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“You are.”

He pulls my pajama top over my head. His eyes dip, taking in my bare chest and the way my nipples are peaked. He lets out a soft sigh before he traces the line from my neck to my breast.

And then he pinches my nipple.

“Oh,” I whisper, feeling the mix of pleasure and pain shoot through me. “Do it again.”

So he does. To my other nipple this time. It makes me squirm.

He brushes his mouth against mine, his fingers still on me. They’re softer now, soothing me. A pulse thuds between my thighs.

The kiss lasts until we’re breathless, our mouths moving in a rhythm that’s on the edge of being too slow. I squirm on his lap because suddenly I’m the one who’s needy.

His palms slide down my sides, curling around my ribcage, as he captures a nipple between his lips, sucking and licking. My body clenches, my thighs tighten against his. He moves to my other breast, taking his time, licking and tasting me like he’s trying to commit it to memory.

“Theo…” It’s too good. Too much. Making me feel full and empty at the same time. I rock myself against the thick length of him, annoyed by my pajamas and his shorts between us.

“It’s okay,” he murmurs against my skin. “Relax, I’ve got you.”

“I need more. Please?” I whisper.

He nods, like he understands what I’m asking. He slides my pajama pants down my hips, then pulls his own off, before I climb onto his lap, and then he pulls a condom from his wallet, his eyes never leaving mine.

I feel completely exposed. And yet completely safe.

It takes a moment for him to roll on the condom. Then he pulls me toward him, and kisses me as I slowly sink down on him.

Oh god, I feel so full this way. Of him, of emotions, of everything that’s happening. I lift myself up, and he grunts into my mouth, still kissing me, still holding my neck. He slides his other hand to my hip, encouraging me into a slow, steady rhythm that makes everything inside of me curl and ache.

Each scrape of him against me, each grind of our bodies, makes the electric heat inside of me start to rise. Pleasure radiates from my stomach, making my movements unsteady. Then he thrusts hard and everything unravels into a glorious, blinding orgasm.

He doesn’t stop kissing me, like he’s trying to taste my pleasure. I moan against his mouth, and he holds me tight as I ride through it, my skin slick, my breath ragged.

When I finally remember how to exist, I open my eyes and he’s staring straight into them. I lean forward, pressing my brow against his.

“Take me hard,” I whisper. “Do it.”

And he does. His hands curl around my hips, levering me against him, his cock thick and demanding. He lifts me up, pulls me down, kissing me, whispering that I’m perfect, that he’s close, until he can’t speak coherently.

He stills our movements, a low, thick groan escaping his lips, as he surges inside of me, thicker still. I feel his pulses, hear his rasps, both our bodies damp with sweat, and when he comes down, we collapse in a heap against each other.

He brushes the hair from my face, kisses my jaw, my nose, the center of my brow, as his phone lights up on the bedside table. I start to roll away from him, to let him answer, but instead he reaches out and declines the call, his other arm tightening around me.

“Stay,” he murmurs. And I have no idea if he means right now, or in the future.

But deep in my heart, I’m starting to hope he means both.

15

GEORGIA

I love shopping. But even for me, elbowing my way through the Christmas crowds as I wander into shops for the second day in a row is a little over the top. Not that this mall is anything like Harrods. In here, festive music booms from the speakers while I try to decide whether high street denim will survive the scrutiny of rural Norfolk.

In the end I select two pairs of jeans, a pair of black pants, and a couple of sweaters and shirts, because Theo warned that Ravensmere is perpetually freezing. They’re pretty much what the personal dresser suggested yesterday, just much cheaper.

I’m pressing my credit card against the card reader when my phone starts to vibrate in my purse. I pull it out to see Sam’s name on the screen.

“Hey,” I say. “Calling me twice in two days. Is everything okay?”