He didn’t need to tell her not to let go. She’d do exactly as he asked, which is why he made her do it. All it would take was one push too far, one impulse left unchecked to break their rules. And at the moment, it took all he had not to tear into her cunt and lose every last shred of himself.

To admit he wanted to ask her for more than he had any right to.

Something moved behind her eyes as if she knew what he couldn’t say and could see what he couldn’t hide. But then it was gone, her pupils blown wide as he parted her folds and ran himself along her slit.

“You’re going to take me in that pretty pussy of yours and let me fill it with my cum,” he rasped. “I’m going to pump you full of my seed until it’s dripping down your thighs, and when we go back inside, you’ll be a good girl and let me reach under your dress to stuff it back in.”

She couldn’t hold back a strangled whine as he pushed into her, satisfying his lust yet barely scratching a deeper, more persistent need. He lifted her thigh and filled her as much as he was allowed.

His fingers dented her skin, rough and demanding against her yielding softness. Sawing in and out, he picked up the pace and matched the beat of his racing heart with every thrust, propelling them toward the finish line. An electric web banded over his nerves, flaring the network of heat that wound from where they merged. Faint light tinged the edges of his vision and infiltrated his mind until he couldn’t see—only feel. Only exist in Ivory’s body, in her whispered moans and gentle quivers.

“Adrian,” she mumbled.

He leaned in and covered her lips with his, wanting to taste her affection, to let it melt on his tongue as he set them both ablaze.

“Adrian,” she repeated, the words leaving her mouth to enter his. Her hand gripped his length tighter. “I need—” She cut off as he angled upwards and hit her sweet spot, her stomach pulling taut and walls contracting.

“I know,” he whispered. “Come for me, sweetheart.” The rasp of his breath filled his ears, chest heaving as his body crowded her in. She was trapped and exposed, flushed with her dress pushed up, her underwear pulled aside to reveal her swollen, glistening clit. Nothing left hidden between them.

“I need to say that I love you,” she gasped.

He stopped, dazed. Her admission struck him in the center of his chest—a direct hit to the core of his being that shook him to the bone.

“You needed to know,” she said, breathless as she pulsed around him. The throb of her heart overtook his own.

That was it, the truth he denied himself. The words he wanted but refused to accept.

She loved him.

“Dammit,” he cursed. “I love you too, Iv.” He fused their lips as her folds sucked him in, swallowing him up and letting him take everything he wanted. So he took. He took and took, and she gave everything she had. Despite his failings, she wanted him. All of him. Even the parts no other person would desire.

Somehow, as sweat dripped down his spine and an ache seared through his ribs, his taking became her taking. Her giving became his giving. So he gave and gave until she took everything he had to offer.

Before he could prepare, he was coming—coming so hard it erupted hot and thick in a never-ending purge. He poured himself deep inside her womb, and still, he was coming. Still, there was more.

For a tiny, infinite moment, he saw Ivory with her stomach round and beautiful, full of evidence of their connection. Carrying a life they created.

With a broken groan, the vision faded, and at last, he emptied himself completely. They slumped together into the wall, entwined in a sweaty, sticky mess.

“I love you,” Ivory whispered again, capturing his lips in a kiss so delicate it betrayed the kind of sex they’d just had.

“I know,” he replied, unable to keep the edge of longing from his voice. “I love you, too.”

FORTY-SIX

“I love you, too.”

Her broken, beautiful black knight. Whose love was as fierce as he was faithful and so delicious her legs had become too weak to stand.

Adrian cupped her cheek and kissed her, soft and deep and slow. The velvet caress of his tongue brought her racing heart back to a regular pace. “Thank you, Iv.”

She leaned against the wall and clung to him, hoping her touch and words could reach inside the armor shielding him from the rest of the world. “I know you didn’t want me to say it, but—” The back door opened with a bang, and she jumped a foot in the air. Adrian clamped a hand over her mouth to muffle her shriek.

Raptor’s voice echoed in the alley, separated from them only by the cover of night and a stack of wood pallets. “I’m not about to go out there and see whatever it is you’re up to. Cortez is here, so get your asses inside.”

The door swung shut, and she breathed a sigh of relief. If he’d come out a moment earlier…

She dropped her gaze between them, where her hand was still wrapped around Adrian’s dick, her dress hiked up to her hips as thick cum leaked down her thighs. She had so much more to say, but it looked like they’d already reached their time limit before being thrown back in the lion’s den.