Page 105 of The Edge of Never

Thane groaned as he emptied himself inside of me. His whole body shuddered as he tangled the fingers of his free hand in my hair.

I closed my eyes and stroked his back, feeling contentment wash over me.

For some people, the lack of climax would be a deal breaker, but I wasn’t someone who cared about that. The act of sex was the pleasurable part for me. Not that I would say no to an orgasm. It wasn’t the most important factor in my book. And Thane had just rocked my world completely.

He slumped on top of me, pressing kisses to my neck as he buried his face in it.

“Ye okay?” he whispered.

“More than.” I kissed his hair. “That was out of this world.”

He let out a snort.

“Aye?”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t lie about that. Was it okay for you?”

“If ye think that wasnae okay for me, ye werenae paying attention.”

He pulled his body away from mine, leaving me with an empty feeling, bereft of his presence inside me. Thane placed his hands next to my head to hover above me. There was a dark look in his eyes as he took me in, but it didn’t scare me.

“Sex with ye is everything I didnae know I wanted, so dinnae doubt that am enjoying mahself when am with ye.”

I turned my head, finding it hard to meet his eyes.

“I must come across as being so insecure.”

“No, ye’ve just lived a lifetime of people putting ye doon for being yerself. But I like ye just the way ye are.”

Those words made me feel so exposed, but I didn’t try to hide from Thane. He wasn’t going to make me feel bad about myself.

“What… what Sienna said… about me being a coward… that I hid behind you…”

“Dinnae listen tae a fucking word that cunt said.”

Thane gently caressed the side of my face with his hand but didn’t force me to look at him.

“Ye dragged a grown man oot of a stream and put him in his place when he gave ye a hard time aboot it. Ye made sure he stayed alive. Ye never gave up, even when he’d lost all hope of rescue. I dinnae think those are the actions of a coward.”

“No?”

“No. Ye’ve put up with so much shite from this world trying tae drag ye doon, but ye’re still standing. Ye’re the bravest person I know, Kit.”

And with his kind words, I promptly burst into tears.

Thirty Four

Thane

Was I surprised Kit was emotional after what they’d just been through? Not at all. It wasn’t about us or the sex. It had everything to do with Sienna’s appearance and the nasty things she said about Kit.

The only thing I hadn’t been expecting was for them to want physical intimacy. That had taken me by surprise.

It was the roughest I’d been with Kit, and they’d encouraged every moment of it. Getting to explore this side of me with them was a revelation, even if I wasn’t sure what it all meant. Going thirty-two years without ever feeling this way about another person made it hard to know what was happening, whether it was how it was supposed to feel or if I was just… different.

Kit sniffled and wiped their face with their sleeve, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“This is so embarrassing,” they sobbed, “I keep crying every time we have sex.”