“Come here.” She reached for him, pulling him up her body. “Now. I need you now.”
He shed his remaining clothes in seconds, kicking off pants and boxers with graceless efficiency. Her hand found him immediately, wrapping around his length, stroking in a way that made his vision blur.
“Avine.” His hips jerked into her grip. “If you keep doing that?—”
“Then you’d better get inside me.” She guided him to her entrance, slick and ready. “I want to feel you.”
He sank into her in one long stroke.
The noise she made was obscene—half moan, half sob, her nails digging into his shoulders. He held still, buried to the hilt, giving her time to adjust. She was tight and wet and burning, and it took every ounce of control he had not to move.
“You feel—” She couldn’t finish the sentence. “God, Theo. You feel?—”
“I know.” He kissed her, slow and deep. “I know. You feel like everything.”
He began to move—long, rolling thrusts that dragged against every sensitive spot inside her. This wasn’t the desperateurgency of their first time, the frantic need to claim and mark. This was slower. A conversation in movement. A promise made with bodies instead of words.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, changing the angle, taking him deeper. Her heels dug into his lower back, urging him on. He increased his pace, driving into her harder, drinking in every sound she made.
“Look at me.” His hand cupped her jaw, turning her face to his. “I want to see you when you come.”
Her eyes locked with his—those brown depths he’d fallen into months ago and never wanted to climb out of. He reached between them, found her clit, circled it in time with his thrusts.
“Theo—” She was close. He could see it in the flush spreading across her skin, feel it in the way her walls fluttered around him. “I love you. I love you so much?—”
“I love you.” He drove into her harder, his own release building at the base of his spine. “Come for me. Let me see you.”
She broke with a cry, her body clamping down around him like a fist. The pressure was too much—too good—and he followed her over the edge with a groan, spilling into her in hot pulses. The pleasure whited out his vision, blanked his thoughts, left nothing but sensation and her and yes, yes, yes.
They collapsed in a tangle, breathing hard, still joined. Theo rolled to the side, pulling her with him. His arm wrapped around her waist, even in the aftermath.
“That was…” Avine’s voice was wrecked, satisfied.
“Mm.” He nuzzled into her hair. “Agreed.”
“We should probably go back to the party at some point.”
“Probably.” He made no move to leave. “Or we could stay here. Watch the stars. Pretend the rest of the world doesn’t exist.”
“Tempting.” She traced idle patterns on his skin. “But there are two hundred people who will notice if we disappear all night.”
“Let them notice.” He lifted her hand to his lips. “I’m done hiding what you mean to me. What we are.”
She smiled—that slow, private smile that was only for him. “Good. Because I’m done hiding too.”
THIRTY-EIGHT
AVINE
They walked back to the Siren’s Rest hand in hand, the party’s music drifting up from below.
The wardstones along the cliff path glowed faintly gold as they passed. A seagull watched from a nearby post, probably cataloging their disheveled state for the morning gossip report.
Avine didn’t care. Let them talk. Let the whole damn town know she was happy.
Inside, the party had evolved into its final form—diehards clustered in comfortable groups, the music slower, the laughter softer. Beck was holding court at the bar. The friend group had claimed the best couches, Dahlia’s head on Cassia’s shoulder, Junie gesturing wildly while Narla watched with fond amusement.
And there—Beck’s gaze drifted toward Junie again. For a moment. Long enough.
