All he wants is to take care of her for the rest of his days, and that thought shocks him.They are still enemies, but they’re also now lovers, and he doesn’t know what will happen, but for now, this is enough.
After everything she’d endured tonight, having Isla come to him felt like being chosen, not as a refuge from the world, but as shelter within it.When she is with him, the castle, the papers, the ghosts of the past can’t touch them.For the first time in years, he feels something steady take hold inside his chest.
Safety.
Care.
Things he’d learned not to expect with his own family.Only from Keir, and now he is gone.
She moves over him, and the way she fit, perfectly, intimately, draws a sharp breath from his lungs.It is like they are made for each other, and he’s never experienced that before.
Her reactions, the soft sound she made, tells him how close she already is, how deeply emotion and sensation are tangled for her.It only makes him want to be careful.To be present.To give her everything.And yet the castle remains between them.
She moves with intention, her body answering something deeper than desire.He watches her face as she rides him, the emotion there unmistakable, open, unguarded, fierce.His hands come to her breasts, grounding himself in the reality of her, the heat, the connection.
“Isla,” he says, her name leaving him like a truth he can no longer keep inside.
She looks down at him, eyes bright and alive, holding his gaze as if anchoring them together.The moment feels suspended, unreal, like they are leaving the world behind.
He feels it build, the tension coiling tight, knows he’s close and doesn’t want to pull away from her, not now, not when she is right there with him.When his orgasm finally overtakes him, the release is overwhelming, and the way she follows, calling his name, clinging to him, undoes him completely.
He holds her through it, through the final shuddering moments, until her body finally gives in and she collapses against him, boneless and spent.
For a long time, neither of them move.
Stunned, he holds onto her, knowing that something has just happened between them that is both satisfying and terrifying at the same time.
When he finally shifts, careful not to jostle her, he rolls her gently onto her side and pulls her back against him, fitting himself to her in a way that feels instinctive.Protective.Right.
They lie there together, breathing slowing, hearts finding their rhythm again.
“Isla,” he murmurs against her ear.“That was… incredible.”
She smiles, soft and satisfied.“You weren’t too bad yourself.”
Callum closes his eyes, holding her a little closer, knowing with absolute certainty that this,this,isn’t something he would ever walk away from.He only hopes she feels the same way.
Chapter20
Isla wakes slowly, drifting up through layers of warmth and quiet.
For a few disoriented seconds, she doesn’t remember where she is, only that she feels… held.Not physically, not quite, but contained in a way she hasn’t felt in years.Safe.Unrushed.
Then memory returns in fragments.
Stone walls.
Lamplight.
Callum’s voice, low and steady.
The way he stayed.
She opens her eyes.
Morning light spills across the room, pale and soft, catching in the folds of the curtains and warming the gray stone until it glows.The castle looks different in daylight, less imposing, less haunted.Almost gentle.
Callum is still asleep beside her, one arm thrown loosely across the pillow where her shoulder rests.His face is relaxed, unguarded in a way she hasn’t seen before.Without the tension he usually carries, he looks younger.Vulnerable.
