Page 70 of Echos and Empires
William’s hands cupped her face, anchoring her in this moment, grounding her in the only reality that mattered. She felt him tremble beneath her, felt him hold back until she begged him not to, until she begged him for everything.
“I’m yours,” she said, and the words were an offering, an absolution, a truth she hadn’t dared speak aloud until now.
His shirt came off first, quickly discarded on the rocks before he kicked off his boots and tugged his pants down. His eyes never left hers for a single moment.
Emma knew weight of his doubts melted away, his focus entirely on what was real and present between them. This was her way of showing him, her way of reassuring him, and as his hands roamed her stomach, she knew he felt it too. He was still careful, but not as careful as before, and when he lay back, letting her take him in, she saw all of his uncertainties dissolve into a breathless clarity. For the first time since she’d found him, she was reminded of how much things had changed. Changed again. Emma thought of her men, of what they meant, of how they would make it through this and anything else the world threw at them.
She felt it fully, body and soul, the certainty of William, of them. The tension inside her broke, uncoiling with a ferocity that made her gasp. He held her hips, grinding against her within entering, the contact sending waves through her, centering her, giving her more than she thought possible.
“Emma,” William said, voice ragged with wonder and want.
The sound of her name on his lips was a new kind of magic, a new kind of promise. He sat up, folding her against him, their skin pressed together like it was meant to be, like it had always been meant to be.
Emma moved against him, their bodies speaking a language older than words. The heat of their connection, the sheer,beautiful physicality of it, lifted her out of the darkness she’d been lost in. Out of the doubt and the fear and the unknown.
“I’m here,” she said, the words tumbling out in time with the beat of her heart, the rhythm of their movements. “I’m here, William.”
Her conviction was an anchor, pulling him with her, pulling him to a place where there was nothing but this moment, nothing but them. She felt him yield to it, felt him surrender with a breathless sigh.
They came together again, breathless and bold and bursting with life. A tangle of limbs and need, a perfect storm of wanting and having, and Emma let it crash over her, let it carry her away.
Her hands braced against William’s chest as she climbed up his body. She took him in, inch by undeniable inch, lowering herself until she was so full of him she thought she might break. Her breath was ragged as she settled, as she moved against him in a rhythm that felt ancient and familiar and right.
William lay back, his eyes locked with hers, the weight of everything else sliding away. She rode him slowly at first, savoring the stretch and the heat and the way his cock filled her, then faster when his hands reached up to cup her breasts. His touch sent jolts of pleasure ripping through her. She couldn’t hold on—didn’t want to.
Her voice rose in unison with their intensity, each movement a declaration of everything she’d missed and everything they’d been without.
The world dissolved around them—the cave, the cold, the months they’d spent apart—and Emma found herself rising on a tide of pure sensation. It was all too intense and yet not enough. Her hips moved faster as William’s thumbs grazed her nipples, igniting a fire that surged through her whole body.
She came undone gracefully, beautifully, stars bursting behind her eyes as she cried out into the darkness. Her nails bit into William’s skin, the world went white hot.
The tightness inside her gave way to release, pulsing around him in waves that took her breath away.
“Emma,” William said again, this time more urgent as he thrust up to meet her movements.
He held off for another heartbeat—two—before he let himself follow. Together they tumbled over the edge with a wildness that was everything she’d missed.
Emma collapsed against his chest, trembling from the intensity of it all. They stayed tangled like that for what felt like an eternity—a perfect pause where nothing mattered but this.
Then William pulled her closer, his lips brushing against her forehead in a gesture so gentle it made tears spring to her eyes.
“We’re okay,” he whispered. “We’re really okay.”
She nodded, feeling it everywhere at once. In her heart, her bones, in every place inside herself she’d thought might never be whole again.
Her head rested against his chest, and she listened to the wild, glorious music of his heart. The music of their hearts, of what they meant, of who they were.
For the first time since seeing him, the world snapped back into focus. It was a different world, a world that had changed again, but it was theirs. She closed her eyes, losing herself in the scent of William, in the feel of him, in the truth of what they had.
“I’m yours,” he said, a small, certain sound in the vastness. “Yours, Emma. Always.”
And she knew he meant it. Knew with the kind of clarity that only came from sharing the same breath, the same space, the same life. The truth of it swelled inside her, sweet and sharp and consuming.
Her doubts, her fears, her worries—they were nothing against the conviction that filled her, nothing against the unshakable certainty of William’s presence. He was with her. He was real.
Emma thought of Chris, of Bash, of Liam and Alex. She thought of how they’d all changed, and how she’d changed with them. How everything was different, new, but real.
Her love for them was the sun she orbited, the star that guided her through the darkest nights. With them, she could be anyone, do anything, survive everything. Even this. Especially this.
