With my hands on her arse, I take a step back towards the door without severing our connection.

After untucking my shirt, her hands slide up my back, the heat of her palms searing through my skin, the sparks from her innocent touch shooting straight to my already painfully hard dick.

She quietly whimpers with need, and it does things to me.

“Fuck, Red. Do you know how many times I’ve imagined having you to myself like this,” I confess against her lips.

Her eyes flicker open and the dark green stares up at me with so much desire, so much emotion it makes a lump crawl up my throat.

I’ve never felt this before.

Sure, I’ve been with countless girls. But they never meant anything.

They were nameless, faceless bodies that I used as a coping mechanism in the hope of forgetting my pain, of banishing my ghosts.

It worked momentarily, but everything came rushing back all too quickly once we were done.

None of them offered me the relief that Abi does.

Just being with her brings a light to my life I used to crave. But doing more, getting close to her, being intimate, it’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.

With my eyes locked on hers and my heart trying to beat out of my chest, I walk backward, blindly navigating our way towards the bedroom.

I want this to be everything she’s ever dreamed of, but while I’ve tried my best to make it romantic and memorable, I know my efforts will never be worthy of a girl like Abigail Bancroft.

She’s an angel and deserves the world.

And I’m…

I lock that thought down as I reach out and shove the door closed, locking us inside the bedroom and shutting the rest of the world out.

My insecurities and fears don’t belong here.

It’s us.

Only us.

Just the way it should be.

There’s soft romantic music playing through the hidden speakers, and the air glows with the flickering of all the candles I placed around the room.

But despite how pretty I think it all is, she doesn’t once look at anything but me.

“Is it okay?” I ask, unable to keep my mouth shut.

“Elliot,” she whispers, sliding her palms up my chest before cupping my jaw.

“It’s perfect. You are perfect.”

My breath catches at the sincerity in my voice. No one has ever told me that before.

“You didn’t need to do all this. Just being with you is enough. We could be in a tent for all I care.”

I baulk. “I’m not going camping, Red.”

She smirks. “Bet you would if I asked.”

My lips twitch up into a smile as I press my forehead against hers.“I’m pretty sure there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do if you asked it of me,” I confess.