Page 95 of Fool's Gold

She’s mine.

The love I’ve never felt free to give practically pours out of me.

Empire belongs to me.

If she wants to be. And those little throat moans coming from her, the heat from her core, and the arch of her pelvis, they all scream she wants to be mine.

“I love you,” she whispers again.

There’s that. There’s no reason to give her up now. I’m going to do whatever it takes to be the kind of man she deserves. If it means pouring my midnight-black heart right into her palms, then it’s hers. No one has wanted it before, and fuck me, thinking about giving it away is uncomfortable.

Whatever she chooses to do with it from there, well, it’s not up to me.

“Do you have any idea what you do to me?” I drag my tongue up her neck, and she comes alive under my touch.

“Drive you insane?”

I hear her smile in her voice. There’s no way in hell I’m dragging my face away from her skin again.

The shower would have been smarter. No one ever claimed I’m smart. Not when it comes to this woman in my arms. The feel of her is enough to have me ready to come without fucking her.

“That, too,” I agree. “You bring me to life. I was nothing but a phantom before you turned to look at me.”

“I’ve loved you for longer than I can remember.” Empire stops my frantic kisses by cupping my face, our noses pressing together, her expression sultry. “There’s only been you, Marcus. There won’t ever be anyone else.”

She might not be my first love, but Empire Stone will certainly be my last.

“Everything I am is yours.”

There’s no way I can stop now. My body is stiff in all the wrong places, muscles tense and cuts aching like the devil has taken a piss on them. But she’s on my lap, and she feels so damn good. It’s right, it’s natural.

She sacrificed herself for me.

I will never deserve her or be good enough for her, but fuck, I’m done running. She tastes like the sweetest sin and the home I’ve been searching for. The past doesn’t matter. Most of my childhood is nothing but a blank space anyway.

Now matters. Every kiss is stolen, my throat tight, and my eye throbbing.

“I think the pain has made you mushy. It’s scrambled your brains.” She laughs at me.

I slide my hand from her waist to the side of her torso, ready to devour her right here on the bed.

Our tongues tangle together, and something about the moment has her laughing.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“You need to rest,” she mutters against my mouth. “You shouldn’t be exerting yourself this way.”

I groan and drop my head to hers before saying, “I’ll rest when I’m dead.”

“You—”

I flip her on her back, albeit slower than I would have under normal circumstances, crowding her against the mattress and gliding my hand to the zipper on the side of the dress.

Empire pushes against my pecs, but it’s halfhearted at best. “If you keep pushing yourself, then you might end up there sooner than later. Maybe you have a death wish. You wanna leave me so soon?”

“Maybe I just want to feel you clenched around my cock.” I blow against her ear.

She shivers underneath me. “You always know what to say.”

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