Page 151 of After All This Time

Easier said than done when the clock is ticking down, and I'm about to lose the love of my damn life for the next six months.

"Hey," she murmurs, moving closer. "How was your day?"

My hands find her waist before she can take another breath, pulling her so close I can feel her heartbeat against mine.

"I had to shade some old-school tribal, and I was bored out of my mind."

With a featherlight kiss to my jaw, she slips her fingers through mine.

The plate she passes me is warm, and after she picks her slices first, I load up my own with what's left of the pizza.

Our carefully constructed conversations flow seamlessly, each rolling into the next like waves we're too afraid to stop riding. We laugh, tease, and push each other's buttons just enough to keep things normal. Both of us doing everything we can to avoid acknowledging what tonight really means—and what tomorrow will bring when the sun rises.

I'm holding onto her with everything I've got, and she doesn't even know it. My eyes are recording every single detail—the wayher fingers curl around her wine glass, how her hair falls when she tilts her head just so, the precise shape of her smile when she's trying not to show how much this is destroying her.

Tomorrow is coming.

And I'm not fucking ready.

Amelia'spressed against me, her body fitting into mine like we were designed in the same breath.Her eyes are on the screen, her focus seemingly elsewhere, but my world has narrowed entirely to her.

Leaning in, I press a soft kiss to her arm, right where her tank leaves her skin bare. The sound she makes—a single, trembling exhale—shatters what little control I'm clinging to.

It's not just a sound.

It's surrender.

It's permission.

My fingers find her thin strap, and I slide it down her shoulder, exposing more of her to me. My lips follow the path of skin I'm revealing, and I take my time, making every second count. It's not rushed, not desperate. Each kiss is a promise, a goodbye, and a fuck you to the universe that's about to rip us apart.

She shudders beneath me, her body speaking a language only I understand, and I know she's drowning in this just like I am.

When she turns to me, her eyesmeetmine,andreality fractures. Everything outside of this moment dissolves, leaving only her.

Just us.

I reach for her, cupping her face in my hand, my thumb tracing along the line of her jaw.

I surge forward, my fingers tangling in her hair, angling her head back to devour her mouth. The kiss turns savage, and when she moans, something snaps inside me. That soundrips throughmy body like a bullet, and I chase it with my tongue, drinking herinlike it's the last taste of heaven I'll ever get.

She turns to face me, her hands gripping the hem of my T-shirt before lifting it over my head. I let myself fall back, watching her through heavy-lidded eyes. Her hands move over my body, fingers mapping the planes of my chest and stomach, and I let her indulge.

When her mouth finds my chest, I can't tear my eyes from the way shedrags herlipsacross my skin. Her tongue flicks against my nipple, tugging at the barbell, and fuck me—my head drops back,anda groan tearsfrom my throat as my cock pulses against my jeans, a desperate reminder of how badly I need her.

"Come here, baby." The words come out wrecked.

She rises, and I'm already reaching for her, my hands finding the delicate edge of her tank. When I pull it over her head, the sight of her bare breasts stops me moving, and I can't do anything but stare at her like she'll disappear if I so much as blink.

She crashes into me, her mouth finding mine, and this kiss—fuck, this kiss is pure desperation.Her tongue claims me like she's pouring everything she feels into it. She craves me, needs me, and I feel it in every sweep of her tongue and every breath we share until I can barely tell where I end and she begins.

When she tears herself away, I’m fixated on her. Her thumbs hook into the waistband of her sweats, and she slowly lowers them down her body, leaving me torn between wanting her to hurry the hell up or drag it out as long as possible so I can savor every second.

She's bareunderneath, and my gaze is drawn to every curve, every inch of skin that my hands and mouth are desperate to touch.

My hands make quick work of the rest of my clothes until I'm sitting naked on the couch, and for a moment, we simply stare ateach other. It's not the first time we've seen each other like this—far from it.

And yet, this feels different.

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