Her eyes blink in shock. “You got more even after you were free?”
“I was free from prison, but I wasn’t free from you, Olive.”
She steps forward, wrapping her fingers in my wet t-shirt, looking up at me with those big, beautiful eyes. “Let me see them,” she demands breathlessly.
I oblige, pulling my shirt over my head, letting her hands fall to my naked skin. Right above the one that means the most to me.
She gasps softly, tracing the letters under my sternum.
No secret meanings, nothing to decipher. Just the name of the woman who owns me.
“It’s always been you, Olive.”
She blinks up at me again, but this time there’s heat behind her eyes. She’s looking at me like she did in her office, the way I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. When her gaze falls to my lips, my breath stills in my chest.
“Don’t,” I plead reluctantly, and her eyes snap to mine.
“Don’t kiss me until you mean it. With your entire soul.”
She blinks at me, but doesn’t respond.
“I’ve waited for this, for you, for well over a decade. And, I’ll wait longer if you’re not ready, but when you are… It’s the end. All the bullshit, all the lines drawn in the sand. I’m yours, I always have been. I’m only waiting for you to choose me so I know I fulfilled my promise not to derail your life.”
“What about your life? You’d wait forever if I never gave in to this?” She whispers huskily, still trembling in her wet clothes.
“My life doesn’t exist without you.”
“Don’t say that. I almost married someone else.”
I thread my fingers into her hair. “I’d still be here, even if it meant watching you get married to someone else. Watching you have children. Sending them off to college after giving them the childhood we always dreamed about. I’d watch from afar as your hair grays and your body weakens. I’d wait until your last breath and then take my own so I could be with you every possible second.”
“Jensen,” she breathes, wrapping her hands around the back of my neck and drawing my head closer to hers.
“I’d wait for you forever, Olive. But I won’t live a day on this earth without you.”
The final inch between us disappears as she forces her lips to mine, taking exactly what she wants, and kissing me mercilessly.
My Olive.
I palm the back of her neck, pulling her closer until her damp body molds to mine because I’m convinced I’m dreaming. I’ve waited for this for so long. A soft whimperescapes her throat, and I respond fervently, needing all of it. All of her.
My tongue swipes at her lips, and they open on a gasp as I delve inside. She’s as sweet as I imagined.
Her nails dig at my neck and my chest, demanding more.
God, I want to give her everything.
Electricity shoots down my spine when she bites at my bottom lip, and a groan rumbles my chest, making her still. Her hooded gaze is filled with excited wonder as she leans in again, nibbling along my jawline.
“Fuck,” I moan, completely at her mercy as her lips graze the spot below my ear and continue downward.
Her teeth scrape along my neck, and when she sinks them into my collarbone, I’m nearly a goner.
“Olive,” I beg breathlessly, lifting her by her ass and forcing her legs around my waist. My fingers dig into her soft flesh as her center settles over my stomach, and I almost forget how to use words. “Are you sure you want this? Me?”
She tips her head back, looking at me tenderly before capturing my mouth in a gentle kiss. “It’s all I ever wanted.”
Joy and relief hit me all at once, and I sink to my knees with her in my arms. “I’ve waited so long,” I breathe, resting my head against her chest as she wraps her arms around me, holding me close.
