She pressed her soft hands against his cheeks, and the emotion in her eyes nearly felled him. “I need you too. I know we said we can’t let emotions get involved. But I have.” She lifted her head to kiss him softly. “I’m falling for you, Josh.”
“I’m falling for you, too,” he admitted. He’d been terrified to acknowledge it. But it was the truth. And it felt like freedom.
He kissed her again, slowly and thoroughly, letting her sink into his skin. Letting himself sink into her. He kissed down her throat, over her clavicles, into the notch at their center. He kissed down her breasts, over her puckered nipples, and across her softly rounded stomach. Then he dragged her wet panties away and kissed hereverywhere—reveling in her taste, her scent, everything about her—while she trembled and arched and eventually begged.
It still wasn’t enough. He could never have enough of her. But he wanted her to have everything.
He lifted his head, ready to carry her up to her bed, but she dragged him back up her body to kiss once more. “Let’s stay here,” she whispered.
He blinked slowly, brain fogged and thundering with desire. “I don’t have a condom.”
Ellie smiled. “That’s okay. I’m on the pill.”
“Are you certain?”
“Completely.”
“And your ribs?” he asked roughly.
Ellie let out an amused breath. “I had completely forgotten about them,” she whispered.
And then she wrapped her legs around his waist and dragged him closer, until he could feel her body surrounding his, until he was fully joined with her and they began to move together. Powerful and primal and utterly connected.
Perhaps the stars wheeled across the sky. Perhaps the earth spun. He didn’t know. All he knew was Ellie.
And when she found her ecstasy, he was right there with her. Their fingers wove together and gripped tightly. Their bodies clenched and spasmed around each other. And he knew the truth. He wasn’t falling for her: he’d already fallen.
Afterward, he found some fluffy towels in the nearby closet and dried her carefully before wrapping one around his waist. Then he lay down behind her on the lounger, pulling her to sit with her back against his chest, her head resting on his shoulder, looking up at the stars as they drifted together.
His skin slowly cooled, and his worries rose once more. Ellie was strong and brave and smart, but she was also human. Vulnerable.
Warren had escalated from coercion to actively trying to hurt—maybe kill—Ellie. What would he do when he discovered she’d taken her accusations to the police? What would he do when Vic didn’t go home?
In the distance, the tawny owls called to each other. The male’shoo-hooand the female’skee-witresonated eerily over the nighttime woodland.
The hair rose over the back of his neck, and he held Ellie tighter, reminding himself that the owls were beautiful. Magnificent. And mated for life.
They were not the harbingers of death—the guides to the underworld—his great-granddad had believed.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Ellie knockedon the door nervously.
It had all happened so fast. She’d hardly had a sip of her morning coffee when Liam declared that he’d spoken to his mum and it was all arranged for her and Josh to go and visit.
A million excuses had swarmed through her mind, but one look at the guarded hope in Josh’s eyes had pushed them away. He needed to see his mum. Of course. He needed to see her as soon as possible, just in case. And Ellie could help him do it.
She’d called her investigator and arranged a virtual meeting for the afternoon. Then they’d dropped Liam back at his flat and made the short drive to Donna’s snug little terraced cottage. And now, here they were… and the excuses had mutated to miniature hounds, taking part in their own Wild Hunt through her belly.
She laced her fingers through Josh’s and gripped them tightly, trying to remember to breathe.
It wasn’t as if she’d never met parents before; of course she had. But this was Josh’s mum. Josh, who always tried to hide—or perhaps not even feel—his emotions. And yet his face lit up when he talked about his mum. He’d rearranged his whole life when she needed him—and clearly there wasn’t anything Donna wouldn’t do for her sons either.
The thought of making a mistake was terrifying. Who was Ellie to this family, anyway? God, she wished she’d asked Liam what he’d said about her. She wasn’t prepared. She needed more time. What was she going to say?
There was no time to find an answer. The door flew open to reveal a pretty, middle-aged woman with bright blue eyes and silver streaking through her dark hair. She was obviously Josh’s mum—from the intensity of her gaze to the way she held her chin, she looked just like him.
“Hello, Ellie?” Donna asked, her eyes darting across her face and around the space behind her, her hands fluttering as if she didn’t quite know where to put herself. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
