Page 18 of Stripped Bare

“I don’t know exactly what’s going on in your head, but I need you to hear me.”He turned her to face him.“I’m not going anywhere, Stace.Not now.Not after whatever tomorrow brings.What’s between us is more than sex.More than a diversion from the weight of what’s going on.I’ll be with you when we find your sister.”He paused, his gaze holding hers.“Or if we don’t.”

“I can’t…” She shook her head.“I can’t think of that.I can’t lose hope.Not yet.I know the likelihood of still finding her alive at this point.I know because this is what I do.I find things.I find people.I find—”

She broke.Broke as she hadn’t yet.Broke to her soul and would have fallen to her knees if Shep hadn’t caught her, sweeping her against his chest and carrying her to the bed where he sat and held her.

“I’ve got you,” he murmured as she sobbed against him, fists pounding weakly as she fell apart.“I’ve got you.Let it go.Let it all go.”

She didn’t know how long he held her, murmured assurances, but she was empty when her tears finally stopped.Empty.She needed to fill herself up again.To feel something other than the overwhelming sorrow that seemed to have her in a death grip.

“Touch me,” she begged softly.

“Stace.”

Not a no.More of a question, a need to make sure she knew what she was asking.Could he be any more perfect?

“I need you,” she whispered.“I need this.Us.I need—”

“Shh,” he murmured, brushing his lips over hers.“I’ve got you.”

No one ever had.She’d been the one to support everyone around her.No one had ever played that role for her.She’d learned to depend on no one.Less likely to get hurt that way.

“Out of your head,” he ordered, gripping the hem of her shirt and jerking it up.She lifted her hands as he tugged it over her head and tossed it aside before reaching for her bra.“No thoughts.No what if questions.No blame.”He tossed the bra then cupped her breasts, thumbs rubbing circles over her tight nipples.“Just you, me, and everything we can make each other feel.”

He dropped a kiss atop each breast then slid her from his lap and went to his knees before her.He made quick work of removing the rest of her clothes, peppering kisses along her stomach and thighs as he did.He placed a kiss on the arch of each foot as he placed them on his shoulder and leaned in.She went to her back, the mattress firm beneath her as he used his mouth to steal her mind.

There was no holding back the cries he wrung from her lips as he drove her to orgasm then kept her riding the undulating wave of pleasure.Her hands clenched in the jumbled covers at her hips as she tried to ground herself.He’d demanded she focus on what he made her feel then made sure she couldn’t do anything but that.She was whimpering from overstimulation when he finally pulled back.Forcing her eyes open, she stared as he stripped, revealing every hard angle and bulge of muscle.He rose hard and thick between muscular thighs, and she reached out to him.

“Now,” she pleaded.“No teasing.”

“No teasing,” he agreed as he reached for her, turning and moving her up the bed until her head was on one of the pillows.Then he was over her, in her, and it was like coming home.As if she’d spent her whole life waiting for him.

He lowered until every inch of their skin met.His gaze held hers, and there was the connection she’d learned to appreciate from him.She gasped, her breath catching, when he thrust deep then moaned as he eased back out.It was slow, as if he refused to rush, as if he needed to pull every sensation from her.

“Shep.”His name was a plea.For what, she wasn’t sure.

“Feel that?”he murmured.“How deep I am?How good it feels when I bury myself inside you?”

“So good,” she agreed.“Yes.”

“I could stay right here forever.Inside you.Feeling you taking me, squeezing me, needing me.”

“Yes!”

“Mmm,” he groaned.“There’s only one thing better than fucking you.”

She shook her head, denying those words.Nothing was better.Nothing.

“Making love to you.Slow.Easy.I could spend the rest of my life right here.With you.”

“Don’t—” She cut herself off, unwilling to allow the vulnerability the rest of her words would bring.

“Don’t what?”he asked, bottoming out inside her.“Don’t stop?”

She moaned but didn’t answer.He dropped his forehead to hers.

“Don’t leave?”

She caught her breath.How did he know what she’d been about to ask?

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