Page 116 of All Our Ghosts

I waste no time delving into her mouth, my tongue tangling with hers while my thumb works her clit. She moans into my mouth, craving this as much as I do. I take my time working her over, slipping two fingers within her as my knee slides between her legs. She takes the hint and hooks it over my hip.

"You can sleep when we're home, baby," I breathe against her neck, curling my fingers within her until she lets out a ragged moan and her body shudders with her release.

Her eyes are closed when I lift my head and her cheeks have the faintest bit of flush to them. I gently remove my hand, thrusting into her in one go. We both hiss at the feeling of her stretching around me and in this moment I know this is exactly where I would die happily. If it is nothing else but the sounds she makes and the way she feels clenched around me, I'd gladly give my last breath to this world.

Kade's body is still jelly, her legs shuddering gently as I rock in and out of her, both of us chasing release once more even after we spent all night barrelling towards it. I can feel the cord in my stomach winding up, that tightness in my lower back that tells me my release is creeping around the corner.

"I need you to come, Sunflower," I rasp against her neck, nipping and sucking at her skin.

As if on command her head rolls back onto my shoulder and soft curses fly from her lips into the morning sky. She clenches around me, sending me over the edge as I pulse within her and my own moans fill the tent. My hips stutter and I shudder as I fill her.

We both turn into puddles on the hard ground. The bedrolls doing nothing to help the rocks and dirt prodding into my back.

"I love you," she says in a whisper, rolling over and tucking herself against me, "way more than I care to admit."

I chuckle and press a kiss into her head. Knowing just exactly how she feels. "I love you too."

I never thought in a million years it would be so easy to say those words to someone. Especially not a woman I've known for a little over two months but with Kadence, it feels right. There's a naturalness to it that makes it feel like we've been saying it for fifty years to one another. My only wish is that we would have found each other sooner. That none of the bullshit we had to go through to get to this moment would have had to happen but maybe that's just it... Maybe fate has a fucked up way of bringing two people like us together.

She presses a kiss to my chest before sitting up and stretching her arms out in front of her. The marks I left on her shoulder and neck shine in the morning light, sending a wave of possessiveness through me knowing she's mine. She glances back at me with a grin.

"You wanted me up, cowboy, let's get going."

I laugh, sitting up with her, and cup the back of her neck, pulling her to me.

"If I would have known that's all it takes to get you outta bed, I would have tried that weeks ago." I smirk, kissing her quickly before letting her go.

"You'll have plenty of time to try it now," she remarks, grinning as she stands up in the tent in search of her discarded clothes.

I laugh tossing her shirt at her. "Is that a promise?"

"It is," she says, turning towards me with a smile on her face as she straightens out her clothes and I get dressed. My eyes catch hers with a grin but I pause seeing her smile fall for a moment. "I want this, Nash." Her voice is so soft I almost miss what she says. "Even with all the shit going on, I want a real shot at you and me."

I'm taken aback by her words for a moment and every nerve in my body feels like a livewire staring at her. "Baby, I thought that's what we were already doing?"

"We are." She takes a step towards me, her voice is high-pitched and her hands fall to my forearms. "We are," Kade repeats more confidently. "I just want to put it out there into the universe. Say it out loud because if we do that, then it makes it real."

"What about what we were doing before wasn't real?" I ask, my brows furrowing while looking down at her.

"Nothing," she sighs, "everything has been real." Her cheeks turn a soft shade of pink, "I'm not explaining this very well am I?"

"I want to say you are, but babe..." I shake my head still confused.

Kadence closes the distance between us. "I haven't put myself out there like this in a long time. Even before it was done for me. I don't want to hide from the fact that I'm falling for you, I don't want it to scare me into not doing things with you that I was too scared to do before."

"Like what?"

"Like get married," she says softly, glancing away from me for a brief moment, "and build a real family. Not one that bases love on ultimatums and guilt trips, but one that loves unconditionally. I've had the former and I don't ever want to go back to that again."

My heart feels like it's going to pound out of my chest. The thundering rhythm against my ribcage is almost too much, but when she looks back at me, I see just how genuine her feelings are. In the flecks of gray and gold in her eyes I do what always felt impossible until now.

I picture that life with her at the forefront.

I reach for her, wrapping my arms around her waist. "I never thought I'd ever get the chance to have any of that," I admit openly. "I saw how it turned out for my parents and it wasn't something I ever thought I'd want."

Her brows knit as she looks up at me.

"But I can't see a future without you by my side, Sunflower." I smile as soon as her brows relax and the corners of her mouth turn upward. I'm silent for another moment before kissing her. "You sure you wanna spend your life with me?" I rasp against her lips.

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