Page 87 of Crossover

“No,” I said, my voice almost inaudible over the water. “You’re hurt.”

“Feeling no pain at the moment.” He drew the washcloth down my spine.

“Liar.”

The suds gently caressed my ass in slow, circular motions, and when his fingers traced the curve of my spine, my lower stomach heated.

“You said we had to hurry,” I reminded him. But my voice, it betrayed my crumbling resolve.

“Seven minutes,” he countered, trailing his finger along my skin.

In one last—albeit pathetic—effort to be sensible, I turned around and yanked the washcloth out of his hand. Glaring at him, I began washing his chest.

“Your wound needs to?—”

“Five,” he growled, cupping my breast.

I gasped, having to refocus my mind on finishing cleaning his front. I drew the washcloth lower, purposefully gliding it over his shaft, enthralled by the darkening of his features.

We were both being irresponsible. Maybe that was the bigger danger to our relationship. Maybe it wasn’t the outside forces, but rather, when we got together, all caution threatened to break.

And yet…the space between my thighs ached for him.

I washed his entire chest again, mesmerized by the sculpted landscape of his physique. Each contour beckoned me to explore, to etch its form into my memory.

Could he read the thoughts dancing through my head? Because the way he was staring at me, drawing his hand up to cup my cheek as his gaze drifted to my lips, was more intense than before. So intense, in fact, that the noise of the water seemed to vanish, leaving only the thudding of my beating heart as he drew his fingertips to my chin and tilted it up.

Pressing his lips to mine.

With hot water cascading down my nude body, I realized in that moment that I wanted every one of his kisses to belong to me. I always had. I was only fooling myself to think I could ever walk away from him.

“I love you.” I breathed the tender words in whispers over his mouth.

He pulled his face away from mine, searching my eyes, as if trying to confirm he’d heard me right. At first, his lips curled slightly, but then his face fell, and he shook his head like I’d just confessed a sin.

“Don’t,” he said in a low, steady voice, drawing his knuckles along my jaw.

“I do,” I repeated with more conviction this time. “I love you, and I’m done fighting it.”

Grayson’s hand cupped my cheek, his touch searing my skin with a tenderness that made my heart sing as he studied me, as if trying to comprehend how he could be this lucky.

The shower water seemed to slow, the warmth replaced by the heat from our bodies as Grayson drew his mouth closer, my pulse quickening with the need to feel his kiss.

“I love you, too, Ivy,” he whispered with the brush of his lips against mine.

In that moment, I knew that I had found my home, my haven, in the arms of the man who had captured my heart so completely. The problems around us burned to ashes, and all that remained was the love we shared, the unbreakable bond that had been forged through the fires of our past and the hope of our future together.

I didn’t know what would happen with Daniel or the CIA, but that was the beauty of love. So long as I had Grayson, everything else faded into the background noise of my life.

He kissed me with an intensity that sang to my heart, my soul erupting into cheers. This was what dreams were made of. Everything we had been through had been worth it, so long as it led us to this moment and this decision to be united in our future together.

My beautiful assassin.

A couple of feet away, two guns sat on the bathroom counter—deadly weapons that sat as a silent reminder of his dangerous skills—while his arm bled, a symbol that he’d literally walk in front of a bullet to protect me.

He slid his hand down my throat, feeling my pulse for a moment before reaching down and cupping my breast. Hard.

I gasped; his squeeze was a delicious balance of pleasure and pain, and an ache grew bigger in my lower stomach as his fingers inched downward in a torturous descent. I moaned against hislips, my fingers tangling in his wet hair as the anticipation built between us.

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