I press up into him. “You don’t like slow.”
“I like everything with you.” He slides his arms under me, one behind my back and the other angling up underneath me to cradle my head in the palm of his hand.
I reach down between us to guide him inside me. Griffin moves forward with a slow thrust, and I start to close my eyes.
His fingers tighten on my head. “Look at me.”
I open my eyes again.
“Do you feel this heat?” He rocks once, filling me completely. “I burn for you.”
My lips part on a soft gasp.
“Touch me, Cat.”
I skim my hands over the hard muscles of his shoulders and then up his neck. Diving my fingers into his hair again, I grip the inky locks.
He looks down at me, his expression open and earnest. “I am caught. You caught me. Not the other way around. From the very first day. And from the very first day, I would have done anything for you—except let you go. I couldn’t. Not when deep down, I knew we were meant to be like this. To love like this.”
Without moving inside me, he dips his head and kisses me. It’s slow but nothing like gentle. It’s intense and fierce, burning and passionate.
“I was arrogant and high-handed,” he says, lifting his head. “I took you from your home and from people you love. Sometimes, I wish I could say I’m sorry for that, but I’m not.”
“I’m not, either,” I tell him. “I still have them. But now I also have you.”
“Always,” he says fervently.
“Always,” I echo in kind.
“My eyes are fully open, but I see only one thing.”
“Griffin…” The threat of tears thickens my voice. My eyes blur, and I blink.
“Don’t cry. Not now. I need you to listen to me.”
The urgency in his voice makes my breath hitch. I banish the dampness from my eyes.
“I don’t care if the Gods changed me for you. They changed you for Thalyria. The gifts. The Oracles. Your whole life. That doesn’t alter how I feel about you. My love isn’t conditional. We are who we are.” He holds me close, surrounding me, speaking to me straight from his heart. “The first time I saw you, it was like a thunderclap hit me. My ears rang. My heart raced. I knew I would never be the same again. So what if they chose me for you?Plannedme for you? Something like that can never be a path with only one direction. If they made me for you, Cat, then they made you for me, too.”
I nod, but he grips my head, making me stop.
“No, don’t just nod.Believeit. Believeme. I don’t care who came first, why, or which God played a role in any of it. That thunderclap? It didn’t come from them. It came from you, and me, and what was inevitable between us, even though I’m the arse who kidnapped you, and you’re the spitfire who fought me for all she was worth. I love you. There is no place in my heart where you don’t belong. Do you understand me, Cat?”
My chin trembles, and I press my lips together tightly. Finally, my voice wavering, I manage to ask, “Are you still expecting me not to cry?”
Griffin’s grip relaxes on the back of my head, and he searches my eyes with a softening gaze. “You’ve changed so much.”
I sniff. “I know. It’s awful.”
He chuckles. “It’s not awful. You’re finally living.”
Is this what living feels like? Beautiful and painful all at once?
I swallow hard, and my tears ebb back down my throat. Hate is an easier emotion to deal with than love. Hate is cold, with a strong, hard shell. Love is burning, with a thousand fragile cracks that lead straight to your soul.
“My heart is on fire, Griffin. I don’t know when it’ll stop.”
His expression seems to light from within. “It won’t ever stop. I won’t let it.”
