“You. Only you.”
“And all I see is us,” he says, finally moving—just a little, just enough to make me whimper.
I turn my mouth toward his, but we don’t kiss. We just hover there, breathing each other in as if the only thing we’re surviving on is each other. He starts to move, staying pressed so impossibly close it’s like we’re the same body—skin to skin, soul to soul.
“It’s us, pretty girl. Only ever us.”
His fingers squeeze mine against the glass, and when he lets go, he grabs my hips, and I feel his restraint shatter.
“You feel that, baby? The way your cunt tightens around me every time I move?”
His lips drop to my shoulder, biting down hard as he starts to wildly rut into me. He’s not just fucking me now. Every thrust is a wipe of the slate, and every snap of his hips says there’s no before him anymore.
“Let me hear it. Let me feel how much you need me.”
“Phoenix—” I moan, my body going taut as the pressure coils in my stomach.
“Fucking come for me, just for me.”
Pleasure pulses through my body, and after a few more brutal thrusts, his body goes still, filling me so fucking full I can feel him everywhere. He’s marking me from the inside out, claiming me in ways nobody else ever will and erasing everything and everyone that isn’t us.
“Mine.” He breathes against the back of my neck. “You got that now, baby?” He presses a tender kiss to my shoulder, then another to the bite mark he left. “You deserve everything, and I swear to god I’ll give it to you.”
“So do you,” I whisper, feeling his lips still dragging across my sweat-damp skin.“You deserve the world.”
He slowly pulls out of me, and I turn in his hold until we’re chest to chest, our hearts pounding. I reach up to cup his jaw, forcing him to look at me, to see me the way I’m seeing him.
“I love you, Phoenix. I love you so much it scares me.”
His breath catches, and for a second, he just stares at me like I’ve reached inside his chest and wrapped my hand around his heart.
“Say it again.”
“I love you, Phoenix Cassidy.”
“Again,” he chokes out, lifting a hand to drag his knuckles down my cheek. “Please, baby—just once more.”
“I’m so in love with you.”
His eyes go glassy with unshed tears, and then his body begins to shake as he fights to keep his shit together.
This man—this brutal, possessive, beautiful man—isn’t trembling in my arms. He’s vibrating with the effort of keeping a decade’s worth of pain and longing from tearing out of him all at once.
“I’ve waited so long to hear you say that.”
“I know you have.” I press my lips to his temple and whisper the only truth that matters anymore. “I promise I’ll never leave.”
Chapter 20
Phoenix
CAIN: I’ve been calling you for a fucking week. You’re either dead, or you’ve finally gotten your dick wet because you’ve never ghosted me this long before. I’m getting needy. Call me back, motherfucker, or I’ll pay your girl a visit.
Yeah.Cain’s dead. And the next time he has a bullet lodged in him, I’m going to dig my fingers in and twist until it’s ripping through muscle and he’s choking on his own blood.
I drag a hand down my face, exhaling hard as I glance at the redhead curled up beside me. She’s still asleep—peaceful and so fucking beautiful—and I’ve spent the last hour staring at her like a psychopath.
I force myself to move, dragging my ass out of bed, even when all I want to do is stay with her.
