Page 77 of My Rival for Christmas

I stretch up onto my toes, needing to be closer to him, needing him to understand that I mean every word, to show him that I’m not going anywhere as his tongue plunges past my lips.

I might not have been able to show my feelings for him in the past, to love him in the way he has always deserved, but I’m ready to atone for my neglect, ready to show him just how serious I am.

“God.” Nate pulls his mouth away, his breath labored, as if he had been holding it this entire time. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to hear you say those words. To hear you pick me.”

My chest swells at the desire in his words, at the relief and hunger. “I’ll pick you over and over for the rest of my life, Nate, to make up for all the times I didn’t.”

With a growl, his lips are back on mine, moving at a commanding pace, sealing my words like a promise, a vow. Never to be apart from each other again. Knowing we’ve always worked better this way. As a team instead of rivals.

My nails dig into his hips, feeling his erection rub against my lower belly. I grind into him, chasing a feeling only he can create as it stirs inside me.

I gasp as Nate trails his lips over my jaw, his teeth pulling a shiver down my spine, as he coasts over a sensitive part of my skin, and I fight to give myself over to the sensations wreaking havoc on me.

Sinking further and further?—

WAIT!Frantically, I push against Nate’s shoulders, needing him to hear me as I blurt,“Iloveyou.”

My words are as desperate and as frantic as I feel, like they’ve been sitting inside me for far too long and they now need to escape. They need to be heard. “I love you,” I repeat, the words clearer, but both times equally true.

Nate is still against me, and I feel his heart pounding against my chest. His stare is blazing, coaxing the small fire in my belly to spread.

“I tried so hard to hate you, to forget all the times we’ve shared together, but nothing I did worked. You have always been here, inside me. Waiting. And I don’t want to deny myself any longer. I don’t want to deny myselfyou.I love you, Nathan Gabriel Ford. And I’m going to love you until the word no longer exists and we have to come up with something new for what is between us.”

Translation: I’m going to love him forever.

“Paige.”His voice cracks around my name, and my heart seizes, aching for him. Needing to comfort him.

“I love you.” I kiss his mouth. “I love you.” His beard tickles my lips as I coast over it to kiss his neck. “I love you.”

I want to chase away any doubts lingering in his mind. To eliminate him questioning the validity to this, to us. This isn’t just a moment we’re stealing from time, but the start of a journey we’ve never embarked on together.

A journey that’s been waiting for us.

So I kiss my way down his body, telling him how I feel every inch between, until I sink onto my knees. Heated interest flares in his gaze as I roll his sweatpants down with me, licking down his happy trail.

Ready to claim him as he’s laboriously claimed me.

The gray fabric pools around his ankles. His wolf tattoo on his thigh, the very first one he got all those years ago, stares at me. But I can’t focus on anything as his straining erection springs free.

Long and curved with prominent veins running down the sides, my mouth waters at the red, angry head right in front of me. Wanting, needing a taste.

The spot between my legs throbs, demanding to know what it feels like to have it buried to the hilt inside me. Filling me. Ruining me.

Soon,I promise, as I run a curious finger along one of the veins.

“Fuck, Paige.” Nate’s fingers curl into my hair, holding the strands out of my face, staring at me like he’s about to devour me. “First you tell me you love me, and now this? How do you expect a man to last?” He shakes his head, like he’s unable to believe his life right now. “You look so good on your knees, baby. So nice and pretty, looking like you want to please me. I can’t take it.”

I preen under the praise, the ache between my legs growing as I peer up at him from beneath my lashes. “Have you ever thought about me being on my knees for you before?”

“Only every time I’ve touched my dick. You’re my only fantasy, Paige. The only one I’ve wanted, only one I’ve ever needed.”

I grab his words, holding them tight. Knowing how true they are. Nate’s only ever wanted me.

I’ve only ever wanted him.

“What did I do in them?” I can’t help but wonder, my chest heavy with possibilities. “I want to make you feel good.”

More than good. I want to bring him to his knees.

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