Page 229 of Never Die for a Sinner
I throw myself into his arms and drag his lips down to mine, kissing him feverishly.
And for the first time since I moved back to Gran’s, it feels like coming home.
His groan rumbles through me, and I climb up his torso, allowing him to lift me off my feet and cradle me in his arms.
This kiss is desperate and full of everything neither of us has been able to say.
My heart does cartwheels in my chest, while my mind comes up with every possible scenario. One after another. Good. Bad. Beautiful.
They all lead me back to the same place.
Him.
It’s always been him.
“Fuck, I missed you,” he rasps against my lips, his hands trembling where he touches me. His fingers slide up into the back of my hair, pressing me closer to him until there’s not an inch of space between us. My body vibrates. My heart may as well take a leave of absence. I’m not sure it’s even functioning properly with how hard it’s beating.
I keep kissing him, not ready to give him up. It’s been such a long time, the nights stretching endlessly without him. I crave him with every fiber of my being.
Everything else can wait.
When the kiss breaks, Levi’s eyes never leave mine as he carries me deeper into the room. There’s something primal in his gaze—something possessive, almost reverent. Like he can’t believe I’m real. Like he’s afraid I might disappear if he lets go.
“Tell me this is real,” he says, his voice rough and low.
“It’s real,” I whisper, threading my fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck.
“Tell me not to touch you, Ava, and I’ll stop. I don’t want to do this if you aren’t ready.”
“I’m ready,” I breathe. Reaching up, I trace the scar on his lip with my fingertips, and he closes his eyes against my touch. “I’m tired of living without you.”
“You’ve always had me, Ava.”
He groans and his mouth crashes down on mine before I can say anything else—hungry, claiming, desperate. I taste the fire in him. The restraint barely leashed. The heat that’s been simmering between us for far too long.
He sets me down, but only so his hands can roam. My T-shirt hits the floor, and his jeans follow. He lays me back on the bed and looms over me, watching me like I’m the most goddamn beautiful thing he’s ever seen.
Like I’m his religion now.
His shirt drops to the floor, revealing skin I’ve touched a hundred times but never like this—as his. Every hard plane, every muscle shifting under ink and scars, is mine now. And God, the way he looks at me, like he’s starving, sends a wicked thrill down my spine.
Levi crawls onto the bed, slow and predatory, and settles between my thighs like he belongs there—because he does.
“I’ve missed you so fucking much, baby girl . . .” he breathes, his hands roaming my body. “And I’m going to spend the rest of my life showing you just how much you mean to me.”
The night passes in a blur. I can’t tell where his body begins and mine ends, but I know I never want to give him up again. Never want to feel like half my heart is missing.
I claim every inch of him the same way he claims me. Feverishly. Hungrily.
“Say it,” I whisper, so lost in riding him, all it would take is a breath of air, and I would come.
“Fucking hell,” he curses, his head falling back to the pillows. He drags his hand through my hair and tugs me down, pressing his lips against mine. “I love you, Ava. Is that what you want to hear? How fucking desperate I am for you?”
“Yes,” I whimper, unable to do much else but roll my hips against him. His groin brushes my clit, and he holds me there, one hand in my hair and the other on my ass, moving me over his cock. “I love you,” I gasp, and that’s all it takes.
I splinter around him, crying out his name as I clamp down hard, the orgasm ripping through me like lightning. My vision whites out. My body bucks.
I feel him everywhere—under my skin, in my blood, deep inside me.
