Page 52 of Tempest

“Yes, I do. That’s what you do when you love someone.”

The words hung in the air around them. He should probably be embarrassed he’d just blurted that out without meaning to, but he wasn’t. He couldn’t be. It was true, and hewantedCash to know. There was still a sliver of worry inside him that things would change between them once all of his memories were back, and he needed to let Cash know how he felt before it was maybe too late.

Cash shifted one of his hands to better support him and then lifted the other to palm the side of Ore’s face. It was wet and cold, but he leaned into it anyway, always so hungry for his touch.

“You love me?” Cash asked hoarsely, voice barely more than a whisper.

He held Cash’s hopeful and terrified eyes. “I do. I think I fell for you that first night. When you let me into your bed without hesitation because I was scared and didn’t want to be alone.”

A rush of air gusted out of Cash’s mouth as his eyes squeezed shut, and he bowed his head for a second. Ore stroked one of his bristly cheeks, down his neck to his shoulder, and then back up, soothing him as best as he could.

“Are you okay?” he murmured, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

Cash nodded and lifted his face, tears shining in his eyes. “Yeah. I just… Fuck, I didn’t realize it would hit me so hard. Knowing you feel the same way I do is… Goddess, it’s like the sun is shining in my chest, warming me from the inside out.”

Ore smiled softly, brushing a thumb under Cash’s eyes and prompting, “You feel the same way?”

“Yes,” Cash said, grinning so widely Ore could just about count all his teeth. “I love you, my beautiful, sweet, sexy bird. Ifought it so long, trying to protect myself, but loving you isn’t a risk. It’s… everything. I don’t need anything else.”

Ore’s heart thumped like a bass drum, his blood heating and spreading out from his chest to his limbs. He was hyperaware of how close—and alone—they were, his skin becoming so sensitive every brush of water sent a shiver through him until he was a vibrating mess of excitement and joy.

“I want you to have everything though,” Ore insisted. “We’ll figure something out. If we need to leave, we’ll find a pack that sees the value in you and your skills and will make you an Enforcer right away.”

Cash grunted and shrugged, taking a few steps forward. “Maybe Kincaid needs another.”

The name tickled at Ore’s brain, and then he gasped and slapped at Cash’s chest. “The guy who blew up the Shifter Council?”

“Remember that, huh?”

“Yes! And we’re not going somewhere where you’d be in danger all the time. He has too many enemies now.”

Cash stopped, the water at his waist now. “Yes, dear.”

Ore huffed and rolled his eyes. “I’m serious. We’ll find a nice peaceful andsafepack. One full of cubs for you to play with.”

Brushing his thumb over Ore’s cheek, Cash tipped his lips up. “What about a few of our own?”

Ore swallowed and stared at him. “You’d want that?”

“If you do.”

He could picture it so damn easily. A bigger house full of hatchlings—or cubs, or pups, or whoever needed them—and noise and so much love it was bursting at the seams.

“I think I do,” he whispered, then shivered. Now that some of his wet skin was exposed, he was getting cold. “Let’s go home, baby. We can argue over names for our future kids.”

“Not just yet.” Cash planted both hands on Ore’s ass and lowered him into the water.

He sucked in a breath, his mostly hard dick brushing against Cash’s much,muchbigger one. Which wasfullyhard. He shivered for a whole new reason, peering up into Cash’s softly glowing eyes.

Holding his gaze, Cash used his hold to press Ore more tightly against him and then lifted him, rubbing Ore up the entire length of Cash’s cock. He moaned—loudly—and threw his head back.

“Oh goddess.Again.”

Cash chuckled, but it was a little shaky, his fingers digging into Ore’s cheeks as he did as Ore demanded. The slow grind down and then back up was just as good as the first time. He grasped at Cash’s shoulders, needing to hold on to something as his mate rocked his damn world with some frottage.

In a lake.

Under a radiant moon.

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