“I love you too.” Pierce’s forehead rests against mine. “So much it terrifies me.”
“What do we do now?”
His smile is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. “Now? We stop running from this. We stop hiding.”
I close the distance between us and kiss him like I’ve been starving for a month. Because I have been. My hands fist in his shirt, pulling him closer as his mouth opens under mine. He tastes like coffee, desperation, and everything I’ve been missing.
Pierce groans into the kiss, his hands sliding into my hair and tugging in that way that makes my knees weak. I press my body against his, needing to feel every inch of him, needing to remind myself that this is real, that he’s here, that we’re finally allowed to want this.
“Fuck, I missed you,” I gasp against his lips, my fingers working at his tie. “Every day, watching you in that office, not being able to touch you?—”
“Torture,” he agrees, his mouth trailing fire down my neck. “Complete torture.”
I arch into him as his teeth graze that spot below my ear that makes me see stars. “Pierce…”
“Tell me what you want,” he breathes against my skin.
“You. Always you.” I pull back just enough to meet his eyes, which are dark with desire. “We can hide a little while longer, can’t we? Just for tonight?”
His answering smile is pure sin. “I thought you’d agree we should stop hiding.”
“We will. Tomorrow.” I press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Tonight, I just want you in my bed. Making up for lost time.”
Pierce doesn’t need to be told twice. His hands grip my thighs, and he lifts me effortlessly, my legs wrapping around his waist as he carries me toward my bedroom. I attack his neck with my mouth, sucking marks into his skin that he won’t be able to hide tomorrow.
He navigates my small apartment with impressive coordination, considering I’m doing my best to distract him. When we finally tumble onto my bed, his body covering mine, I feel complete for the first time in a month.
“I love you,” I say again because I can. Because I never have to stop saying it.
“I love you too.” Pierce’s eyes are soft as he looks down at me. “Now let me show you how much.”
32
PIERCE
I layThatcher down on his bed, following him onto the mattress without breaking our kiss. A month of longing pours into every touch, every slide of tongue against tongue. His hands work frantically at my shirt buttons while I tug his T-shirt over his head, both of us desperate to feel his skin against mine.
“Off,” he demands, pushing my shirt from my shoulders. “Need to feel you.”
I comply, tossing the shirt somewhere behind me before pressing my body against his. The contact makes us both groan. God, I fucking missed him so much.
“Pierce,” he breathes as my mouth finds his neck, tasting the skin I’ve been craving for weeks. “Please…”
“I’ve got you.” I work my way down his chest, relearning every curve and dip, every spot that makes him gasp. My fingers find the waistband of his jeans, and I look up, meeting his eyes. “Can I?”
“Yes. God, yes. Anything.”
I undress him slowly, reverently, pressing kisses to each inch of newly revealed skin. When he’s finally bare beneathme, I take a moment to look at him. Flushed and wanting, his cock hard and leaking, the glint of his piercing catching the light.
“So beautiful,” I murmur, and watch the blush spread down his chest.
“You’re wearing too many clothes,” he complains, reaching for my belt.
We shed the rest of my clothing together, hands fumbling in their urgency. When I finally settle between Thatcher’s thighs, both of us naked and aching, the feeling of completeness nearly overwhelms me.
“I missed this,” I breathe against his neck as I open him slowly, reverently. When I push inside him, I know I’m in the place I want to live in for the rest of my life. I’m home.
“Pierce,” he gasps, his fingers digging into my shoulders. “Please…”
