Her breath faltered.“You never said?—”
“You left.”
“Before—”
“Before I could ask you to be my partner in every way there is—to be my wife.”
“Wife?” she exclaimed.
“Is that such a stretch?I wanted forever.There was a time when I thought you did too.”
“I’m supposed to guess from the chill you gave off?”
“Careful, not cold.I never promise anything I can’t deliver.I had to be sure.”
It would have been easier to understand this if the expression on Elijah’s face had changed by even an iota.But he was still the hottest thing on two hard-muscled legs, and sometimes the universe decides.
* * *
Their mouths crashed together, punishment and absolution.Fabric ripped as they tore at each other’s clothes.Once they were naked, he lifted her clear off the floor, and she locked her legs around his waist.
Maybe he needed proof she was still alive—alive to him.And maybe Sable needed reassurance that those seven years apart had been worth it.One hand fisted in her hair, he pressed her back against the wall, while the other palmed her breast.His thumbnail abraded her nipple.She gasped his name in a choking sob.
“Say it again!”he murmured, rasping her neck with his stubble.“Say my name when I’m inside you.”
He drove into her in one merciless thrust, stretching and claiming without patience or gentleness, just raw, filthy need.She screamed his name.
Raking her nails down his back, she begged for more, faster and harder.
Was he proving a point?Fucking her as punishment for all those years apart?No.It was more than that.Every moan of pleasure was not just a debt repaid, but a pledge for the future.She met him thrust for thrust, hips rolling, teeth clashing until their bodies were slick with sweat.
“Look at me.”Gripping her chin as her eyes fluttered shut, he spoke words torn from his soul.“You don’t get to hide.Never again.”
Meeting his fierce stare, she returned it with interest.“You’re mine,” she said, urging him on.“Fucking mine.”
He brought her to the edge again, and they shattered together, his name exploding from her lips as she clenched around him.They stayed locked together for the longest time, his forehead against hers, their breath mingling.
“Next time you decide to save my life, do it with me, or I swear to God, I’ll chain you to this bed and never let you go.”
“Promise?”she murmured, softening against him.
“Test me, sweetheart.Please…”
CHAPTERELEVEN
They stayed under the shower for the longest time, steam curling around them like smoke from the battle they’d survived.There was a lot to make up for.Their bodies were still hungry, but her feelings for Elijah had deepened into a firm belief that he could and had changed.This made everything they were, and everything they felt and experienced, far deeper and more meaningful than before.
When he took her as if their lives depended on him filling her completely, she felt far more than physical satisfaction.A primal urge to be one with him in every way overwhelmed her.When she cried out his name, it was both a claim and an acceptance, a pledge more binding than marriage vows.He was hers, and she was his, and they would always belong together.
“Come while I’m deep inside you,” he urged.“I need you to know there’s no part of you I won’t protect or cherish.”
Once founded on sex and danger, their relationship had matured into something far deeper.As she claimed a riptide of release, she cried out, “I love you.”
It was a while before she realized tears were streaming down her face.Not tears of sorrow or pain, but love set free to express itself.They’d grown up believing love was something other people enjoyed, and that they didn’t deserve it.Turns out they were wrong.
“What are you doing to me?”
She looked up as Elijah called out in the grip of release.It was the first time she could remember him losing control.He cursed fluently as he came inside her, but in shock rather than anger or regret.
