He huffs a broken laugh before he kisses me.
It’s not soft.
It’s not careful.
It’s deep and claiming and full of everything we’ve been holding on to.
My hips move before I think about it, rolling slowly against him. A low groan vibrates into my mouth, and the sound warms my very core.
God, I could never get over that sound.
“Abigail…” he breathes against my lips.
Lawson stands suddenly, lifting me with him like I weigh nothing, and lays me back against the mattress. The lamp casts golden shadowsacross his body, highlighting the planes of his chest and the ridges of every muscle as he looks down at me.
And the way he looks at me…
I feel his gaze in the depths of my soul. As if the mere action of him just looking at me can help fix the broken pieces of me that my past created.
His hand wraps gently around one of my ankles before he drags his lips along the inside of my leg, slow and deliberate, kissing upward with reverence instead of urgency.
My breath stutters.
He switches to the other leg, pressing warm, open-mouth kisses along my skin until I’m trembling beneath him.
Every touch feels intentional.
Every glance feels like a promise.
Every sound from his lips feels earned.
And when he finally settles over me again, his mouth finds mine once more, and this time it’s slower. Deeper.Everything.
He moves with me like he’s not trying to take, but give.
Like he’s trying to promise me how deep his love runs without words.
He makes love to me like I’m his choice.
From here on out. Forever his.
Forevertheirs.
And he does it again.
And again.
And again.
Until the ache in my chest from the past few days is replaced with warmth, and my eyes grow heavy and my body goes boneless beneath him.
When sleep finally pulls me under, it’s with his arm wrapped around my waist, my cheek pressed to his chest, and his heartbeat steady beneath my ear, reminding me I’m safe.
Reminding me I’m chosen.
Reminding me I’mhome.
Chapter sixteen
