“Only ten thousand?”
“Conservative estimate.”
She laughs, breathless and bright, and starts to move.
I let her set the pace. Let her find what feels good, rolling her hips in slow circles, rising and falling in a rhythm that makes my vision blur at the edges. My hands stay anchored on her hips, thumbs tracing circles against her hip bones, but I don’t push. Don’t take over.
This is hers. She’s in control.
“You’re holding back,” she says, breathless. “I can tell.”
“I’m letting you?—”
“I don’t want you to let me.” She plants her hands on my chest, leans down until her lips brush my ear. “I want you to fuck me, Lucas. Stop thinking and just feel.”
Something snaps.
I flip us in one smooth motion, pinning her beneath me. She gasps—surprise, not fear—and I hitch her thigh over my hip and thrust deep.
“Better?” I grit out.
“Yes—god—yes?—”
I stop holding back.
I drive into her, hard and fast, and she meets every thrust with a roll of her hips. The headboard knocks against the wall. The bed creaks beneath us. I don’t care. Can’t care. Not when she’s making those sounds, not when she’s clenching around me like she never wants to let go.
“Lucas—” Her nails dig into my shoulders. “I’m close—I’m so close?—”
“I know.” I can feel it—the way she’s tightening, the hitch in her breathing, the flush spreading down her chest. “I’ve got you. Let go.”
“I need?—”
I slide my hand between us, find her clit, press down with my thumb. She shatters.
Her whole body locks up, her pussy clenching around me in rhythmic waves, and she cries out my name—loud enough that Theo definitely heard, loud enough that I feel it in my bones.
My knot swells, catches, locks into place. And then I’m coming too, spilling into her in hot pulses while she shakes apart beneath me.
Her neck is right there. Soft skin, racing pulse, the perfect spot where her shoulder meets her throat. My teeth ache with the need to sink into her, to mark her, to make her ours in every way that matters.
I press my mouth there instead. Kiss her pulse point, breathe her in, force myself to pull back.
Not yet. Not without Nate. Not until we’re whole.
“I love you.” The words tear out of me, raw and rough. “Cara—I love you?—”
“I love you too.” She’s crying, tears streaming down her temples into her hair, but she’s smiling. “I love you too, Lucas. I never stopped.”
I collapse against her, careful to keep my weight on my forearms. We’re locked together now, tied by my knot, and we’re not going anywhere for a while.
“So.” I press a kiss to her damp forehead. “That was...”
“Perfect.” She wraps her arms around my neck, pulls me closer. “That was absolutely perfect.”
“I had a lot of time to plan.”
She laughs, watery and warm. “Ten years of planning?”
