Page 96 of The Love Syllabus

But then, I hear a noise. “Someone’s gonna catch us,” I gasp against his lips.

Vic pulls back, just enough to look at me. Then, without a single word, he reaches up, and presses theDo Not Disturbbutton on the console, and the entire cabin plunges into silence.

No notifications. No interruptions. No distractions.

He smirks. “This is my plane, Kerry. We can do whatever we want.”

A shiver runs down my spine as his fingers thread into my hair, his palm cupping the back of my head, pulling me back into his control.

Then, in a whisper, he says, “Tell me the real reason you’re nervous.”

His gaze is unrelenting, demanding the truth.

“I want to make you feel good.” My voice is barely audible. “I want you to make me feel good. I’ve been dreaming about it. Touching myself to the thought of you for months. But the truth is, my body only reacts to trauma.”

For a moment, I can’t look at him. I can’t bear to see pity or hesitation or anything that might make me regret admitting my feelings.

But Vic doesn’t hesitate. Instead, he moves closer with his steady hands cradling my face, tilting my chin so I have no choice but to meet his gaze.

“Kerry.” His voice is low, threaded with something so deep, so sure, it makes my breath hitch. “I need you to understand something, and I need you to hear me when I say it.”

I swallow hard, nodding.

His fingers brush against my jaw, soft, reverent. “The way I want you? It has nothing to do with undoing your past, proving something, or fixing anything. You don’t need fixing.” He pressed his forehead against mine. “I just want you. All of you. However you’ll have me.”

A shiver runs through me, but it’s not fear. It’s not panic. It’s longing. It’s relief. It’s him. My eyes flutter closed as he trails his fingers down the side of my neck, barely grazing me yet igniting molten lava deep in my core. “I’ll wait for you, Kerry. However long it takes.” He leans in, lips grazing my cheek. “But when you’re ready? When you’rereallyready?” His voice dips lower. “I won’t just make you feel good. I’ll make you feel everything.”

My breath shudders, and my skin tingles from where his words touched me. Something inside me unlocks, loosens, expands. Because I believe him. I believe that my body is mine. That pleasure doesn’t have to come with pain. That I don’t have to brace myself, that I don’t have to fear what comes next. That with him, I can want. And right now? I want him.

The weight of my desire is overwhelming, making my heart hammer as I lean in and kiss him slow, deep, and full of unspoken promises. Vic groans into my mouth, and his hands thread into my hair, gripping me like he’s holding onto something precious. Like he’s holding ontome.

When I pull away, his lips are parted, his chest rising and falling. Then I retreat from his lap, putting just enough distance between us, his brows knit together in confusion.

I reach for the hem of my sweatshirt, and his entire body goes still. I peel it over my head and let it drop to the floor. Then my leggings. Then my bra. Theneverything.

By the time I’m standing bare before him, his hands are gripping the arms of his chair so tight that his knuckles are white. His throat bobs with the force of his swallow, and his eyes devour me. But like I’m his possession. Not like I’m an object to be claimed, but like I’m a revelation, his miracle.

“Kerry…” My name leaves his lips like a prayer.

I take one slow step forward, then another, and then I’m straddling him, my bare skin pressed against the heat of his body, my knees sinking into the leather on either side of his hips.

I am bare, and I’ve never felt safer.

His hands hover over me, hesitantly.

“Touch me, Vic,” I whisper. “Make me feel everything.”

His hands come to life, claiming and worshiping me all at once. But he doesn’t hurry or rush. Every touch is deliberate, a silent promise that he’s here, that he sees me, that he’ll take his time.

With a slow, careful motion, he lifts me, shifting me onto the seat, spreading me out before him like something sacred. He slowly drags his lips down my body, placing a lingering kiss just above my navel.

And then he kneels.

My pulse stutters, and my breath catches as his broad shoulders part my legs, and he settles between my thighs. He hasn’t even touched me yet, but my entire body is on fire.

I shudder at the skim of his lips on my inner thigh. “You smell like heaven.” Vic’s voice is pure sin, deep and reverent. He presses a slow, open-mouthed kiss to my skin. His stubble scrapes, his lips soothe, and his breath teases.

And when he looks up at me with dark, hooded eyes, I swear I nearly come undone.

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