The sound I let out was made from pure need.
I clung to him, my hand gripping his shoulder as the sensation spread through my whole body. It wasn’t pain. It was connection. It was trust turned into something physical and overwhelming.
He took only a small amount. Just enough to feel me, to taste me, to hold the moment between us without letting it take more than either of us could give.
His tongue flicked over the bite, then he kissed the spot softly, pouring his devotion into it. It was the kind of kiss that said he cherished me more than he wanted to consume me.
I shuddered and framed his face with both hands, pulling him up to me.
“I feel you,” I whispered. “All of you.”
He moved faster inside me, his rhythm matching my cries and moans. I wrapped my legs tighter around him, pulling him deeper inside me as I felt my second orgasm building. It crashed through me with a force so powerful I thought it might break me in two. His cries mixed with mine as we found our release together.
Cristian collapsed on top of me, panting and sweating but content.
The room went still, like it always did when we had given each other everything. The sheets were warm under me, and my muscles were deliciously loose. Cristian lay half on his side, propped on one elbow, watching me like he was trying to memorize every detail of my face.
Not hungry. Not frantic. Not overwhelmed.
Just in love.
His fingers traced my cheek in slow, steady passes. “You are all right,” he said softly.
“I am more than all right,” I said. “I am whole.”
He let out a sound that hit low in his chest, the kind he only made when he was truly at peace, then pulled the blanket up over both of us and settled close, his forehead touching mine.
I placed my palm over his heart. “You are steady,” I whispered.
“You are the reason,” he said. “I never knew I could have this.”
“This?” I teased lightly. “Or me?”
“Both,” he said without hesitation.
My smile spread. He always did that to me. He always knocked me off balance when he said the truth like it was the easiest thing in the world.
“I love you,” I said.
He closed his eyes for a moment. “Say it again.”
“I love you.”
His hand slid into mine under the blanket. “I will spend the rest of my life making sure you never regret choosing me.”
“I won’t,” I said.
He nodded. “I still want to earn it. Every day.”
I laughed softly. “You already do. You do the dishes. You don’t scare the neighbors anymore. You haven’t called a single friend of mine a peasant in weeks.”
“They deserved it.”
“They did not,” I said, nudging him gently.
He dipped his head and kissed my temple, squeezing my hand under the covers.
The hum of the ceiling fan lulled me into that soft place before sleep could claim me. Outside, the tree branches tapped against the window. The whole world felt warm and wide and ours.
