Page 108 of Offside Angel

He drags his finger through the sticky mess of my chest, slowly circling my nipple until the skin pebbles for him. “Wrong. I don’t think you’ve ever looked better.”

That doesn’t stop him from peeling me off of the ruined island and carrying me straight to the shower. Steam billows and swirls as we soap each other up. I work shampoo into the frosted mess of his hair and he drags his hands over my skin, making me feel dirty in a way soap could never touch.

We dry each other off, unwilling to stop pawing at each other for even a second.

Our bedroom is a maze of half-unpacked boxes, but the bed is made.

“Did you do that?” I ask, pointing to the tucked corners and mound of pillows.

“I unpacked the most important things first.”

I start to reach for a box labeled Clothes, but Zane catches me around the waist and pulls me onto the bed. “Like I said, I only unpacked the important things.”

“Clothes are pretty important.”

He rolls me against him, fitting his body behind me like we were made for this. “Not right now they’re not.”

It’s easy, the way he slides into me. I’ve been wet and ready for hours—days, really—and Zane sinks into me with one thrust. He presses a hand flat to my stomach, holding me against him as he drags out and fills me again. The friction is excruciatingly good. I reach back to touch his neck, his hair, whatever I can reach, because I need to hold onto something or I swear I’ll float away.

“Do you think this will go away?” I breathe. “The way I need you? The way you need me?”

Zane laces his fingers through mine and brings our hands to his lips. He kisses each of my knuckles. “It might change. When we’ve been married for ten years, twenty, fifty?—”

“You’ll be so old by then,” I tease, gasping when he shifts a little faster inside of me like he’s trying to prove exactly how young he still is.

“—so maybe it will look different, but it will never go away, Mira.” His hand strokes over my stomach, dipping between my legs to circle my clit. “You’re wrapped up in my DNA. Needing you is part of who I am now.”

When he groans against my neck that he’s going to come, I slide away from him and lie flat. If Zane is confused, he pieces things together fast. He kneels over me, stroking himself as his neck tenses and his arms flex. The low lamplight paints him in pale golds and soft shadows. Zane gives himself fully to everything he does, including pleasure. It’s mesmerizing to watch. I touch myself while I stare up at him, falling at the exact moment he spills onto my chest.

He dries on me and my fucking God, it’s insane how much I love being marked by him, inside and out.

His cum on my skin.

His ring on my finger.

His love and his heat and his last name surging through my veins.

Zane lies down next to me, and we might fall asleep. I’m not totally sure. My eyelids are heavy, and he’s warm and solid at my side. I do know we lie there for a long time before he gets up to snag tissues from the nightstand.

He cleans me up with a lazy smile. “We just showered and you’re already dirty again.”

“I don’t care. I wanted you everywhere. Inside and out.” I reach out and stroke my fingers down his stomach. His muscles twitch and flex. “I wanted you to mark me, Zane.”

His smile slips and his eyes darken. His voice goes rough. “Fuck, Mira. You can’t say shit like that to me.”

“Why not?”

He falls over me, catching himself with his hands on either side of my head. “Because I’m already getting hard again and I want to fuck a baby into you.”

Zane told me to take my time. He told me to think about whether I wanted kids or not, but in the end, there wasn’t much to think about.

“You can.” I bite my lip. “Right now, if you want.”

“You're on birth control.”

“I was. I—” The words catch in my throat. I’m going to sound insane. Hell, I might be, but the truth tumbles out of me, anyway, for better or worse. “I stopped three days ago. I thought it could be like a wedding gift. That maybe you’d… that maybe you'd want to…” My cheeks warm, and I shake my head. “It's crazy; I know it is. That’s why I didn’t let you finish inside. I didn’t want to force you. But when I thought about this night, I didn't want there to be anything between us or our future. We don't have to, but if you want?—”

Zane steals the words from my lips. He kisses me hard, picking me up off the mattress so we’re chest-to-chest. So I can feel how fast his heart is racing.

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