Page 96 of Painted Truths

“What I was trying to say is that I want you. No, that’s not enough. I don’t just want you. I fucking need you, Peaches.”

His pupils are blown and glassy as he continues. “I have only had you in my life for a couple of weeks, barely even two months, but my mum always said when you know, you know. And fuck this, but even I know that what we have isn’t something you come across in every lifetime.”

His eyes flick back and forth between my own as his stare penetrates me down to the fibres of my being. A surrealistic feeling saturates our moment as my dreams and reality distinctly collide and intertwine like paint on a canvas.

His words are a whisper, coiling innocuously around my frantically beating heart, tightening with each layer he peels back to display his own vulnerability alongside mine.

“I’ve known it since that very first night.”

My breath hitches in my throat, and fleetingly the thought of what I must look like flashes through my mind as I hope my mouth hasn’t dropped open too wide because I was not expecting this.

I wasn’t expecting him to want what I want. To be ready to fight for it. To be as in this as I so surely am. Chills race along my spine, despite the heat of the evening.

My head feels light, as though I may faint, until I realise I’ve been holding my breath in anticipation of his next words.

“The night I experienced my first real kiss. I gave it to you because I knew then, as surely as I know now.”

His first real kiss?

“I was drawn to you then, like a moth to a flame and even since, when I knew I could get burnt, I couldn’t keep myself away. Not when your light had the power to chase away the darkness.”

My head is racing. My brain can’t process his words quickly enough at the intensity shining from his beautiful eyes, giving me the very air I need to breathe.

“Peaches.” He rasps out the word as though his lungs have been deprived of all oxygen.

“What I was trying to say in the pavilion is I’ve only ever wanted women for one thing. To fuck them. End of story. But you. It’s been you since the moment I first laid eyes on you. I want you in every way. I want to see you. Be with you. I want to know you. To touch you. To kiss and hold you. To make love to you. To share my joy—and even my fears. All of it.”

My heart is about to leap right out of my chest, and I feel my eyes glisten with unshed tears. My senses are utterly overwhelmed by everything Henry and I can’t get enough—I’ll never get enough.

“I want you to be mine, but Olivia Marie Parker—I need to be yours.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Olivia

The faint sounds of the ongoing wedding celebrations and the gentle lapping of waves upon the shore fill the night, as the sound of my galloping heart fills my ears.

Henry’s face is angled towards mine. His eyes are as earnest as his words, forcing my pounding heart to skip a beat in my chest.

Without conscious thought, my arms slide up his chest to entwine around his neck, pulling his mouth to mine in a desperate kiss.

The need to show this man how his honesty has just ruined me takes control as my lips press against his, softly at first, but once he groans deeply—and oh so sexily, in his chest while pressing his hips forward in search of friction—it’s game over for me.

I take control of the kiss, running my tongue along the seam of his lips. Teasing him, tasting him, taunting him, until he opens his mouth and touches my tongue with his, tangling them together as we delicately savour each other.

Electricity sparks through every nerve ending in my body as I feel my whole self come alive. Moving my hands from around his neck, I place them on either side of his face, cradling him gently. Carefully, like he needs in this moment of absolute vulnerability.

He shudders against me, tugging me closer and taking control of our kiss from my grasp. No longer soft and gentle, his tongue spears my mouth mercilessly, reminding me of the delicious tempo of his cock plundering my innocence last night. The exquisite memory sends a flood of warmth straight to my panties as his wet tongue continues to ravage my mouth.

Pulling back to meet my eyes, he pins me with a look that makes time stand still as his eyes look back and forth between mine.

“You take my breath away, Peach.”

His mouth is on mine once more before I can say a single word, not that I could speak around the ball of emotion lodged in my throat.

He wastes no time picking me up with each of his hands firmly grasping my ass, encouraging me to wrap my legs around his waist before I can feel him move further down the beach, away from the revellers.

Pulling back from our kiss, he sits on the sand. His eyes never leave mine as he motions for me to sit on his lap. Dropping to the sand, I straddle him with my legs on either side of his hips, my core snug against his hardness.