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“Much later,” I added.

The cottage waited behind the house, small and sun-warmed and impossibly ordinary. I opened the door with a flick of my fingers, and right before Knox carried me over the threshold, I tapped his shoulder and said, “For the record, this does not count as our date.”

“Noted.” Then Knox looked at the key still in my hand. “You didn’t use the key.”

“Keys take too long. I was just being nice when I caught it.”

He carried me over the threshold, kicked the door closed behind us, and set my feet on the floor. Not missing a beat, or giving me a chance to catch my breath, he kissed me again with all the wonder, want, and love he had already chosen to feel.

The rest of the world stayed on the other side, and for once, nothing followed us in.

His lips found mine with the beautifully sexy promise of things to come. Scrunching the soft cotton of Bernie’s T-shirt, Knox stepped back, slid the fabric over my head, and looked down at the naked top half of me with budding love and more than a little lust shining in his eyes. Not only was I deliriously happy, but I felt totally empowered.

Knowing the man I'd fallen crazy in love with while we fought to keep him out of Hell felt the same way about me was better than coffee with a chocolate donut and a bag of M&Ms. After all these years, I'd finally found my place. It didn’t matter that I was full of gold, blue, and pink sparkles. It only mattered that Knox MacAllen was there, ‘cause wherever he was, that’s where I would always be.

I wasn't his, and he wasn't mine. But we belonged together. There was a difference. Knox had my back, and I had his. Whatever came next, we were choosing it together.

The Bond stayed warm and open around us as every bit of want we'd been too busy surviving to acknowledge finally got its turn.

Knox pushed down my borrowed sweatpants, and I kicked them off just as he wrapped his fingers around the waistband of my panties. With one tug, he ripped them from my body and threw them over his shoulder with a sigh. "You truly are gorgeous, Maisie,” he whispered. “Thank you.”

Before I could come up with a smart-aleck comeback, his hands closed around the globes of my ass and lifted me off the floor until I had no other option but to wrap my legs around his waist. Turning to the side, he gently laid me on the bed. Kissing down my body, he stood at the side of the bed… fully clothed… His eyes glowing brightly.

Out of his clothes with little more than a thought, he breathed, “It’s been a long time.” Looking down, he added, “Maybe we should…”

“Hey!” I snapped to get his attention– which I did.

Whiskey-colored eyes, still shining brightly, speared me with a look that said he didn't know what I was about to say, but he was listening. Laying my hand on his cheek, I let my heart do the talking. "I choose you."

A single nod and he smiled… Actually smiled.

My heart skipped a beat.

Then he said, “I choose you, Maisie MacDonald,” and my heart skipped two beats.

“This is love,” NeyNey whispered.

And for the very first time in my life, I didn’t have a smart-ass comeback.

Of course, I had to blame it on the hunka-hunka-burning love Dragon that the Universe may have made for me, because as he held my gaze, Knox crawled onto the bed and over me.

The feel of his hard, muscled body, like granite wrapped in silk, against my soft curves felt as if I’d come home for the very first time. His calloused hands seemed to touch not only my body but my soul. His hips pushing against mine held me in place, as his erection smoothly slid between the wet, swollen lips of my pussy.

Rolling his hips, the head of his cock teased the tip of my throbbing clit on every pass. My hips flew off the bed, meeting his with every thrust, creating an erotic rhythm that pushed our passion towards Heaven itself.

My excitement grew, the proof wetting the inside of my thighs and the front of his as Knox kissed down my neck and across my chest. Sliding his hands under my butt, he lifted my hips higher as his cock slid away from my aching heat. Moaning at the loss, unable to form a coherent sentence, I begged, “Knox… No… Oh, Knox, please…”

Knowing what I wanted even before I did, his lips wrapped around my hardened nipple as his teeth gently bit the base, and the tip of his tongue teased my sensitive flesh.

Shivering in unison at the sensory overload, Knox’s arm slid around my waist, while his opposite hand wound and curved its way south. Taking as much of my breast into his mouth as he could, Knox continued to torture first one and then the other until I was a writhing mass of want and need beneath him. Sliding first one, and then almost immediately, another finger deep inside me, I screamed his name as he drove his digits in and out with unrelenting precision.

Increasing the speed on every pass, bumping my excited clit and rubbing that special bundle of nerves deep inside my core that made my eyes cross, all rational thought flew from my mind. His two fingers soon became three. Faster and faster, we moved in unison, chasing the orgasm that was barreling towards me. Knox’s thumb found my clit, rubbing frantic circles, pressing harder with every swipe.

“Maisie,” he panted. “Please open your eyes and look at me.”

My eyes snapped to his. The world stopped on its axis. Then he said, “Maisie MacDonald, I… I-I l-love you.”

Unwilling and unable to let him back out at that moment, I reached up, placed my hands on either side of his face, and looked right into his half-lidded, lust-filled eyes.