Page 145 of The Virtue and the Vixen: Volume 2

Elloven slid her hand under his waistband. “If I ever do, I expect you’ll tell me.”

He hoisted her onto the counter and wedged himself between her spread legs. “He’s much better at articulation.”

Elloven’s head fell back as she took him in. They both laughed when he had to clamp his hand gently over her mouth to stifle a forgetfully loud moan. Jesstin braced one hand on the counter, the other against her cheek, as they made love against the last of the day’s light. He didn’t have to say the words anymore—“look at me”—because they were instinct, a sacrosanct element of an act that bound her soul to his, whether from primal need or tender love. She would always look at him. In his eyes, she saw herself the way he saw her, and she was exactly who she should have been.

Jesstin’s fingers tightened on her cheek as he finished. He used to be mortified over their quicker trysts, until she’d told him how unspeakably sexy it was when his desire for her outmatched his restraint. What came next was just as erotic for her: the intense joining of their eyes as he made her come undone while still inside, him stirring back to life for another round. The way he whispered, in his most vulnerable moments, My heart.

She no longer thought of the women he’d fooled about with before her or the redhead he’d bedded to forget her. She was the only one who’d ever had all of him, the only one who ever would.

Nor did she waste thoughts for the men who had harmed her. They were relics of her past, and the past was no longer hers.

Jesstin said the words she’d never be tired of hearing. “I love you to the netherworld and back, Elloven.”

“And beyond,” she whispered against his parted lips. “I’m so sleepy.” She laughed softly. “The day has caught up.”

“I’m going to check a few things and then I’ll be onto bed.” He helped her down from the counter. “See you in the Night Soul?”

Elloven smiled with her whole heart. “Always.”