Page 103 of Hero for the Holidays

“Fia,” he whispered against her lips.

And then he began to move, driving them both toward the brink. Filling them both with pleasure.

And something beyond that. Something bigger. Bigger than everything.

He flexed his hips forward, and she gasped, and he did it again, and again, his movements becoming hard, intense.

“I need you,” he spoke against her lips.

“Yes,” she whispered.

There was nothing but the sound of their need. Skin on skin, their raging heartbeats. Mingled breaths.

Her fingernails drawing blood on his forearms.

He wanted it to hurt. As much as he wanted to feel good. He wanted to be torn in two by this endless, yawning need inside of him. Oh, how he wanted it.

“Fuck me,” she whispered.

He growled, driving his hips forward.

“Oh, Landry,” she said.

And when she clung to him, crying out her climax, her internal muscles gripping him tight, he lost himself. He buried his head in the crook of her neck and poured himself inside of her. His orgasm a roar, echoing in his head. Thirteen years of need coalescing just then. Into this endless glory.

“Fia,” he whispered against her neck.

“That was amazing,” she said.

He pulled her against him, overwhelmed. Overcome.

He wasn’t a man who gave a lot of thought to his emotions. At least, he hadn’t over the past few years. By design, really. Because all of his emotions had been pretty toxic. And had he looked too closely at himself he would’ve seen his father a long time ago.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“You said that.”

“But I really feel it,” he said. “The way that I... The way that I broke what we had.”

“I think what we had broke because it was crushed beneath the weight of something that was too big for either of us. The thing is, I can’t hate you for handling something wrong when you were seventeen, because if I think we were too immature to be parents then I guess I have to admit we were too young to handle our relationship with each other too.”

“But that isn’t an excuse for what I did...”

“We can keep going over and over all of it,” she said, tracing lines by his eyes, down the side of his mouth.

“What are you doing?”

“Just checking where your face has aged.”

He laughed. “I think most of it is from the last few weeks.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. We’ve lived in the past for a long time. Let’s stop.”

“That easy?”

“No. But the past just isn’t as important as where we are now.”

He let out a loud sigh, and he kissed her forehead. “This is perfect.”

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