"I know you." I lean closer until our foreheads are touching, until I can feel her breath mingling with mine. "You've been carrying this weight for days, and you haven't broken. You sat in front of two detectives and lied straight to their faces without flinching. You're stronger than you give yourself credit for."
"I flinched."
"But you didn't break. That's what matters."
She closes her eyes, and I feel some of the tension leave her body. We stay like that for a long moment, breathing together, anchoring each other. The anonymous text message still hangs over us like a storm cloud, but for now, in this moment, we're okay.
Then she opens her eyes, and there's something different in them. Something darker and more desperate.
"Make me forget," she says quietly. "Just for a little while. Make me forget about all of it."
I don't need to be asked twice.
I kiss her hard, swallowing whatever she was going to say next. She responds immediately, her hands fisting in my shirt, pulling me closer. There's nothing gentle about this, nothing tender. This is need and fear and desperation all tangled together, and I give myself over to it completely.
I pull her up from the sofa without breaking the kiss, my hands gripping her hips hard enough to bruise. She gasps against my mouth and wraps her arms around my neck, letting me lift her. I carry her across the room until her back hits the wall, and she moans at the impact.
"Phoenix."
"I've got you." I pin her there with my body, one hand braced against the wall beside her head while the other slides up her thigh under her skirt. "I'm right here."
She's already wet when my fingers find her, already desperate for me. I groan at the discovery, stroking her through the thin fabric of her underwear while she writhes against the wall. Her head falls back, exposing the long line of her throat, and I press my mouth to her pulse and suck hard enough to leave a mark.
"More," she breathes. "I need more."
I push her underwear aside and slide two fingers inside her. She cries out, her hips bucking against my hand, and I feelmy own control starting to fray. I want to take my time, want to draw this out until she's begging, but I need her too badly. I need to be inside her, to feel her wrapped around me, to prove to both of us that this is real.
I fumble with my belt while she tugs at my shirt, both of us clumsy with want. She manages to get my shirt over my head while I shove my pants down just far enough to free myself. I lift her higher, her legs wrapping around my waist, and then I'm pressing into her and nothing else matters.
She gasps as I fill her, her nails digging into my shoulders hard enough to draw blood. I don't care. The pain grounds me, reminds me that this is happening, that she's here and she's mine and no one is ever going to take her from me.
I start to move, driving into her with a desperate rhythm. The wall shudders with each thrust, and somewhere in the back of my mind I register that we're going to leave marks, dents in the plaster, evidence of what we've done here. I don't care about that either.
"You're mine," I growl against her throat. "Say it."
"I'm yours."
"Again."
"I'm yours, Phoenix." Her voice breaks on my name, half sob and half moan. "I'm yours. I've always been yours."
The words push me higher, closer to the edge. I reach between us to find the spot where she needs me most, circling and pressing until she's shaking in my arms. Her inner walls start to flutter around me, and I know she's close.
"Come for me," I demand. "Let go."
She shatters with a scream that she muffles against my shoulder. I feel her clench around me, pulling me over the edge with her, and I bury myself as deep as I can go as my own release crashes through me in waves.
We stay pressed against the wall for a long time afterward, both of us trembling, neither of us willing to let go. I can feel her heartbeat pounding against my chest, fast and wild. My legs are shaking from the exertion of holding her up, but I don't move. I can't.
"I love you," I murmur into her hair. "Whatever happens on Saturday, whatever happens with the police or the text messages or any of it, that doesn't change. I love you."
She pulls back to look at me, and her eyes are shining with tears. "I love you too. That's what terrifies me."
"Why?"
"Because I've never had anything worth losing before." She touches my face, her fingers tracing the line of my jaw. "And now I have everything. And every day I wake up wondering if this is the day it all falls apart."
I turn my head to press a kiss against her palm. "It's not going to fall apart."
