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“No.”

I drew back and thrust into her.

Her mouth opened.

I did it again, harder.

The blankets shifted over the boards. Hay caught against my knee. Her breasts moved between us, nipples brushing my chest each time I drove deep. She held my shoulders and took me with her whole body, meeting every thrust even after I told her she didn’t have to.

This wasn’t work.

This was want.

I slid my hand between us and found her clit.

Her eyes went wide.

“Again,” I said.

“I can’t.”

“You can.”

“I’m too—”

I circled her with my thumb, and the sentence vanished.

“Look at me.”

Her gaze found mine.

“That’s it. Stay right here.”

The word meant more now.

Stay in this body. This loft. This ranch. With me.

She understood. I saw it land.

Her legs tightened around my waist.

“I love you,” she said.

I thrust deep.

“I love you.”

Again.

“I love you.”

The third time broke into a cry as her orgasm caught her. She clenched around me, hard enough to drag me over with her.

I buried my face against her neck and came inside her with her name in my mouth.

For a while, neither of us moved.

The boards were hard under the blankets. Hay scratched my shin. My left shoulder ached. Priya’s foot had gone cold against the back of my calf.