"I've missed this," he said quietly.
"What?"
"Watching you." He smiled faintly. "It's... nice. You don't know what you have until it's gone. Yesterday was the most sleep I've had in months."
She tugged at the hem of his shirt, the one she'd pilfered from his laundry years ago. It said Graham–Hollander's Autoparts, worn thin from washing.
Connor's eyebrows lifted. "Now I know where all my T-shirts are."
She only smiled. "No idea what you mean."
He laughed, warm and appreciative. "Fern."
"Fine, it's comfy," she muttered, cheeks heating. "It's also mine now."
He sat up, his gaze sweeping her from her crimson-painted, delicate toes right to the top of her crown of shining brown curls.
His voice dropped to a husky murmur. "You look good in it. You can have everything I have. My clothes, my heart, maybe a kidney."
She tried to roll her eyes. "So romantic, offering body parts. It's an old T-shirt."
"It's not the shirt I'm looking at."
He reached for her hand and tugged her toward him, guiding her onto the bed. She went willingly, heart thudding.
"Connor... "
"Shh," he whispered. "We don't want to wake your dad."
Then, he pushed her to lie on the bed with her hips at the very edge and, after he made quick work of her panties, knelt between her spread thighs. Then he guided her feet to his shoulders and went down on her. When her moans got too loud, he asked her to hush because her dad was in the next room. After he had edged her for what seemed like hours without letting her come, he rearranged her and guided himself inside her. He held himself inside with a clenched jaw, searching for control while she tried to move within his unrelenting grip. Then, without losing connection, he sat up, pulling her legs around his hips and refusing to let her move beyond the slightest twitch. "I want you to come like this," he panted into her ear. When her orgasm swept her away after the longest time, it seemed to go on and on, her soft inner muscles clenching so tight, she thought she was going to pass out. She felt dizzy and barely conscious as he groaned into her shoulder and came inside her after a single thrust.
His forehead pressed to hers.
He held her like she was the most precious thing in his life.
"I love you so much," he murmured into her neck.
There was the quiet promise beneath his words…
I'm not letting go this time.
And Fern, despite all they had been through, didn't want him to.
***
Fern stepped into their new home, fingers brushing the empty walls.
"Nine months," she murmured. "It feels like we've rebuilt everything, brick by brick."
Connor stepped in behind her, arms sliding around her waist. "We did."
She leaned into him. "You think this is it? A new start?"
He kissed her cheek and rocked her back and forth. "No, sweetheart. This is more like a rebirth."
"A rebirth?"
"Yeah." He smiled into her hair. "Where I let go of all that was holding me back and see what is really important...my family."
