Page 116 of The Fiance Dilemma

I nodded my head.

I could see it in his eyes then. I could see that he was going to do this for me, despite the thing that had gone unsaid.

“I love you, Matthew,” I whispered. Or maybe the words burst out of me. “I’m so in love with you. And this is not the moment, but God, I’m so goddamn terrified to—”

His mouth clashed against mine, taking my lips in his, and for a moment, God, for just an instant I swore I could have dissolved from the impact of that kiss. But I didn’t. Couldn’t, when all my body lit up, electricity flickering beneath my skin, a dazzling sensation sweeping me head to toes. My eyes closed, blinding me to the world, to everything around except for him, and I surged up, parting my mouth against his once more. Matthew groaned and my hands closed around his face, locking him against me.

There was a rip of fabric. My panties. Then I was bare, roughly pushed against the hard length in his pants. Matthew’s hands guided me, up and down, up and down, up and down until I was breathless, panting, both of us gasping for air.

Brown eyes, dark like I’d never seen them, met mine. “You want me to show you how much I fucking love you, then all you need to do is ask.” The sound of a belt followed by a zipper made my ears ring, stomach dropping with delight. “The only thing broken here is my restraint.” He pulled me down, nestling himself between my folds and making us both hitch a breath. “You’re drenched, Josie. Do you need me this bad?”

I gave my head a nod.

Matthew pressed a kiss to the corner of my lips as a reward, but instead of moving, he dragged his mouth across my cheek, all the way to my ear. “Beg me for it,” he rasped. “Sayplease, Matthew.”

“Please, Matthew.”

His palms shifted, hands digging into my skin as he squeezed my ass. “Good fucking girl,” he whispered in my ear. “All mine. Now sit on me.”

My hands grasped his shoulders as I lowered myself. I felt him at my entrance, my eyelids fluttering shut at how much I needed him. How good he felt. How much peace it brought me to be filled. My knees gave in, making my body fall.

A whimper rose inside me, and Matthew captured it with his mouth.

Lips moving against mine, his hands guided me upward before letting me fall again. Stars prickled my eyes. Electricity surged, stronger, overpowering, all across my body. The position, the urgency, the need to be reassured in any way I could by this beautiful man who I didn’t want to lose, edging me closer, swifter, wickedly fast.

“I love you, Josephine Moore,” Matthew said against my mouth. My heart stopped, then doubled, tripled its pace. “I don’t care how I have you as long as you’re mine.”

A new sound climbed out of me, but this time Matthew let it topple, falling between us. The pace of my hips increased, encouraged by his words, the way he looked at me, the way his hands encompassed me, the way he made me feel so full, so right, so whole.

“My heart is not broken,” he said, low, voice rocky in a way that told me he was so close. As close as me. “And I’m not leaving you. Hear me?” He thrust upward, impaling me before I let myself fall. A wave of bliss rocked me. “You’re mine to keep. Now say it.”

My fingers closed around his hair just so I’d hold on to something. “I’m yours,” I whispered. “I’m yours. I’m yours. I’m yours.”

The words encouraged the motions of his hips, his cock slipping in and out of me at a punishing speed. “Call out my name, Josie.” His mouth took mine, teeth closing over my bottom lip before letting go. “Let them hear. I don’t care. I never did. Let it rock you while I come inside you.”

My eyes closed just as Matthew’s hips rolled, his thrust somehowdeeper, somehow closer, sharper, tipping me over the edge with a gasped,“Matthew.”Before feeling him pulse inside me with a growl.

He pulled me against his chest. “You’re not running, Josie,” he said, planting kisses all over the side of my face, hips rocking, slowing down. “I’m not them. I’m not anyone. I’m not fucking letting you.”

I closed my eyes, as tightly as I could, letting those words soothe me. Letting the feel of Matthew’s body under mine soothe me too. He felt so solid, so certain and sure and safe. Unlike anything I’d ever had. Unlike anyone.

He really felt like mine.

And I loved him, I loved Matthew in a way that made me wonder if I’d ever known how love felt before him. It was so scary, it made me feel so vulnerable, so frail, and perhaps… perhaps that was how this was supposed to feel. Perhaps that was fine. Perhaps,I love yous were meant to feel this big. To make you feel this naked. This exposed. So big you were terrified to hurt. So safe no one could touch you.

Perhaps to love was to leave a mark.

And perhaps I no longer wanted to run from that.

It took us a long time to come out of that dressing room.

When Matthew slipped out of me, he was still hard. The chuckle that left him when I looked at him with a spark in my eye was strained and pleading. Enough for me to let it go and make him promise we’d revisit the topic back at home.Home.The thought made a spot in the middle of my chest tender to the touch. But those were questions that had to take a back seat when there was a bridal shop filled with people to whom I owed an explanation.

Once back in my clothes, which Matthew helped me put on, placing a kiss on my skin as a reward for every item that I slipped on, I took his hand in mine.

“Ready?”

I gave him a nod.

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