt it. It moved through him like a snap of heat, a shiver under his skin, or a breath he didn’t catch in time.
It sent a rush through me. My whole body went warm, a pulse that was low, deep, and hungry. Finally, I stopped being apprehensive that he was going to pull back again.
He’d been so careful with me ever since the very first time we’d been alone in that cafe back in Chicago, like he was constantly measuring his words and scrambling to put distance between us. Every now and again, that control had slipped. The kiss in the barn and last night, for example.
All along, I’d known why. Other thoughts and insecurities had featured too, of course, but mainly, I’d understood that it was because of all that bro-code nonsense. The unspokenbest friend’s little sister rule.That ridiculous idea that I should somehow be preserved in a bubble just because of who my brother was to him. It was stupid, patriarchal, and so painfully, eye-rollingly male.
But the second Trent’s restraint cracked, everything changed. The way he kissed me was urgent, and hungry, and sofreaking hot that it told me the whole truth that I’d been aching to feel. He wanted me desperately and he was finally going to let himself go for it.
As our mouths moved together, I knew that this kiss was different. It was going somewhere and it wouldn’t end with him just tucking me into his side, his breathing still ragged and his cock throbbing against my thigh.
That stupid, invisible barrier he’d built between us was gone. He’d stopped telling himself he had to dothe right thingsimply because Alex had trusted him with me, his little sister.
The way he was kissing me now? Yeah. That line wasn’t just blurring. It was disintegrating.
He slid his hand to the back of my neck, pulling me closer, and I gasped against his lips, so freaking surprised that he was actually bringing me closer instead of trying to claw back some distance between us. He deepened the kiss, his other hand finding my waist before his palm ran up my side like he was tracing every curve.
I framed his jaw with both hands, my thumbs brushing slowly against his skin to let him know that it was okay. My lips parted and his tongue stroked into my mouth, exploring me like he loved the way I tasted.
Another soft moan came out of me when he tugged me even closer, finally letting me feel openly and shamelessly how much he wanted me. But then he broke away from my mouth, breathing hard as he looked into my eyes.
“Just remember that you’re in control here,” he murmured.
My fingers slid into his hair, tugging hard enough that I knew it would be sending little stings of pain through his scalp. “I’m not in control, but I don’t really want you to be either. Let’s just lose control together, shall we?”
“Already there.” He huffed out a half-laugh, half-groan. “You’re terrifyingly beautiful right now. It kind makes it hard to know what’s real.”
“I’mreal, Trent.” I smiled, a slow, teasing, wicked kind of smile I didn’t think my mouth had ever formed before, but he was my husband, literally. If I couldn’t be exactly who I was with him, then who? “What’s so terrifying about it?”
He brushed his nose against mine. “It’s making it impossible to think straight.”
“Good,” I said, closing my fingers tighter around the strands of that rich red hair to show him I meant it. “I don’t want you hiding behind careful intentions anymore, and if you can’t think straight, you won’t be able to make up excuses.”
Thunder shook the sky, along with the walls of the basement, but I was barely hearing it anymore. All I heard was our breathing and the blood rushing in my ears. Pushing back up on my toes, I kissed him again, harder this time, pressing into him to let him know he could have me any way he wanted me.
Actually, I was already his. Legally and in every other way. He just didn’t know that yet and I wouldn’t tell him until I knew he wasn’t going to try to push me away if I said it.
“God, Charlotte,” he breathed against my lips, his tone lighter now as he teased. “You’re going to have to be gentle with me tonight.”
“Okay.” I smiled and leaned back just a fraction, enough to look at him fully. “You don’t have to be careful with me, though.”
His throat worked. A devilish gleam lit his eyes as he nipped at my lower lip. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t.” My hand slid down to his jaw. “I’ll try to be as gentle as possible, but I can’t guarantee anything.”
A slow grin pulled at his lips. “Is that a threat?”
“It’s a promise.”
