The dimple on his right cheek winks at me. “That’s two. Come on, Honeybee. Give me one more.”
“Your lips look soft but are shockingly firm.” And now I can’t stop staring at them as they break into a full, sexy smile.
“That’s three.”
My heart rate has slowed, and my hands no longer tremble.
“Better?” he asks.
I nod against his forehead. “You’re like a freaking magician. How do you always know what I need?”
Both dimples appear now, and I go cross-eyed trying to stare at them without removing my forehead from his.
“Because I’m more in tune with your needs than I’ve ever been with anything in my life. I feel them, experience them, live them right along with you. There’s a connection here that’s stronger than the both of us, and I’ve decided to lean into it wholeheartedly.” He brushes his thumb over my cheek. “You’re not alone, Honeybee. Not anymore.”
The air changes, becomes charged—it sparks with heat and wonder.
I don’t know who moves first, but suddenly our lips crash together. I grip his sweatshirt with both hands while all my fear and anxiety morph into something else entirely—something completely out of my control and destined to crash into us both.
Need.
Want.
Desire.
“Clover,” he breathes against my lips. His gaze darts to each corner of the room, searching for cameras, weak spots, anything that could leave me exposed, and I’ve never felt more cared for. “If you want to stop?—”
“Don’t you dare.” I pull him closer, desperate and wanton. “Please don’t stop, Valen. Please don’t.”
Like a bungee cord pulled too taut, his control snaps.
One moment, we’re standing by a window, the next, I’m ushered into the smaller room and tossed onto the couch. He’s above me before I stop bouncing. His rough hands are everywhere, and it’s still not enough. His fingertips press into my waist, my hips, sliding under my shirt to skim my bare skin.
“I’m warning you now, Clover. You’re in control here, because I have none,” he murmurs against my neck. “If you need me to slow down, you’ll have to use your fucking words.”
“Valen.” I arch into his touch. “More. More. More.” I don’t even know exactly what I’m asking for, only that this is not enough. I need him to make me feel, help me scale the walls that hold me back, but there are too many layers, too many barriers separating his skin from mine.
He groans. “You’re perfect, Clover. And you’re all fucking mine.”
His.
Valen’s.
The contented sigh that slips through my lips is a vow, a promise, a declaration that we’re destined to be together—I’ve just been waiting for him to find me.
“I’ve always been yours,” I moan when his fingertips graze my nipple.
His laugh is dark and full of promise. “I don’t know how I could have ever forgotten you, but it’ll never happen again. You’re branded on my soul. A living, breathing piece of me that I’ve always known was missing but didn’t know how to find.”
His lips trail down my throat, across my collarbone. Every touch deliberate. Every kiss more intimate than the last.
“I won’t lose you again, Clover.” His hands slide beneath the waistband of my leggings, and he may as well be tattooing his name to my skin. His gaze is searing and wild.
“Does Madi have cameras in here?” he asks when my pants are hovering just above my pubic bone.
“Ah?” I manage. “I—I don’t?—”
“We can stop.” But his fingers are moving, and stopping is the last thing either of us wants. “Or…I can erase their memory before we leave.”
