Page 58 of Beautiful Vengeance

He could tell when she reached the edge. Her breath halted. Her fingers dug into his back. Then her lips parted and she cried out, her core clenching around him, hips bucking.

It was too much. Marcus buried his face into her neck with a hoarse shout and let himself go, pumping into her until he shuddered. The sound of his ragged breathing was harsh in his ears as he crashed back to earth, cradled by her warmth.

Lifting his head, he propped his weight back up on his hands to gaze down at her. The sight of her like that, gazing up at him so trustingly, split his heart wide open.

“Come here,” she whispered, drawing him down for a kiss. He went willingly, all but melting into her, unable to tell where he stopped and she began.

Only when his arms began to ache did he stop and ease her legs from his shoulders. His hip burned like fire but it was worth any amount of pain to make love to her.

Awareness of the room began to settle in. Rain hitting the window panes. The crackle of the fire in the hearth and the quiet ticking of the clock on the mantelpiece. He didn’t know how much time had passed. “How long have we got left?” he murmured.

“Trin should be back soon. After that…I don’t know. A few hours, maybe.”

He sat up on his knees, locking an arm beneath her back to bring her with him. “Come up to bed with me.”

The house was still and silent as they went up the staircase hand in hand, Karas trailing a few treads behind them. Upstairs his room was dark and cold, rain pelting the roof while the wind moaned in the eaves.

The sudden emptiness around them registered as a lump of dread in his gut. He led Kiyomi straight to the bed and tucked her under the covers to keep her warm.

“Will you light a fire?” she asked when he started to climb in beside her.

He would do anything for her. “Aye, if you like.”

“I’ll never see a fire again and not think of you.”

Or him, her.

A sharp blade of agony pierced his chest. He turned toward the fireplace where Karas was already curled up on her bed, laid and lit the fire, then crawled in beside Kiyomi.

She smiled and slid over top of him, blanketing him with her silken weight, her hair draped across his chest. He stroked his fingers through it and pulled the covers up to her waist so he could still run his palm over her bare back.

Sudden pressure swelled in his chest. Rising and rising until the words he’d been holding back burst free. “Come back to me when this is over.” He fucking hated that he was begging, but couldn’t hold back any longer. “Or I’ll come to you, wherever is safest for you.”

“Marcus.” She slid her arms around him, burrowed in tight. “I wish I could promise you that, I truly do. But I can’t. Because…I may not live through what’s coming—”

He sucked in a breath, crushing her to him. “Don’t say that. Don’t eventhinkit.” Christ, it chilled him to the bone to even imagine it.

“I wish it could be different,” she whispered. “I wishIwas different.”

“I don’t. I wouldn’t want you to be anything other than who you truly are.” It was why he’d fallen for her in the first place. “When this is over, I’ll come for you.”

They lapsed into silence, both of them lying there wide-awake, greedily soaking up the comfort of their last intimate embrace while the minutes ticked past.

Marcus held her close as he stared into the fire, dreading the moment Trinity returned and took Kiyomi from him.

****

Trinity pulled her hood up before exiting the car as the Lear jet came to a stop on the runway of the private airport.

She jogged toward it through the rain, hunched against the cold wind, hoping Rycroft had brought good news with him. It felt like they were close to finding the Architect, and it couldn’t happen soon enough. Trinity wanted all of this to be over so she and the others could finally move forward with their lives.

The jet’s door opened and the staircase lowered. A man’s silhouette appeared in the doorway above it. Tall, broad-shouldered.

She smiled, slowed as she reached the bottom of the steps, rain drilling the tarmac around her. “You made good time.”

“Yeah, team emergencies tend to make things move fast,” Rycroft said dryly as he opened an umbrella and came down the stairs. “Everyone on the move now?”

“Everyone but Kiyomi and me. I wanted her to have a few more hours to unwind before we leave.”

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