Page 24 of Love in Full Bloom

I stand to remove them, feeling her eyes on me as I strip bare. When I return to her, the feeling of skin against skin is electrifying. I capture her mouth again, our bodies pressed together from chest to thigh, nothing between us now.

My hand slides between her legs, finding her wet and ready. She gasps against my mouth as I touch her, learning the rhythm that makes her clutch at my shoulders, her nails leaving half-moons in my skin.

"Please," she whispers, her voice breaking. "I need you."

As I position myself between her thighs, I pause, memorizing this moment—her auburn hair spread across the pillow, her lips swollen from my kisses, her eyes dark with desire but still flecked with that remarkable emerald green.

"I love you," I tell her, needing her to know before we take this final step.

Her eyes fill with tears, but she's smiling. "I love you too."

I enter her slowly, watching her face as our bodies join. The sensation is overwhelming—not just the physical pleasure, but the emotional connection, the feeling of barriers finally falling away completely. We move together in perfect rhythm, her body rising to meet mine, her legs wrapping around my waist to draw me deeper.

"Ben," she gasps, her head falling back as I hit a spot that makes her shudder. "Right there."

I maintain the angle, increasing my pace slightly as her breathing quickens. Her hands roam my back, my shoulders, my arms—touching, claiming, connecting. I lower my head to kiss her neck, her collarbone, the sensitive spot behind her ear that makes her moan.

When I feel her beginning to tighten around me, I slip a hand between us, circling her clit with my thumb. She cries out, her back arching off the bed.

"Let go," I whisper against her ear. "I've got you."

She shatters beautifully, her body trembling, her inner muscles pulsing around me as she calls my name. The sight of her coming undone pushes me over the edge, and I follow her into ecstasy, burying my face in her neck as release crashes through me.

Afterward, we lie tangled together, her head on my chest, my fingers tracing lazy patterns on her back. The connection between us feels stronger than ever, deepened by our physical joining.

"That was..." she begins, then laughs softly. "I don't even have words, and I'm supposed to be the artistic one."

I press a kiss to her forehead. "I know exactly what you mean."

She props herself up on one elbow, studying my face with a new confidence in her expression. "So you knew about me before we met."

"I knew about your work," I clarify. "I didn't know you—your laugh, your passion, the way you tuck your hair behind your ear when you're thinking, how your eyes change color with your emotions."

"And now?"

"Now I know enough to be certain I want to know more. Everything, actually."

Her smile is radiant. "I want that too."

She settles back against my chest, and I pull the quilt over us, creating a cocoon of warmth and intimacy. Outside, the night deepens, but here in this bed, wrapped in each other's arms, something new is beginning to bloom—something with both strong roots and the freedom to grow wild.

"Ben?" she murmurs, her voice heavy with approaching sleep.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you for seeing me. The real me."

I tighten my arms around her, overwhelmed with tenderness. "Always."

As her breathing evens out in sleep, I remain awake a little longer, savoring the weight of her against me, the scent of her hair, the feeling of absolute rightness that has settled in my chest. Whatever grows between us will have the best of bothour worlds: her wildness and my structure, her passion and my patience, her creativity and my precision.

Like the perfect garden, balanced and beautiful in its harmonious contrasts.

EPILOGUE

JASMINE

I wake before dawn, my body still curved against Ben's, his arm heavy across my waist. The soft rhythm of his breathing tickles my neck, and I allow myself a moment to simply feel—the warmth of his skin, the weight of his presence, the rightness of being here together.

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