The screen went black.
The couch dipped beside my legs when Tariq sat down. He didn’t touch me right away. Just leaned forward, forearms braced on his thighs, hands clasped like he was steadying something inside himself.
For once, the silence between us wasn’t uncertain. It was full.
“You scared me,” he said.
I turned toward him. “I know.”
His jaw flexed. “I’ve walked into a lot of fires. Seen what they do. What they take.” He exhaled slowly, like he was forcing air back into his lungs. “And all I could think about was getting to you. Nothing else mattered. Not the job. Not the rules.”
“I came because that’s where I belong,” he continued. His eyes finally met mine. “With you. That’s not changing again. I’m not letting it.”
My throat tightened. “Good. Because I’m not going anywhere either.”
A ghost of a smile touched his mouth, gone almost as soon as it appeared. He reached for my hand, threading his fingers through mine like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like he’d been doing it for years. Like he always would.
“I lost time once,” he said quietly. “Pushed you away because I didn’t know how to carry what I was dealing with. I won’t do that again. I don’t want distance. I want a life with you. All of the parts of it.”
The words didn’t rush. He placed them carefully, deliberately.
“And yeah,” he added, voice roughening, “I mean that the way it sounds. I want you as my wife. Not someday in theory. In the real world. With mornings and arguments and you stealing the blankets.”
Emotion rose fast and bright, but it didn’t feel fragile. It felt divine.
“You already have me,” I said.
His hand came up to my face then, warm and sure, his thumb brushing along my cheek like he was memorizing the shape of it. “I know. But I want to say it out loud. I choose you. Every version of this. Every day we get.”
I leaned into him, letting my forehead rest against his. “Then stop talking and show me.”
He carried me down the hall like he was already certain I belonged in his bed every night for the rest of our lives. Each step measured, protective, the solid rhythm of a man who’d made up his mind.
By the time we reached his room, my pulse drummed everywhere—heart, throat, the slick heat pulsing between my thighs.
He set me on his bed, then stretched out beside me, foreheads pressed together so our breaths mingled.
“Tell me if anything in your chest hurts,” he said, voice husky but careful. “Your lungs are still healing.”
“They’re fine,” I promised, sliding my palm up his chest to feel the thud of his heart. “They can handle this. I want this— I want you.”
A soft exhale left him, half-relief, half-hunger. “Good. I’m not stopping until you know you’re mine.”
He undressed me with unhurried reverence, peeling away every layer like a gift he’d earned. First baring the curve of my shoulders, his mouth followed, hot and possessive, kissing a trail down to the stiff peaks of my nipples. He sucked them slow—just enough sting, just enough soothe—while his palms mapped my hips, my thighs, memorizing all the places he planned to worship again and again.
His hand slid between my legs, fingers parting my folds, testing how drenched I already was. He groaned against my throat. “Wet for me, pretty girl?”
“Always,” I panted, rocking into his touch. My manicured fingers wrapped around his length—the hot, heavy promise of him—and he swore softly, his head falling to my shoulder as I stroked him from base to tip.
“Easy,” he warned, voice breaking. “You’ll end this before it starts.”
“Then make it start,” I challenged.
He knelt between my spread thighs, watching his fingers disappear into my slick heat as he opened me wider. When his thumb circled my clit— unrelenting—my back arched off the mattress. The first orgasm rolled through me fast and sharp, ripping a cry from my throat.
He leaned forward, tongue sweeping away my tremor-soft moans, kissing me deep enough to steal what breath I had left. “That’s one,” he murmured. “I want more.”
He guided himself inside of me— just an inch to coat himself in my release, then paused, “I’m going to marry you, Sanaa. When I’m inside you, I need you to know that.”
