Page 115 of Salvaged Hearts

“Too damn close.”

“Yousaved me, Grey. You, and Jax and Cap.”

“You never should have needed saving,” he argued, pressing kisses down my jaw until he could nuzzle into my neck. I felt it then, the damp heat oftearson my skin. “I finally have you, and they nearly took you from me.”

“Baby,” I breathed, my hands giving up the deathtrap I’d had on his arms to grab his face instead, forcing his eyes to mine. “You put Jax with me a lifetime before they got anywhere near me. You knew I needed him, even when I was a petulant child about it.Hewarned me. He saw them come out of the water.”

“Shouldn’t have been so far away,” he growled, pressing an open-mouthed kiss to my neck before latching on and giving the skin a good suck. “Should kick his ass for that.”

“Life can’t be lived like an animal in a cage, Grey. I have to have room to breathe.”

“I know,” he growled begrudgingly before moving down an inch, stealing my breath as he sucked at my skin again. Marking, tasting, claiming. He wanted to eat me whole, I decided. I didn’t have any complaints to speak of.

“He was quick to react,” I breathed, struggling to keep any train of thought with his skin on mine. “You and Cap got to me so fast.”

“I can’t bear to think about the alternative.”

“There is no alternative,” I insisted, “I’m right here, handsome.”

Bowing his forehead against mine, Grey returned his gentle hands to frame my face, softer kisses pressing my mouth apart. This was…different. Reverent in his demand. Savoring as his tongue invaded.

I was desperate to memorize every inch of him. The taste of him in my mouth, the weight of his scent filling my lungs, the feel of his body over mine. Perhaps he was doing the same. Shoving the comforter away, he worked down my body, luxuriating in each inch of skin as he showered it in affection.Hesitating over the bruises on my arms and ribs, he spent an extra moment with his lips pressed against the blooming, livid red and purple.

Serving penance or giving thanks, I wasn’t sure.

“I need you,” I breathed, parroting what he’d said to me the night of the auction. Nodding against my belly, Grey raked his hands over my sides, determined to press his lips to every inch of my torso, down to my sex, before showering my thighs with his attention.

“You’re the only person who’s seen it all. My ugly. My laughter. And you’re not running.”

“I’m not running,” I repeated, earning a relieved huff of breath from the man paying homage to my body.

“Be my forever, Mrs. Hart?”

The ragged vulnerability in his voice sent my eyes burning all over again. Nodding, I managed, “Please, Grey.”

“You should rest.”

“I need to know that you’re real,” I admitted on a needy exhale.

“Mypace,” he said, tone both a warning and an order. I simply nodded in response. I’d take whatever he was willing to give me.

He wriggled out of his sweats a beat before bringing his mouth back to mine, leisurely running his palm down the length of my body, gaze endearingly tracking the wake of his touch as though he left a visible trail to follow. My fingers found his hair, weaving between strands, holding his face to mine as I memorized his scent. Memorized the man I never thought I’d willingly die for.

This man who’d just killed for me.

With the care of worship, he settled his hips between my thighs, which parted to make room for him. Mouths sealed together as though we’d cease to exist if we separated, Greypositioned himself, running the crown of his dick over my slick sex before lining up with my entrance. With the briefest lock of our gazes, he rocked into me, filling me with life and my lungs with air. Surprise gave way to adoration, and then he slid his hands beneath me, gripping my shoulders and setting the pace.

More of a steady rock than the fierce thrusts I’d grown accustomed to, our bodies connected deeper and deeper. Connected in a way I couldn’t describe.

Nobody had ever held me so closely.

Kissing me until my head was spinning, Greysonmade loveto me. We’d done sweet sex, but nothing like this.

Raw and real and just us.

Slow and steady, he rocked his hips, grinding up and in, dick hitting the depths of me with each roll until, together, we crested that edge. With a groan, his body went rigid, the telltale pulse and swell of his cock inside me, stealing my oxygen as my walls clamped around him. He held his position, even when his muscles relaxed, head bowing to mine, our breaths synchronized as we exchanged them like currency.

At last, he pulled back to look at me, but there was a shadow of something familiar—the same trace of panic I’d seen at the wedding. Softly, I said, “I’ve seen that look before. What are you thinking?”

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