Page 58 of Say You're Mine

Cara shivers, her fingers tangling in my hair. "June, we need to talk about-"

"Later," I cut her off, nipping at the sensitive spot behind her ear. "Talk later. Right now, I need to feel you. Need to know you're real."

I crush her to me, claiming her mouth in a kiss that's all teeth and tongue and desperate need. She tastes like home, like salvation, like everything good and pure in this fucked-up world.

My hands roam her body, relearning every curve, every dip and valley. She's softer now, lush with the changes of pregnancy, and it drives me wild. I palm her breasts, swallowing her moan as I roll her nipples between my fingers.

"Missed you," I pant against her skin, trailing open-mouthed kisses down the column of her throat. "Missed this. Missed us."

"June," she whimpers, her hips rocking against mine. "Please, I need-"

"I know what you need, baby," I growl, pushing her nightgown up and over her head. "I'm going to give it to you. Just shut up and take this dick like a good girl."

And then we're crashing together, hands and mouths frantic to map every missed inch, to recommit every freckle and follicle to tactile memory. I claim her lips like a man possessed, pouring every ounce of my desperate love, my aching need, into the slide of tongues and the nip of teeth.

But even as I lose myself in her taste, her scent, her satin heat, Faulkner's poison whispers insidiously at the back of my skull.

She's not real. She's a trick, a trap, designed to break you.

I flinch, the programmed revulsion warring with the soul-deep certainty of our connection. Cara feels my hesitation, draws back to search my face with eyes that see too much, know too well.

"June? Baby, what is it?"

I shake my head, a muscle jumping in my jaw as I fight the compulsion, the sickening swirl of manufactured hate. "It's nothing. Just... kiss me. Please."

Understanding dawns in her gaze, chased by a fierce, protective tenderness that threatens to shatter me. "I'm here," she whispers, cradling my face in hands that tremble with restrained emotion. "I'm real, June. This is real. Don't let that bastard win."

I turn my head, pressing my lips to her palm in mute worship. "It's so hard," I rasp, the confession ripped from my throat like rusted barbs. "I look at you, and I see... I see everything. Love, home, forever. But there's this voice, this fucking voice telling me it's all a lie, that you're just another trick, another-"

"Hey. Look at me." Her voice is soft, but shot through with steely command. I obey instantly, helplessly, drawn like a moth to her blazing conviction. "I am not a trick. I am not a trap. I am yours, June Deveaux, in every way that matters. And no two-bit quack with a torture fetish is going to change that."

Something in me breaks at her words, the last fragile barrier holding back the tidal wave of need, of worship, of soul-searing devotion. I surge against her, capturing her lips in a kiss that's both savage and achingly tender, a silent vow seared into every slide of skin on skin.

"Mine," I growl against the thrumming pulse in her throat, teeth and tongue and the barest hint of suction. "Fuck, Cara. I love you so goddamn much."

"Show me," she breathes, and it's a plea, a challenge, a benediction. "Shut up that lying voice and show me."

I worship her body with lips and tongue and teeth, leaving a trail of marks in my wake. Mine, every inch of her is mine, and I'll be damned if I let anyone take her from me again.

When I finally slide into her, we both cry out at the exquisite rightness of it. She's tight and hot and perfect, clenching around me like she never wants to let go.

"Fuck, Cara," I groan, burying my face in the crook of her neck. "You feel like heaven."

"Move," she demands, her nails raking down my back. "Please, June, I need you to move."

I obey, setting a punishing rhythm that has the headboard slamming against the wall. It's too much and not enough all at once, pleasure coiling tight in my gut as I drive into her again and again.

"That's it, baby," I growl, hitching her leg higher on my hip. "Take what you need. Show me how much you missed me."

Cara throws her head back, a breathy cry escaping her lips as I hit that spot deep inside her. "June, oh God, June!"

"That's right," I snarl, feeling my control slipping. "Say my name. Let them all hear who you belong to."

She gasps, fists clenched in my hair as I work her higher, tighter, hurtling towards the edge of utter dissolution. "Just like that, baby."

"Say you're mine, Cara" I rasp, fingers joining my tongue in a devastating counterpoint. "I want you to scream it, to let the whole fucking world know who you belong to."

Her back bows like a drawn bow, taut and quivering. "I'm yours," she keens, a broken hallelujah. "Yours, June. Only ever yours."

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