He pulled it over my head in one motion. Then his mouth was on my neck, my collarbone, the swell of my breast above my bra. Hot and wet andclaiming.
I arched into him. My fingers fumbled with his buttons, desperate to feel his skin against mine.
"Easy," he murmured, but he was already shrugging out of his shirt, tossing it aside. "We've got time."
We didn't. We never had enough time. But right now, in this room, with the door locked and the world held at bay, I could pretend.
His chest was warm under my palms. Solid muscle, a scattering of hair, a scar on his ribs I'd never asked about. I traced it with my fingers and felt him shiver.
"Lumi." My name was a groan on his lips. "You're killing me."
"Good."
I pushed him toward the bed. He went willingly, pulling me down with him, and then I was straddling his hips, looking down at him, watching his eyes darken with want.
The bond sang between us. His desire and mine, building, spiraling, each feeding the other until I couldn't tell where I ended and he began.
"You're beautiful," he said, hands sliding up my thighs. "You know that? Every time I look at you, I can't believe you're real."
"James—"
"I mean it." He sat up, bringing us face to face, chest to chest. His hands cradled my jaw, tilting my head back so he could look into my eyes. "Whatever happens. Whatever comes next. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."
The words cracked something open in my chest. Not the painful kind of cracking — the kind that let light in.
"I know," I whispered. "I know you're not."
James didn’t wait. He moved with a grounded, steady heat, his hands sliding to the front of my jeans to navigate the button with a focus that made my core ache. When the denim fell away, he didn't pull back. Instead, he trailed a path of slow, searing kisses down my stomach, his breath hitching against my skin.
The bond was no longer just a pulse; it was a physical weight, a golden tether that pulled us tighter with every second. As he stripped away the last of our clothes, the air in the room seemed to vibrate.
When he moved back over me, the friction of his skin against mine felt like coming home after a lifetime in the cold. He was heavy and solid, his thighs pinning mine to the mattress, grounding me so I couldn't float away into my overwhelm and anxiety.
"Look at me, Lumi," he whispered, his voice vibrating deep in his chest.
I opened my eyes. He was flushed, his jaw tight with the effort of holding back, but his gaze was unwavering. He reached down, his fingers finding the center of me, slick and ready. I gasped, myhips bucking instinctively against his hand, and he let out a low, ragged sound of approval.
"I've got you," he promised again, his thumb grazing my clit in a way that made my vision blur. "Stay right here with me."
He entered me in one slow, deliberate push.
I cried out, the sound muffled against the column of his throat as I wrapped my legs around his waist, locking him in. He was thick and stretching, filling the emptiness I’d been carrying since rescuing North. It wasn't just physical—it was as if he were pouring his very soul into the cracks of mine, mending the raw edges.
He began to move, a rhythmic, powerful surge that forced everything else out of my head. There was only the scent of him. He moved like he loved me, his hands never leaving me, one tangled in my hair and the other pinned beneath my lower back, arching me up to meet every thrust.
"James," I sobbed, the pleasure building into something sharp and blinding.
"I know, honey. Let go."
The bond snapped taut. I felt a tidal wave of possessive, protective love that crashed over me just as my own walls came down. I shattered, my muscles clamping around him as the world dissolved into white light and the feel of his heartbeat thundering against my ribs.
He followed me over the edge, burying his face in the crook of my neck, his body shuddering with release.
After, we lay tangled together in my narrow bed.
His chest was warm under my cheek, rising and falling with steady breaths. My body felt loose, liquid, emptied of everything except a bone-deep satisfaction.
The bond between us hummed quietly. Content. Sated.
