“What did you say?” My brow is lowered, and I let her see a bit of the rage that’s tormented me for three months.
“You,” her voice cracks as she says it louder.
I move higher and claim her mouth again, twining my tongue with hers, swallowing the moan that aches from her throat when I move her thighs apart with my knee. My erection hangs heavy and thick between us, and she rocks her hips up to mine, ready to meet me.
But I hold back.
Pulling away, our mouths part with a little smack.
“No,” I growl. “I want to hear you say it. What. Do. You. Want?”
She closes her eyes and yells. “You! I want you! Please, Mark…” Her voice breaks in a sob as she says my name, and it’s enough for me.
I cover her mouth again, thrusting my tongue to hers as I drive my cock to the hilt into her hot, slippery depths.
“Oh, God!” Her mouth breaks away with a loud cry, and her hips rock fast in time with mine.
We thrust and grip, arms circling and pulling in a primitive ritual, a union of need and long-delayed gratification. I catch her knee in my arm and lift it higher, allowing me to go even deeper. Her head falls back, pressing into the pillows.
“Mark… yes,” she gasps, and I run my tongue up the length of her throat, kissing and pulling the delicate skin between my lips and teeth.
A bright red mark appears, and satisfaction blooms low in my stomach. Her inner muscles ripple and pull as her orgasm rises faster. It triggers mine, pulling and massaging my cock deep inside her. I groan again as my mind starts to blank.
White-hot pleasure snakes up my legs, pulsing in the place where our bodies are joined. She breaks with a loud moan, and I’m right there with her, holding steady as we lift off the ground, as we soar through the clouds, past the highest peak, our arms and legs entwined and our bodies sparkling together, blanketed in orgasmic reunion.
I hold her, and her eyes are still closed. She’s under me, and I’m inside her. Our bodies float gently down, shimmering and relaxing together as we find our way to calm.
We’re breathing fast. She slowly blinks her eyes open, blue clashing with blue, and for all the anger I’ve held, for all the words I still need to say, having her this way, feeling us skin against skin as everything around us melts, I realize I’ve only been this happy one other time in my life—when I first held my daughter in my arms.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she says, and I kiss her again.
6
“I’ve never met a strong person with an easy past.”
Lara
My fading orgasm is like warm honey beneath my skin, and my lips are sealed to Mark’s. Our tongues entwine, curling, tasting, still hungry after so long apart, desperate for more. He’s like water and oxygen, a deep breath of fresh air at the top of a tall mountain.
“Mark,” I whisper as his lips move to my cheek, my ear.
I’m in his arms, and it feels so right.
And it’s not an illusion.
It’s very, very real.
He pulls me closer, we’re skin against skin, and we rotate to the side. I place my palm against his cheek and look into his eyes… an ache moves through my stomach. I see so much love there and so much hurt. I want to take it all away, atone for what I’ve done, but I don’t know how.
“What do you see?” I ask.
He doesn’t smile. “You’re looking at me the same way you did in Nice.”
Reaching up, I trace my finger along the line of his jaw, smiling, hoping he’ll smile back. “Like I love you?”
“Like it’s a lie. Like you’re going to leave again.”
My brow falls, and I take my hand away. “How did you find me?”