Page 87 of Broken-Hearted

“Which stage was your favorite?” A smile tugs on the corners of his lips, though his eyes remain closed.

I study this man who has, almost from the start, made himself my protector. Made me feel safe. Given me a home—a sense of belonging—but most of all, made me feel loved.

“The caring.” I touch my lips to his. “The part where you made me fall so in love with you that I can’t imagine being anywhere else, or with anyone else.”

He returns my kiss, winding his arms around me and extending it.

He’s turning me onto my back when I break the kiss. “Nathan?”

“Clara?”

“You, uh, didn’t—” I moan, gripping his hair with both hands as he nips my throat. “Oh.”

A smile stretches his lips. “That was an interesting sound I wouldn’t mind hearing again.”

“I was wondering when…” My voice trails off as he kisses his way down my throat.

“Wondering what?”

I let my eyes drift closed. “Was I speaking? I don’t think I was.”

I had wanted to hear him tell me that he loved me too, but I guess I can wait if he keeps doing that thing with his teeth.

He slides a hand down over my belly, and I part my thighs for him.

His smile grows. “I feel like you might be hinting at something, peach.”

I quit hinting.

I push him onto his back, take in his grinning face as I straddle him, grip the base of his cock and take him into my body.

“Fuck.” His hands grab my hips as the muscles in his neck bulge.

I’m moaning, head back as I adjust to his sudden entry when he grabs my shirt and shoves it over me, tossing it aside so we’re both naked.

I take my time riding him, setting a slow but steady pace, wanting to draw out those groans and grunts tearing from his throat.

As I sink onto him, he flexes his hips up so every inch of him penetrates every part of me.

His hands are never still. They caress my hips, my thighs, and my breasts.

And when my climax hits, I throw my head back and let out a scream I don’t care if anyone hears. Nathan’s fingers tighten on my hips as he groans, holding me tight against him as he strains, filling me with heat.

Struggling to regain my breath, my muscles twitch from aftershocks as Nathan draws me down beside him, gathering me close to bury a kiss in my hair.

He says something. Not sure what. I’m already more asleep than awake.

The sound of wind whipping through the trees makes me shiver.

“Nathan?” I huddle against his side. “Did you leave a window open?”

“Something like that,” he says, sounding like he’s smiling.

The odd note in his voice makes me lift my head. And I stare.

We’re not in the cabin anymore.

We are outside, sleeping on a blanket on the grass. Beside the lake, to be exact, where golden ropes of fairy lights cover nearby trees. It’s like being surrounded by tiny white stars, and it is so beautiful, and so ridiculously romantic, that I immediately want to burst into tears.

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