“I won’t share you, Cassie. You’re mine until you want out.”
Heaven. “Okay,” she answered breathlessly.
…
At Cassie’s acceptance, fire launched through Brad’s veins. With it came the uneasy tightening around his diaphragm. The same frightening need to somehow possess her, to mark her for his own, threatened to eradicate sense and push him into that desperate place where he’d been the last night he spent with her.
He shoved the torrent of emotion aside, determined not to let it control him. He didn’t understand why it hounded his thoughts, why nothing was ever quite enough with Cassie. But no matter how many times he took her, he couldn’t sate the burn.
Gritting his teeth, he ordered his body to behave and pushed deeply into her once more. Slow and steady would be the end of him. Cassie’s soft, pleasured cries, the eager way she met his strokes wrecked havoc on his brain. He was a half step away from abandon, and yet tonight, he’d crack into pieces if it kept him from breaking his promise.
“Lift to your knees,” he instructed softly.
She rolled, and he rolled with her, careful to keep their bodies joined. As he’d taught her the first night, she rested her shoulders on the bed, only this time a smile graced her pretty mouth when she turned her cheek against the pillow. Rising over her, Brad gripped her hips in both his hands, and thrust again. Pleasure gathered at the base of his spine.
Still, it wasn’t enough. The grip of her flesh, the sound of their bodies sliding together, the heat of the fire on his back brought all the insurmountable feeling to the surface again. Increasing his tempo, he battled the rise.
Around his aching cock, Cassie’s inner walls fluttered and sent his thoughts reeling once again. The reality of what she had agreed to slammed into his conscious. She wanted him. Enough to compromise everything and take a phenomenal risk. She’d forgiven him when he’d been at his worst. No questions, no lectures, no scathing remarks. No one had ever given him such complete acceptance.
Cassie pushed back against him hard. She was peaking, and he wasn’t ready for this to end yet. Damn. “No, Cassie, not yet,” he reprimanded hoarsely.
With a ragged groan, she stilled. “Brad…”
The sound of his name tumbling off her lips bucked his body into hers. She let out a sharp cry, and her flesh clamped tight around his erection. He opened his mouth to remind her he hadn’t given her permission yet, but his eyes went wide as all the mixed-up, nonsensical feeling snapped into precise definition. Shock shattered his control. Climax ripped through him. Helpless to feeling, he bowed his head against the curve of her spine and dug his fingers into her hips. His raspy voice filled his ears, full of disbelief and wonder. “I love you.”
Before he could bend his mind around the confession, Cassie’s body went limp beneath his, her orgasm pulsing around his cock. Her throaty moan blended with his accepting groan. He inhaled a shuddering breath. Closing his eyes, he lifted her weak body into his embrace. As the last of his release seeped from his body, contentment sank into his soul. He rubbed his cheek against her shoulder blade. “God, I love you.”
She reached behind her, her fingers fumbling for his hand. He twined them together, gave a tender squeeze. When he caught the sound of her stifled tears, however, he eased his body off hers and rolled onto his back. Gathering her into his arms, he pressed lingering kisses on her cheeks. His gaze connected with her watery eyes. “I’ve never said those words,” he confessed, a bit astonished.
Cassie’s mouth fluttered against his. “I love you too, Brad.”
A slow smile spanned across his face as warmth spread slowly through his bloodstream. No wonder he’d been terrified. No wonder he’d run. He’d known it then, he’d just been too afraid to accept the illogical truth. And the night in the hot tub, when Cassie had ignored his instructions… He’d read the same affection in her eyes that night, that glowed within those chestnut depths now. Brad’s heart twisted all over again. Just as he’d lost all ability to function a moment ago, she’d been telling the truth. She hadn’t been able to stop.