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“We don’t have to,” he says, tracing my collarbone with the tip of his index finger.

“I want you.” Three words have never scared me more, but I trust Thorin. “Only you.”

I hope he gets my meaning—I want him, body and soul, and bare. He gives me a chaste kiss before moving me further up the bed, and kneeling, slowly sliding my panties down my legs, and spreading my thighs. He takes me in, all of me, his heated gaze leaving goosebumps all over my body.

“Beautiful.” He says it so softly, I almost don’t hear him. “So fucking beautiful.” He places his hand on my chest above my heart. “This. I want this.”

I swallow the emotions clogging my throat. “You have it.”

He places my hand over his heart, and I feel the heavy, unsteady rhythm beneath my palm. “Yours.” One word, that’s all it takes. He cants his mouth over mine, and he rubs the blunt head of his cock over my clit. I shiver, and grip his biceps. With a gentleness I never thought he could possess, he pushes inside me, giving me a moment to adjust.

“You’re so tight,” he breaths against my neck. “Are you…is this…”

“No, I’m not a virgin, but I’ve only been with one other person.” Why my skin flushes is beyond me, I have nothing to be ashamed of. I lost my virginity in college for the sake of it, and that made for a terrible experience. Suddenly, nerves take flight in my belly, and I worry about how this will feel for Thorin, if he will find me lacking. My mind is racing, my thoughts tripping over each other in a haphazard disaster.

“You’re thinking too much.” His voice heats my skin, and I’m feverish, and anxious. He lifts his head, and holds my gaze. “Relax, Reese. It’s just me.”

He pushes in until his full seated, and good God, the man is hung. I feel so exquisitely full. It’s a beautiful rush of emotion that unfurls, stretching from my toes to the crown of my head.

“Move,” I beg. “Please.”

I need to feel him. Everywhere. I’m desperate to feel the sensation of him filling me again, and then again, and then again. And I do. With every slow, torturous thrust that turns hard, and fast, I feel him inside me, under my skin, in my head, in my soul. He’s so big, jesus, but the way my muscles stretch, and contract to pull him in and keep him there is a new experience. He shatters me, over and over again, and then kisses me back together. I come first, my back arching off the bed, eyes screwed shut, stars dancing behind my eyelids while my body bows until I feel—that’s it, until I feel. Every sensation, every breath, every ripple that tears through my body, I feel it all, and it brings tears to my eyes. Thorin thrusts once, twice, and then he grunts, his body shaking above mine. His muscles tighten, and I revel in his masculinity, the way his body dwarfs mine, the way he takes from me what he wants, and gives it back ten-fold. We lay there, wrapped in each other, skin slick with sweat, both trying to catch our breath.

I’ve never felt more.

Or more alive.

Thorin rolls over, and pulls me to his chest.

He stares.

I stare back.

“Are you okay?” I ask quietly. The noise in my head is no longer there.

“Not yet, but I will be. You make it better.”

Chapter Eighteen

Thorin

I test the water, and after throwing some vanilla bubble bath in, I close the faucet, and help Reese step into the giant, two-person clawfoot bathtub. It’s late, and we tired each other out, but she wanted a hot bath before we called it a night, and I wasn’t going to deny her. She’s not shy around me, like I expected her to be. She wears the skin of shamelessness like armor, her confidence a weapon forged from fire, I learned. It’s damn sexy to watch, really, and that she feels so comfortable around me in her nakedness is both surprising, and gratifying. Not that this is what I had planned when I said we needed to talk, but to say I’m not happy about it would be a lie.

“Is there a reason you have this big ass tub for just you?” I tease. I climb in behind her and get comfortable, grateful that the tub itself is, in fact, large enough to fit us both, even if I have to bend my knees a little. She sighs, and rests her head against my chest. “It doubles as a hydrotherapy tub. I fill it with ice, and cold water on the days I do a lot of weight training. Helps with muscle recovery.”

I start rubbing her shoulders, finding a knot, and massaging until it’s gone. “God,” she moans, “that feels good.”

“You’re a little tense,” I kiss her neck. “Two orgasms didn’t do the trick, huh? Should I be trying harder?”

“Two orgasms from you was…intense,” she snickers. “But I’m not opposed to you trying harder next time. I carry my tension in my shoulders, and my neck, that’s all.”

“Okay, next time,” I nip at her skin, “I’ll try for three.”

“Be my guest,” she cranes her neck to give me better access, “as long as I get to have you bare again.”

“Speaking of,” I exhale. “We didn’t use a condom, so does that mean…”

“I’m on the pill, Thorin. You don’t have to worry. And like I said, I’ve been with one person, and that was back in college.” I wait for her to ask me if I’m clean, or maybe enquire about when last I slept with someone, but she doesn’t. “I’m not quite ready for kids of my own,” she adds quietly. “Or if I’ll ever be ready, after what my mom did to me.”