Page 109 of Cinder
Another smile. “I like you.”
“I like you too.”
She winks and moves away, and I have to shake my head as I chuckle.
This place. These people. They’re easy to love.
When I look up, I see Lars at the table and a flash of giddy excitement soars through me.
And he is the easiest of all to love.
I just wish I could keep him.
Walking back to him, I can’t keep the smile from my lips. He pulls me onto his lap and wraps his arms around me.
He nuzzles his face into my neck. “You look good in this dress.”
“Thank you.”
“But I’m counting the minutes before I can take it off you.”
“Yeah? And how many minutes do you think that will be?”
He brings his lips to my ear. “I’m just waiting for a sign you want to leave.”
I reach behind me and brush my palm across his zipper.
“Consider that a sign.”
CHAPTER 49
Lars
We kissin the soft glow of my bedroom. Her fingers tangle in my hair, and mine settle on her waist, pulling her closer until there’s not a breath between us. The world fades. No club. No blood on my hands. No past. Just her and me and this perfect moment in the golden light.
A soft moan slips from her throat, and it ruins me, cracks something open I didn’t know I still had left.
I kiss her harder, slower, like I’m pouring every word I don’t know how to say into her mouth. I love you. I’m yours. I want this.This and so much more.
Her hands slide under my shirt, desperate now, and I lift her into me like she weighs nothing. Our bodies close, her thighswrapping around me, heat blooming between us like wildfire.
I carry her to the bed without breaking the kiss and lay her down. I slowly remove her clothes, my eyes glittering over every perfect inch of her. Then I join her, skin to skin, heart to heart. And when I sink into her, it’s not just about the pleasure, or the way my eyes roll to the back of my head at the euphoria, it’s about knowing without a doubt I have found the other half of my heart.
Her body wraps around me, warm and trembling, and I’m so far gone, I don’t know where I end and she begins. I kiss her like I need it to breathe, slow and deep, as my hips slowly rock into her.
I close my eyes and see her belly growing with my baby.
Oh God…
The thought brings me to the brink.
I imagine running my hands over her belly, feeling the roundness, her lips curved in that sleepy smile she only gives me.
And fuck, it unravels me. I move into her harder, my strokes slower, deeper, like I’m already trying to make it real. Because this isn’t just sex. Not anymore. This is worship. This is love. This iseverything.
I bury my face in her neck as I bury myself deep in her core, needing her to feel it—what she’s doing to me. What we are.What we could be.
I can’t hold back.
