Page 87 of Closer

I tighten my grip on her throat a bit more, feeling her pulse race beneath my fingers. “Use your words. I want to hear you say it.”

“Yes.” A choked whimper escapes her. “Make me yours again.”

A groan rips from my chest at her words. I capture her mouth in a bruising kiss, my tongue plundering her depths, and I snap my hips harder, faster, driving into her with reckless abandon. She breaks the kiss with a cry, her head falling back against the pillow.

“That’s it. Let me hear you.” My hand leaves her throat to grasp her hip, angling her so I can hit her sweet spot deep inside with every thrust. “You never stopped being mine.”

The obscene sound of skin slapping against skin fills the room, punctuated by her wanton moans. Her pussy clamps around me, not wanting to let me go. She’s close.

Reaching between us, I find her clit and start rubbing tight circles around it in time with my thrusts. Make my dream come true, princess.

With a broken sob, she shatters. I devour her cries with a kiss, continuing to pump into her, drawing out her pleasure before the sensation overwhelms me, too.

With a loud groan, I come deep inside her, my cock pulsing.

“I’ve missed you, princess.” I collapse on top of her, both of us breathing hard.

“I don’t want to wake up.”

“This—” Fuck, I want to tell her this is not a dream. That what we shared was real—painfully, deliciously real. But I can’t.

Because the moment those whiskey eyes open in the morning… she’ll remember all the reasons we can’t—or shouldn’t—do this. Her defenses will slam back into place, and she’ll flee from me and us.

I know her. She’ll panic, convinced this was a lapse in judgment fueled by too much adrenaline and nostalgia. She’ll retreat into that damn shell she’s been hiding in for years, shutting me out all over again.

And goddamn, I can’t take that. Not when I had a taste of her. Of us.

Maybe I should let her believe it was a dream. At least for now.

“Be a good girl and sleep. I’ll be here,” I say.

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

I clean us up and get back to bed, nuzzling my nose into her hair as she tucks her head beneath my chin. Her soft breaths tickle my chest, and I trace my fingertips along the curve of her hip, savoring the feel of her silky skin. She hums contentedly, already drifting off.

I want to have this every damn day.

She looks so peaceful like this. Unguarded in a way I haven’t seen since… well, since before I fucked everything up between us.

Yeah, I know I’m mostly to blame for how things ended. I pushed her away instead of trusting her. I let my father get in my head, let petty jealousy cloud my judgment, and let fear of getting hurt again make me hurt her first.

But that’s the past. All I care about now is the future. Our future, if she’ll let me back in.

I’m getting her back for good this time. Whatever it takes. She’s mine—she always has been—and it’s about time I started acting like it again. Staked my claim so no one else gets ideas about moving in on my girl.

Starting now, I’m going to remind her every damn day how perfect we are together. How I’m the only one who can give her what she needs. Who can satisfy her completely, in every possible way.

I’ll take it slow if I have to, and I’ll bring her walls down bit by bit until she lets me back in fully. I’ll romance the hell out of her—flowers, trips, the whole nine yards. Maybe another spa weekend. Anything to make her see we belong together.

Because we do belong together. She has to feel that like I do. One night couldn’t possibly be enough to get her out of my system. If anything, it’s made me want her more. Need her with a fierceness that consumes me.

I’m not losing her again. Call me selfish, but I don’t give a damn. She’s mine, and I’m keeping her.

Lil stirs slightly in her sleep, mumbling something unintelligible, and moving closer to me. I smooth back her hair and press a kiss to her temple.

This beautiful, maddening woman who has haunted me for years is finally back in my bed where she belongs. Now, I have to get her on the same page as me.

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