Page 426 of Lodestar

I cried and didn’t care if he felt the liquid emotion raining down my cheeks as I sank into his kiss, absorbing that like I took him in.

When he felt my tears, he slowed down and tried to draw away from me, but I didn’t let him. I chased his mouth andstarted to rub my clit with the one hand that had still been trapped between us.

As my pussy clutched and fluttered around his dick, I knew that pleasure was close. Surprisingly so. It loomed on the horizon like the dawn of a new day, andthatthought was so appropriate that I let it flood me.

Maybe he knew I was letting go because his hold on me tightened in reaction and he sped up.

Behind me, the crowd roared and surged to the music.

Beneath me, I could feel gravity’s call just as I had years ago.

But,beforeme was him.

“Mine,” I groaned into his mouth.

“Yours,” he ceded easily, but his tone was rough. Gruff.

As we climbed toward release, the tingles started in my core, spreading out, surging down my legs, through my stomach, and pricking my fingers as they waved along my arms.

When I shouted out my climax, nobody knew.

It was just one of many cries amid the noisy crowd, but to Conor, it was a signal.

He stopped holding back, moving faster, faster,fasteruntil he roared in my ear, hips pumping as he chased every ounce of his release and I milked him dry, knowing from experience that it only enhanced the delirium he alone could make me feel.

The fire stopped licking at my heels and instead surged through my veins, sending flames roaring through my system until I was encompassed in the inferno.

Hearts racing toward one another, I slumped into him, but as he started to relax, he stiffened, jerking me away from the railing as if he only just remembered where I was propped.

When he drew me over to a leather couch, I didn’t argue when he fell back into it with me in his lap.

Nuzzling my face into his throat, I murmured, “Thank you.”

I had no idea how he heard me, but he knew what I was thanking him for. Conor pressed a kiss to the tip of my nose, whispering, “In the future, when you tell me I won’t like something, I want specifics.”

I’d felt his fear as if it were my own so I replied, “Okay.”

“Never again, Star.”

Knowing what he meant, I nodded, content.

That scar had been healed.

I’d neverneedto do this again.

38

CONOR

TIME IN A BOTTLE - ROB LANE

“Doyou want to take the ferry into Jersey, Kat? Do something different for our visit today?”

There was no logical reason for that blank look to make an appearance in Kat’s eyes at Star’s cheerful offer, but it slithered into being like a veil passing over her irises.

It wasn’tExorcist-esque, but it was creepy nonetheless.

The second it happened, Star dropped Alessa a message in the group chat we shared, explaining why we wouldn’t be coming to West Orange today, then carefully hustled her into the living room, ensconcing her on the couch in a pile of blankets, where she put on a Disney movie.

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