Like homecoming.
As ever with them, a simple kiss turned into three . . . and then twenty, lips and teeth nipping along jaws and throats.
Her body undulated, seeking somehow to draw closer to him, to subsume herselfintohim. To allow the shocks of sensation skittering along her skin to somehow merge them into one.
Her name was a litany of synonyms on his tongue: “Chris. Love. Darling.”
She swallowed them down with her lips.
This closeness could not—would not—last. It might be the last time she felt his arms around her, the approving rumble from his chest, the delicious weight of his palm skimming her spine—
Something of her desperation must have communicated itself to him.
“Hush, love,” he murmured softly, attempting to quell her urgency. “There is time. All the time.”
But there wasn’t.
He didn’t know. He didn’t understand.
And once he did . . .
Tears swelled upward from her chest, an ocean of sorrow for what might have been.
As ever, Alis heard the words that she did not say.
Pulling back, he pressed his forehead to hers. “I haven’t felt this happy since we were last together, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for yourself. What am I missing, lass?”
“Alis—” Chrissi attempted to back out of his arms, but he stopped her.
“Don’t retreat, Chris. I love you. I’ve never stopped loving ye. I see that now. Please. Love me, lass. Be with me.” He searched her face, eyes tracking the tears falling in earnest now.
“I don’t think there is enough f-forgiveness for that.”
“Ye truly can’t forgive me? I was young and thoughtless and—”
“No, y-you misunderstand.” Her fingertips skimmed his beard.
He turned and pressed a kiss to her palm.
How Chrissi had wanted to avoid this. Anything but this.
To witness his love turn to hatred before her very eyes.
But now . . .
The reckoning had come.
“I forgave you years ago, Alis.” She told him the spare truth. “It is you who will not be able to forgive me.”
He stilled at that, brows drawing down. “Pardon? What do I have to forgive?”
Chrissi stepped back, and this time he let her go.
His brow drew down, his expression turning wary.
Her heart fractured into pieces.
A sob tore from her lungs. And then another.
