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“I’ll never do anything to make you feel ashamed. If it takes me another five years to convince you of my honesty, then that’s what’ll happen. I’m not changing my mind about you, because I know one day, you’ll see we’re perfect together. I’m what you need to heal that beautiful, full heart and get it beating for our future.”

Cleo stumbled into his arms, and he held her tight, his heart hurting at the pain in her eyes and the quickness of her breath that suggested she was losing control of her emotions.

Hunter didn’t care if Cleo ugly-cried all over him, so long as she leaned on him when she needed support.

Cleo looked up, tears glistening on her eyelashes. “I... I believe you.”

Hunter caught her chin in his hand, leaned in close, and hovered his mouth by hers. “I adore you, human. In my mind, we’re already together. I just want you to see that, too. Be my forever.”

She closed the gap between them, her soft lips brushing across his mouth. “I want that future with you, too.”

***

Cleo’s heart racedas Hunter pulled off his shirt. He lifted her hand and guided it over his hard abs, then around his pecs and up to his neck. He continued to move her hand, sliding it down to the waistband of his pants.

His lips moved to her neck, tracing shiver inducing kisses across her skin. The kisses continued up her throat and along her jawline.

She closed her eyes, lost in the throb of her pulse and the aching need growing in her core.

“What would you like me to do to you?” Hunter whispered in her ear.

Cleo gulped. She wanted everything from him. All the things he’d offered. The love, the forever, the children.

He stepped back and eased off her shirt. “I can be slow or fast. I’ve had a thousand fantasies of being with you. Every time you denied me, I thought up a new way to please you. Do you want me on my knees, my mouth on your sweet center, bringing you to climax with my tongue? Or do you want me bending you over, holding you tight while I take you from behind? Rough or gentle? It’s up to you. You’re the boss.”

“Kiss me,” she whispered, her mind hazing with lust. A forever with Hunter? How could that be possible now he was being sent away?

Hunter’s mouth was on hers in a second, chasing away those sad thoughts and claiming her mouth, his tongue parting her lips and devouring her.

“Tell me what you need.”

“I need you.” Her insides clenched. Stars! She’d missed being touched like this. And no one ever touched her like Hunter did. It was like he was worshipping her every time his hands were on her body.

A shudder ran down her spine as he cupped her sex through her pants. He pressed her against his thigh and ground his hand against her.

Cleo moaned and thrust against his solid muscles.

“Take what you need from me,” he whispered in her ear.

She slowed and tangled her fingers in his hair. “I don’t want to take anything. I want to give this to you. A happy memory of your home.”

“Every memory I have of being with you is happy, even the ones when you’re barking orders at me.”

Cleo smiled. “I never bark orders. I gently insist I’m right and that you must agree with me.”

Hunter’s deep chuckle slid right through her, melting her insides. She slowly rode his thigh as his fingers moved inside her pants and stroked her wet folds.

She pressed herself against his chest as his hard fingers filled her.

“I love how excited you get when you’re with me,” he said. “You’re always ready for me.”

“It’s not a mystery. You turn me on every time you smile.”

“I’ll have to smile a lot more.”

Cleo’s gaze met his, and heat spiraled through her at the intensity in his eyes, and the faint shimmer filling his stunning purple gaze. “I love how you make me feel.”

“When I touch you?”