He nodded, both stunned and yet not surprised at all that their brains worked the same. Joy burst in his chest, and it wasn’t just knowing she felt the same.
After Conner died, he questioned everything he did, even down to the food he selected from the dinner buffet. But he’d jumped into sharing his feelings with Fern…and it was a big win in so many ways.
“I know, honey. God, I know.”
Dipping his head, he kissed along her jaw, her throat, feeling her shiver beneath his mouth. He slid his hand along her side, thumb edging just under the hem of her sweater, enough to steal her breath.
She gripped him hard and stared into his eyes. “Take me to bed and show me.”
* * * * *
Fern barely registered the short walk to the bedroom.
Every step felt deliberate, not because Crew was holding back, but because he was showing her just how important she was to him.
The bedroom glowed softly, lamplight spilling across the quilt she’d smoothed that morning without any thought that it mattered. Now it did. Everything did.
Crew closed the door behind them, and the sound reverberated low in her chest.
Her heart thudded hard as she turned to face him.
In the past, this was the moment she would usually tense. The moment where she would brace for expectations she couldn’t meet and disappointment. The moment where her body remembered things she wished it didn’t.
But this was Crew.
And he loved her.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
She nodded. “I am.”
And she was surprised to realize it was true. The past flowed away.
He lifted his hands, slowly sliding upward until his thumbs brushed the sensitive skin just beneath her collarbones. He leaned in and kissed her again, slower than before, deeper somehow. Like he wasn’t trying to take from her…onlyconnectwith her.
Fern melted into him.
She let her hands explore the breadth of his shoulders and the solid planes of his chest. He was strong, yes, but there was something else there too. A gentleness that showed her exactly who Crew Diaz was.
He kissed her like he hadn’t just kissed her minutes before, like he was learning her all over again. When she shivered, he slowed. When her breath caught, he kissed her harder. When she leaned into him, he yanked her flush against his body.
The bed pressed against the backs of her knees, and she sank onto it without breaking the kiss. He followed, bracing himself above her even as his presence wrapped around her like shelter.
Fern eased her fingers into his hair, tugging softly, and the sound he made—as low as a prayer—sent a pulse of heat through her that had nothing to do with urgency.
This wasn’t about hunger.
It was about closeness.
Crew kissed along her jaw, then her throat until he reached the tender hollow beneath her ear. When he slipped his fingers beneath the hem of her sweater, brushing warm skin, her breath stuttered.
The weight of him was solid and his eyes burned with love that wasn’t just kindled—it was barely contained.
She’d never known intimacy could feel like this.
She kissed him again, pouring everything she felt into it. Gratitude that the universe had given her this man and a desire so hot that she thought she’d combust.
They moved together after that, unhurried, shedding layers of clothing like it was the most natural thing in the world. He brought her to peak after peak, first with his mouth and then driving her to another gasping climax around his cock.
