His hands slid beneath my shirt, warm and careful, tracing up my ribs until he found the edge of my bra. His touch was slow, hesitant, like he wanted me to stop him.
I didn’t.
“Please,” I whispered. “I need you.”
Something snapped inside him, clear in the flare of his eyes.
His breath hitched; his other hand tightened on my waist, and he kissed me like he’d been waiting his whole life for this moment.
His mouth trailed down my throat again as his hands pushed my tank top up, baring inch after inch of skin. I arched into him.
He lifted his head, eyes dark and blown wide. “Quinn…”
I cupped his face in both hands, not giving him a moment of uncertainty. “I want this. I want you.”
Whatever restraint he had left shattered like the walls I’d built around my heart.
Clothes came off in frantic, clumsy touches. His hands were everywhere—gentle where I was sore, hungry everywhere else. My nails dragged down his back, and he moaned into my mouth, deep and guttural.
When he finally pressed his hips against me, the heat of him aligning with mine, I gasped. He froze.
“Are you sure?” he whispered.
“Yes,” I breathed. “I’ve never been more sure of anything.”
He kissed me once more—slow, almost worshipful—and then he guided himself as our bodies finally,finallycame together.
Every broken piece inside me felt like it was finding a home.
And damn, was it like nothing I had ever experienced before. I had been with men, but this—this was different. This felt wholly new.
We moved together, the ache deep inside me winding tighter and tighter. Graham was everywhere. His scent, his touch, hiswarmth: the world had narrowed to nothing but him and the feel of his breath on my skin.
Between whispered gasps and low moans, it wasn’t only his body reaching out to mine, wrapping around me—it was something more. His heart, maybe. Or his soul.
I wasn’t even sure I believed in a soul, but I felt his—his very being, the light inside him, reached out to me and I grasped it like a greedy child wanting all of it for herself.
“Graham.” I cried out his name, the tension and the pleasure ratcheting higher.
He nestled his nose in the crook of my neck, releasing my name on a sigh.
My legs wrapped around him, pulling him closer, deeper.
It was too much…my heart was going to explode in my chest. I had done this before, but it had never felt like this. My entire body shook.
“Look at me, little lynx,” Graham breathed, soft but commanding.
I forced my eyes open. I hadn’t realized I’d shut them.
The moment our gazes caught, something inside me broke.
His expression scorched me to the bone. No one had ever looked at me like that. It was undeniable in the blue hues of his eyes…the adoration. As if I were something precious.
His thumb brushed my cheekbone. My hips instinctively tilted up to meet him again and the sound he made—low, almost awed—nearly undid me.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, voice rough. “So damn beautiful, Quinn.”
My fingers threaded through his hair, pulling him closer. “Graham, I—” It felt like I was falling, too. Spiraling into a place I never knew existed.
