Page 91 of Lessons with the Mothman

Elias bellowed, shock and then sudden overwhelming ecstasy of his own relief stealing over his features, tearing away his strength, sending him collapsing down against me, pinning me clumsily to the mattress.

He groaned again, bucking, and managed to lift himself just enough to nuzzle his jaw against my temple. "Say it again."

"I love you," I said. It was just a whisper, but repeating the words made some of the fragile, sharp bits in my chest seam back together. I pressed my face into his throat, and there were tears after all, pooling in the hollows above my cheeks. "I love you."

Elias shuddered and let out a small laugh, a light, relieved sound. He hadn't said the words yet, not since our argument months ago, but I didn't have a moment of doubt. He loved metoo. Our vow of "not yet" was old now, every day having chipped away at my defenses, his habitual solitude erased with every conversation and touch. Dinner parties and books read side by side and the slow, urgent hours of learning each other's and our own bodies all over again.

Elias's hands stroked my sides, and he eased back until his face could hover over mine, eyes lined at the corners with his smile.

"You love me," he said.

I laughed and nodded. "I do."

"Because I'll finish without you?" he teased.

I grinned and arched for a kiss, humming against his lips, prompting him for a little moreattentionwith a circling of my hips, still holding the tip of him inside of me.

"I love you too, Victoria," he rasped, brushing my hair back from my face, greedily studying me once more. His smile brightened, and he mouthed the words, "I love you."

Maybe he'd just realized too. He'd been hunting for love when we'd met. Perhaps it had surprised him once it arrived.

"What do you think?" I asked.

He blinked, and I knew he understood my question. "Mmm. I see the appeal. It's…wonderful, actually."

"It is nice, isn't it?" I asked, closing my eyes for a moment just to enjoy the heat and softness and ache of the emotion. I loved Elias in all his unraveling mystery, his curiosity, his ageless superiority that he was still learning was actually fallible after all.

"Victoria, darling," Elias called, the hands on my sides moving to my breast, one wandering down my middle to tease at where we were still joined, then up to my clit. I tensed and then reminded myself not to brace, opening my eyes to his once more. "Are you tired, my love?"

I was exhausted, actually. Exhausted and elated and giddy and sated andneedyand relaxed.

"Why do you ask?" I asked, even though I could guess.

He wet his lips, sitting up slightly and staring down at me, drinking me in one inch at a time.

"Well, you're still quite wet," Elias said slowly.

I nodded. "Some of that is you, but yes, I am," I said, and I rocked into his fingers, my eyes hooding as the warmth of affection became something a little more potent and pressing.

"And I'm rather parched," he continued, grinning. "Would you mind terribly if I helped myself?"

I sighed, desire tingling down my spine, and spread my legs so wide I could almost hook my heels over either edge of the bed. Elias's cock slipped out of me, followed quickly by his release and my glossy arousal.

"Take your time," I offered with a inviting wiggle of my hips.

Elias chuckled, the sound dark and delicious. "You may regret saying that," he muttered.

I doubted it.

Epilogue

ELIAS

ALMOST ONE YEAR LATER

Paper crinkled as I shifted,hefting my languid girlfriend more comfortably onto my lap as my coremata curled back around my slick and sated shaft. A soft giggle ghosted into the fur, around my throat and I reached up between us, tugging the toy stethoscope from her neck and dropping it to the floor somewhere behind me.

"My, my, Dr. Dempsey, that was averythorough appointment," I murmured, nuzzling Victoria's flushed cheek and pressing a kiss at the rosiest spot.

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