Page 83 of Incipient

“You know why,” I whispered breathlessly as I lifted on my toes and brought my lips dangerously close to his.

His jaw tensed as he hooked his arm around my waist and pulled me against his body, his palm splayed against my back. His eyes searching mine as though they held the answers to every mystery in the world.

My body responded to him—to every look, and every subtle touch—humming and trilling against his body as I wrapped my arms around his neck and greedily filled my need to touch him.

He cursed under his breath and then his lips were on mine.

The bottle dropped from his other hand, clanking against the hardwood floor as he planted both palms under my ass and lifted me into his arms. In one fluid move, my back was pinned against the wall as he deepened the kiss. A burning fever washed over me as he slid his tongue into my mouth and groaned, the hunger and heat rolling off him in tangible waves that melded with my own, making it impossible to know where one ended and the other started.

There was something entirely feral about his kiss, his touch, the way he pulled back just enough to reach down and rip my tank top off—it was demanding and needy and explicit, and every inch of me was responding to it as his equal.

Letting go of my legs, he dropped me back down to my feet. Before I could protest, he yanked my pants and underwear down, ripping them off my ankles and then hoisting me back into his arms. The rough fabric of his jeans rubbing against me as he grabbed the back of his own shirt and then pulled it off. My fingers dug into his chest, wanting to feel every muscle and ridge as his mouth collided with mine again.

Perfectly carved muscles flexed under my palm as he unbuttoned his jeans and pulled the zipper down. The sound of it made my thighs clench with anticipation. Within seconds he was inside me, digging his fingers into my hips as he brought his other hand to my jaw, tilting my head up so that he could sweep his tongue against mine at just the right angle. There was a rawness to his need that made my body sing in response and all rational thought left me, leaving nothing but that unquenchable desire smoldering between us.

The incessant need to be with him, to have him inside me, was the only thing that mattered now, despite the raging inferno that was quickly spreading around us like wildfire.

“I love you, Jemma,” he whispered huskily as he slid both hands under my thighs, driving my legs further apart with his forearms. “I’ve loved you from the moment I first saw you.”

An appreciative moan escaped my lips as he crashed harder against me.

“And I’ve loved you every moment after that,” he went on as he captured my bottom lip between his teeth and nipped it.

I whimpered against the sensation, trapping the sound behind my lips.

“Are you still in love with me?” he asked, his voice strained, and his breathing labored.

Everything inside me was screamingyes, and he knew it, but I couldn’t seem to get my lips to cooperate enough to do anything besides pant into his mouth as he increased his speed.

“Tell me you love me,” he crooned as he brought his hand between us and circled my core.

“Trace…”Shit!I clenched my thighs as that familiar, delicious swirl of pleasure raced from my center. “Don’t…stop,” I begged as he continued to work me like a fiddle, hitting every string as though he had hand-crafted me himself.

He slid his free hand into hair and pulled down, causing my chin to snap up. “Say it,” he begged, his lips pushing mine apart again as he claimed my mouth in a possessive kiss. “Tell me you love me.”

Every protective wall around my heart shattered, leaving nothing but the truth in its wake. The feelings I’d tried to keep buried were pouring out of me like falling rain. I knew in that moment that running away from him had been futile from minute one. I was never intended to be without him—to deny what both of us could so wholly and fully feel every time we were together. He was made for me, and I for him.

“I love you,” I murmured as the toe-curling sensation continued to build, making my limbs tingle and my blood sizzle. I was right there. So. Damn. Close.

He growled beside my ear, the sound so low and deep and appreciative that I felt it rumble against my chest. “Say it again,” he groaned as he worked my core with expert precision, his eyes drowning in quantifiable emotion. The way he was kissing me, crashing his hips against mine, commanding me, pulling my hair, it was driving me mad in the most delicious way possible. “I need to hear you say it again.”

“Fuck,” I hissed as my body tightened around him. Every nerve ending in my body sprung to life, awakened to him as though I had been in a waking sleep until this very moment. My orgasm ripped out of me with the violence of a hurricane, ricocheting through my body like a rolling storm as I screamed out ‘I love you’to him, over and over again.

Trace’s lips crashed against mine, branding me with his taste as I rode out the aftershock of waves, and then he buried his face into my hair and came, calling out my name in a husky growl that made my toes curl.

Pressing his hand against the wall beside my head, he slumped his body against mine and panted, his chest rising and falling in haste as he slowly regained his bearings.

I ran my fingers through his silky hair as his body kept me pinned against the wall, my legs dangling weightlessly around his hips. There was something so simple and real about the quiet moment that I wished it could go on forever.

He pulled back and met my eyes as a playful smirk teased the corner of his lips. “So, you love me, huh?”

“Shut it,” I said as I smacked his chest and tried to drop to my feet, but Trace was having no part of it.

He tightened his hold and smiled, dimples blazing. “Say it again.”

“Haven’t you heard it enough for one night?” I asked, blushing as I recalled the numerous times I’d screamed it out.

“It’ll never be enough,” he murmured, his gaze holding me hostage. “Say it again, Jemma.”

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