Page 135 of The Road to Ruined

"Mmm…okay, true. What do you want me to sing?"

"Something I've never heard before."

"Teagan's so pretty. I love her a lot. While she's asleep, I take pictures of her butt,"he sings.

I laugh hard. "Now I guess I know why Luca writes the songs."

"What? I thought it was pretty good."

"Do you really do that?"

"Nah. Only like…twice. Seven times max," he says. We both laugh, trying to stay quiet so as not to wake Luca. When it finally dies down, he says, "I haven't laughed in a long time. I missed you so much, Teagan."

"I missed you, too."

"Close your eyes, kitten. By this time tomorrow, everything's going to be different. We'll all be okay."

"No more beige," I whisper, closing my eyes.

"No, baby. No more beige."

TWENTY-FOUR

eighteen months later

"Hey, kitten," Declan whispers.

"Hey," I say, stretching, my voice raspy from sleep. "You're back."

"Of course," he says, brushing my hair away from my face before kissing me. "It's your big day."

I laugh. "Yeah, I guess so. What time is it?"

"It's five-thirty," he says. "We have some time."

He brings his lips to mine again, and I close my eyes, savoring it.

"You smell so good," I tell him, running my hands over his bare chest and down his abs. His formerly flawless skin is—well—still flawless to me. But his body is scarred now, just like mine.

He's been gone for the past five days, and it's been months since we've been apart for that long. Beneath the sheets, I'm naked. Declan's hands run down my body and over my bare tits before one hand grips the back of my thigh and hitches it around his waist.

He rubs my clit with two fingers, deeply but torturously slow, and I melt into the mattress, breaking away from the kiss.

"Fuck…" I whisper.

"You like that?"

"You know I do…you know what I like."

"Are you getting wet for me, kitten?" he whispers, pulling my earlobe through his teeth.

"Yes…"

I reach between us, pulling his boxers down over his hips, and wrap my fist around his hard dick. He moans into my neck and dips his fingers inside my pussy.

"Yeah, you're nice and wet, aren't you, baby?" He pulls his fingers out and brings them to my lips. "Suck," he says.

I part my lips, making eye contact with him as I suck my wetness from his fingers. After he pulls them from my mouth, he adjusts himself between my legs and buries his dick inside me, rolling his hips in quick, powerful thrusts.

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