Page 113 of Callous Shot

“Me too.”

“Best you’ve ever had? Ruined you for anyone else?”

“Stop fishing for compliments,” he growled in my ear, sliding his hand onto my chest and tweaking my nipple.

“Hey!” I twisted onto my side, ducking down and biting his nipple in retaliation. He hissed through his teeth.

“Hoyton.”

My head rose, and I gave him my most innocent smile. “Bellingham. Back to last names, I see, and all because I asked a simple question.”

“Nothing’s simple with you,” he muttered. “Yes, you were the best, you egomaniac.”

“I ruined you for anyone else forever and ever?”

“Do you ever stop?”

“Nope.” Shifting up, I slid my mouth over his, feeling him smile against me. Yeah, I knew him. He could pretend to be annoyed, but I knew the truth. Lincoln Bellingham was just as into me as I was into him. It was a real-life, actual miracle.

“C’mon. Let’s shower,” he said when we broke apart, and I sighed heavily.

“If we must. I’d prefer not to leave this nice, warm, comfortable bed. Although…I guess it’s a good excuse to get my hands all over you again.”

“You read my mind.”

When we were in the shower, he pulled me under the warm spray, carefully angling us so our faces were out of the direct line of the water flow.

“Baby,” he breathed. His mouth brushed against mine, and I slid my tongue across his lip before I kissed him as softly as I could. He sighed, or maybe I did, our mouths moving together in a slow slide that set me alight with hundreds of fucking butterflies.

Lincoln was right here in front of me, and he was mine again.

Dipping my head lower, I mouthed at his jaw. “I’m gonna mark you up.”

“Fuck, yeah. Do it, baby. Want everyone to know that I’m taken.”

“Taken?” I jerked back, staring at him. Now was not the time for guesses. “Like taken, taken?” I was almost certain we were on the same page after everything we’d confessed to each other at the mansion, but I wanted his words.

“Yeah.” He hesitated for a moment, and then his mouth curved into a proper smile, filled with affection, and my heart skipped a beat. “I know we still have a lot to sort out⁠—”

“That’s an understatement.”

“Maybe a little.” He leaned in, kissing me softly. “But as far as I’m concerned, I’m yours. Even if you’ve changed your mind about choosing me, I choose you. I don’t want anyone else.”

I drew back to look at him, taking in the red flush to his cheeks and the almost shy look in his eyes. I could never get enough of seeing him this way. Was he ever this vulnerable with anyone else? I fucking hoped not. This version of Lincoln Bellingham was all mine. “Well, that’s lucky, because guess what? I haven’t changed my mind, and I’m not going to. I don’t want anyone else either. Just you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I know we said it before, when we were at the mansion, but I want to make sure we’re on the same page. No more secrets. No more subterfuge.”

“Open, honest communication.” Lincoln’s fingers wrapped around mine, and then he placed our joined hands first over his heart, then mine. “All yours.”

I shivered, huffing out a laugh. “Fucking hell. I thought swooning was a thing that happened to Victorian ladies in corsets, but I’m literally weak. It’s ridiculous.” I buried my face in his shoulder, and he chuckled, running a hand down my back.

“Are we agreed, then?”

“That we’re together? Yeah.”

“Boyfriends?”