The Brightest Night (Origin 3)

Closing my eyes on a shuddering breath, I cupped his cheeks. “You have me.”

Luc kissed me, and there was nothing slow or tentative about the way his mouth moved or how his lips parted mine. The kiss deepened, and there was an edge of desperation to it, a hint of lingering fear.

The sheet tore away from us, landing somewhere near the foot of the bed on the floor. He broke the kiss, easing out from under me. Before I could question what he was doing, his lips pressed to the space that ached between my shoulders as I felt his fingers curling around the band of my pants.

Cool air washed over my now bare lower half, but the heat of Luc quickly chased it away. He moved behind me, skin against skin. A shiver rolled up my spine as an infinite spark transferred between us, something that could never be forced or fabricated.

The sight of his hand planting into the mattress beside my head and the feel of the hand at my hip flipped and twisted my insides into a heady mess that had me digging my fingers into the sheets. Desire wasn’t the only thing that charged the air around us. There was so much more as he pressed against me, into me. Love. Fear. Relief. Acceptance. I reached out, placing my hand over his, threading my fingers between his.

A long, antagonizing moment of stillness passed, his body coiled tight as a rope about to snap, and then he moved. The sound from the back of his throat seared my skin, and there was no sense of control or restraint. We fell in together, headfirst and without reservation, sinking deep into the flurry of sensation that went beyond the physical. I lost track of everything except Luc, the way he felt, the way he moved, and how there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for me. How there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him.

And when we both toppled over the edge, we went spinning, falling together, and I don’t know how long we stayed there, bodies fitted together, trembling and hearts racing.

Luc dropped his forehead to my shoulder, keeping his weight supported by his arm, the one I had, at some point, all but curled my upper body around. “I haven’t hurt you, have I?”

“No.” I kissed his hand, and I felt his shudder travel all the way down his arm. “Did you hurt yourself?”

Luc chuckled. “I might’ve pulled a muscle.”

I laughed at his dumb joke. “Good.”

“I probably should’ve controlled myself,” he said, his breath warm against my neck. “This was wildly inappropriate of me.”

“Yes, it was.”

He shifted behind me, and I felt his lips touch the achy area between my shoulder blades once more. “But I’m thinking you like it when I’m wildly inappropriate.”

I smiled. “Yes, I do.”

Another kiss against the place a bullet had ripped through hours before. “Which one of us is the bad influence? I’m going to say it’s you.”

“What?” I laughed again. “How do you figure?”

“I was a good, conscientious boy for years, Evie. Years.”

I snorted.

“You doubt me?”

“You were not entirely a good boy just because you hadn’t had…”

“Because I hadn’t had … what? You can say it. It’s just three pearl-clutching letters pieced together.”

I rolled my eyes. “Sex.”

“Are you blushing?”

“Are you?” I shot back.

“Yes. Because I am still a pure—”

“Ass?”

“Is that an invitation?”

“Oh my God.” I laughed even harder now. “Yeah, you sound like such a good boy.”

“Like I said, I was.” He moved again, this time stretching above so that his lips brushed my cheek when he spoke next. “But now? With you?” He moved his mouth to my ear. The words he whispered in my ear scorched my skin and sent a tingle down my spine. “That’s who I am now.”

Biting down on my lip, I closed my eyes as my toes curled into the messy blankets.

“What do you think?” he asked, his teeth catching the skin there.

I opened my eyes. I love who you are.

A dark rumble of approval skated over my skin. Evie?

Somehow I knew what he was asking. Maybe it was in the way he said my name. It could’ve just been the ever-present bond there, forged over years I couldn’t remember and strengthened from the moment we came back into each other’s lives.

I lifted my head, turning it toward him. His mouth found mine, and it was the kind of kiss that made me believe spontaneous combustion was possible. The kiss was a match striking, and I was on fire. We both were.26It was sometime later when Luc shifted onto his side, facing me with one foot tucked between my calves.

He toyed with the strands of my hair while I lay there, eyes closed and enjoying the gentle tug and release of his fingers. “It’s time,” he said with a sigh. “For us to be mature and responsible. We need to talk.”