Page 360 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘Every second I’m with you.’

Single. Fast. Strong.

‘You loved him so much.’

‘I love you.’

‘I want to feel it, then,’ Kade pleads, laughter breaking strangely through the tears. ‘If what I feel inside me is real, I want everything. Just this once.’

Lachlan’s expression changes. He doesn’t agree that it may well be just this once. He doesn’t counter or bargain or deny Kade at all, only smiles in a way that breaks Kade’s heart to pieces and says, ‘It’s your world, baby.’

The kiss is surprisingly gentle.

Careful, soft, yet entirely knowing in the angle he comes in at, the tilt of his head, the instinctive caress that holds Kade’s jaw as he steps into him, deeper, deeper. God, he wants this love inside, all the way inside, and that want is an ache and that ache carves a scar that Riley won’t share because finally… fucking finally, someone belongs to Kade.

He laughs again, wet and slightly wild, can’t seem to stop, but it’s all tangled in Lachlan’s own grief from the ink on those pages, the love he holds for this body, the cells, the memories that elude him.

At least he’ll have this one among the others.

Seven days of memories.

Delicate overwhelm escapes him in tears, laughter, shaky kisses that get stronger the longer they go on and in the desperate fist he closes around Lachlan’s shirt because he has to stay, stay with Kade.

He laughs into the kiss and then it really does become a sob, and he’s crying and clinging but still kissing, can’t stop kissing because it’s like breathing, it’s his air, his oxygen, his lifeblood.

Lachlan takes all his chaos without faltering, one hand closing around his nape while the other pulls him bodily closer until there’s no space left at all and Kade’s back is pressed against a tree, and the scent of night surrounds him and all is new, new, so very new.

‘I love you,’ Lachlan says, panting into his mouth.

‘Again,’ he begs, almost frantic now. ‘Please. Keep saying it.’

Lachlan says it into his mouth, against his skin.

The love is sworn in spit, words and breath, but it still isn’t enough.

Kade drags him closer.

‘I, um,’ he manages cleverly. ‘I want you to mark me.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘I think I can contain it. Riley didn’t feel anything from the roof, and I think if I ask you, then it’ll just be for me.’

‘Ask, then, baby. Use that pretty voice for me.’

‘I want you to mark me, Bodyguard. I want your teeth in my neck, just for me, all mine, no one else’s.’

‘You’re so magical,’ Lachlan whispers as he lovingly sinks his teeth into Kade’s throat to suck a bruise that’ll show. ‘My beautiful, magical boy.’

‘Boy,’ Kade huffs, nonetheless tipping his head back to expose himself in pure submission, wanting Lachlan’s gentle violence all over the column of his neck like war paint. ‘I’m twenty-seven, Bodyguard.’

‘You’ll always be my boy,’ Lachlan mutters, already making a new mark, worrying it deeper. His teeth are sharp and Kade wants them to break skin, bite down harder. Fuck, he wants it so much it’s making him dizzy. He rolls his hips shallowly. Friction bleeds fresh pleasure between them. Kade moans with his lips bitten shut, desperate for the hickey to become a bite. He wants the mark, the scar. ‘Always and everywhere.’

His legs threaten to give. ‘Ahh fuck, right there, please!’

Lachlan makes a low, velvety sound and bites harder, deeper, but still not breaking flesh. He pins him harder to the tree, taking all his weight.

‘Feels good?’