Her hair is wild and tangled across the pillow, her eyes dark with need, lips swollen from our kisses. She reaches up for me, her hands gliding over my shoulders and pulling me down to her. As our bodies meet, skin against skin, a shudder rolls through me. I can feel every point of contact, every soft curve and dip of her body fitting perfectly against mine.
I trail my lips along the column of her throat, savoring the taste of her skin and the scent that’s uniquely her. She gasps asI nip at her collarbone, her nails digging into my back. The small sting only spurs me on.
Christ, I’m harder than I’ve ever been in my life. My cock is practically throbbing against her thigh, so stiff it almost hurts. The kind of ache that borders on sweet agony. Her smooth skin sliding against mine is pure torture, making me want to take my time even when every cell in my body is screaming to bury myself inside her. It’s like my body knows exactly what it’s been missing for the last two weeks.
And now she’s here, her thighs parting for me, her body offering everything I’ve been craving.
“You’re so beautiful,” I whisper.
“Knox…” she breathes, her nails raking down my back.
With deliberate slowness, I trail my hand down her body. She bows into my touch, her breath coming faster now. “Please,” she whimpers. The desperate edge in her voice nearly ruins me in the best goddamn way.
“I dreamed of you every night,” I murmur against her skin. “Of holding you, touching you.” I hook my arm under her knee, spreading her wider as I align our bodies. Our eyes lock, a thousand unspoken words passing between us. And then I’m sinking into her, feeling her body stretch to accommodate me. For a moment, we’re both still. It’s like coming up for air after being underwater. The first breath of spring after a long, cold winter.
Home.
Her eyes flutter closed, her lips parting on a soft moan as I begin to move. I don’t waste a second, capturing her mouth with mine, swallowing every single sound she makes. I thrust harder, faster, driven by the way her body responds to mine.
“God, I missed you,” I groan against her mouth.
She arches again beneath me, her head tipping back. “Don’t stop,” she gasps, her voice trembling with desperation. “Please don’t stop.”
As if I could. As if I would ever want to.
I feel her tightening around me, every pulse of her body drawing me in deeper. Her breath is shallow now, erratic. She’s so damn close, right on the edge of breaking. I slip my hand between us, finding that spot I know drives her wild.
I circle my thumb in time with my thrusts, and she cries out, her back bowing off the bed.
“Let go,” I murmur against her ear. “I’ve got you.”
A few more strokes and she shatters, my name a broken sob on her lips as she comes apart in my arms. The sight of her, the feel of her slick heat clenching around me, it’s too much. Too fucking beautiful.
Tension coils tight at the base of my spine. “Juliette,” I groan. “Fuck…”
And then, everything shatters. My hips stutter, and the first surge of release floods through me. I pulse inside her, filling her with each desperate thrust.
I barely hear the raw sounds tearing from my throat. My hands grip her hips, holding her tightly against me as I ride out wave after wave, each one more intense than the last. The pleasure is so fierce it radiates out from the center of me until every muscle in my body is shaking with it.
I collapse onto her, careful not to crush her with my weight, my forehead pressed against hers as we both struggle to catch our breath. I press gentle kisses to her shoulder, her cheek, her temple. Anywhere I can reach. She hums softly in contentment, her fingers tracing lazy, soothing patterns on my back.
“So,” she whispers, a smile in her voice. “Does this mean you missed me, too?”
A laugh rumbles through me. “Just a wee bit,” I tease, rolling onto my side and pulling her with me. I tuck a strand ofhair behind her ear, letting my thumb trace the curve of her cheek.
“I love you,” I murmur.
Her eyes lift to mine, glassy with emotion, brimming with trust and so much hope it steals my breath. “I love you, too.”
Hearing her say that, tangled in my sheets, curled up against me?
Pure fucking heaven.
forty-one
JULIETTE
Wrapped in the strength of Knox’s arms, every jagged, splintered piece of me feels like it’s been carefully gathered and placed back where it belongs. I didn’t know what true safety felt like until this very moment.
