“I need it,” I continued softly. “I love you so much. I want to be yours forever.” I slid my hands up to his face. “I know that sounds intense, but I’m not scared. Not even a little.”
Emotion filled my chest so strongly it almost hurt.
“I already know,” I said quietly. “If you need time to think about it, I understand. But I don’t.”
He was staring down at me. Completely still.
Then something in his expression broke open, and a tear slipped quietly down his cheek.
“I don’t need time,” he said, his voice rough. He brushed the tear away quickly, then kissed my cheek, my forehead, my temple.
Only then did I realize tears were sliding down my cheeks.
He rested his forehead against mine. “Zoey, I have loved you with everything I am.” His arms tightened around me. “You changed my life. You made me brave enough to walk into rooms I avoided for years. You trusted me when I didn’t trust myself. I would spend every day of my life protecting what we have.”
His hand slid gently into my hair.
“You are my home.”
Emotion surged through me again.
Then his mouth found mine once more.
The kiss deepened slowly as he set me down on the bed. Our kisses turned sharper, hungrier, like the words we had just said had broken something open in both of us and neither of us wanted to put it back.
His hand slid up under my shirt, rougher against my skin, and my entire body answered at once. His mouth moved to my neck.
I shivered.
Every part of me felt awake.
He paused there for half a second, forehead resting against my shoulder like he was trying to hold on to one last piece of control. Then his hand tightened at my waist, and he kissed his way back up, slower this time, like he wanted to feel every reaction I gave him and keep all of it.
I slid my hands into his hair and pulled him back to me.
“Liam.”
The way his name came out changed something in him.
His head lifted. His face was open now in a way that almost undid me. Want. Love. The effort it was taking him not to rush me. The fact that he still would not move faster than I wanted, even now, even like this.
That tenderness made it all worse.
Better.
I reached for him again, needing him closer, and he came without hesitation, settling over me with a care that only made the heat between us harder to bear.
Somewhere in the midst of it all, we lost our clothing.
His hands moved over me with growing certainty. My back arched as he made a low sound against my skin that sent a sharp pulse through me.
I wanted all of him.
His mouth found my neck again, my breasts.
When he flicked his tongue over my nipple, I gasped. He groaned softly against my skin and moved over me, as desperate as I was. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him closer.
“Please.”
