“Come for me.” The command is raw. “Show me how beautiful you are when you let go.”
He sucks harder, fingers curling faster, and the fierce, blinding wave breaks, ripping through me in shuddering pulses that make me sob his name. My inner walls clamp around his fingers; my hips buck wildly against his mouth. He doesn’t relent; instead, he draws out every tremor, softening his tongue only when I’m gasping, oversensitive, weakly pushing at his head.
Finally, he eases back, pressing slow, tender kisses along my inner thighs as aftershocks ripple through me. He climbs up my body and gathers me close, chest to chest, one hand stroking the length of my spine in long, soothing sweeps while the other cups the back of my head.
“Okay?” he whispers, lips brushing my temple.
“More than okay.” My voice is wrecked. “That was—”
“Just the beginning.” He tilts my chin up, eyes dark with promise. “I’m nowhere near done showing you what it means to be mine.”
He kisses me, and I taste myself on his tongue. The intimacy makes my eyes sting. He cradles my head with a gentleness that contrasts with the intensity of what just happened.
When he pulls back, he reaches for the blanket and pulls it over us both. “Water?”
“In a minute.” I curl closer to him, my body loose and satisfied. “Just hold me.”
His arms pull me closer. “Always.”
We stay like that without speaking, my cheek pressed to his chest where his heartbeat thuds slow and even beneath his warm skin. Outside the window, the sun continues its descent. Here in this cabin with his body solid around mine and his breath warm against my hair, everything else fades.
“I’m falling for you,” I say. The words feel inevitable, like they’ve been building since the moment he shut down the auction and chose me.
His body goes still beneath me. Then his hand slides into my hair, tilting my face up so he can look at me. “Say it again.”
“I’m falling for you.” My voice is stronger this time. “Falling hard, and I’m not afraid to say it anymore.”
“I’ve already fallen, darling.” His thumb strokes across my cheekbone. “Have since the moment I saw you struggling in your shop window. Since before the auction. I just needed you to be ready to hear it.”
My vision blurs. “You’ve been waiting for me.”
“I’d wait forever if that’s what you needed.” He kisses me again, tender and claiming all at once. “But I’m glad I don’t have to.”
He reaches for a glass of water on the nightstand and hands it to me. “Drink.”
I do. The cool water soothes my throat. He takes the glass when I’m done and sets it aside, then pulls me back against his chest. His hand resumes its soothing path along my spine.
“Tomorrow, we finish the shop,” he says. “Get everything ready for the opening.”
“Together,” I say. The word settles warm in my chest.
Eventually, things begin to blur with exhaustion. The combination of emotional intensity and physical release has left me limp and drowsy. Davin notices, and his voice goes softer.
“Sleep,” he says. “I’ve got you.”
“Stay with me.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” He kisses the top of my head. “I’m exactly where I belong.”
I let my eyes drift closed, his heartbeat a steady rhythm beneath my ear. His hand moves up my spine, steady and grounding. Outside, snow falls in the gathering dusk. Inside this cabin with his arms solid around me and his breath warm against my hair, home stops being a place and becomes something more: him, us, the weight of his body anchoring mine.
Not a place. A person.
This man who claimed me in public and worships me in private. Who sees my strength and celebrates it. Who makes me believe good things might be permanent in my life.
I’m keeping him.
And tomorrow, we’ll start building the life we both want.
