Page 99 of Most Likely to Fear Love

The first stroke of my tongue had her gasping, back arching off the bed. I took my time exploring her, alternating between teasing licks and firm strokes, drinking in every response like aman dying of thirst. Each moan, every tremor of her thighs, I wanted to remember it all.

When I slid two fingers inside her again, her body clenched around them, still sensitive from her first orgasm. I curled them just right, knowing exactly how she liked it now. Knowing I might never get to use this knowledge again.

“Oh god,” Cassidy gasped, her thighs trembling on either side of my head. “Please...”

I hummed against her, the vibrations making her cry out. Her hips bucked against my face as I increased the pressure, wanting to drive her wild one last time. Her fingers tightened in my hair. Another sensation for me to miss.

“That’s it, darlin’,” I murmured, my breath hot against her sensitive flesh. “Let go for me. I’ve got you.”

I always would, if she’d let me.

With a final curl of my fingers and a hard suck on her clit, Cassidy shattered. Her back arched off the bed as she came, my name falling from her lips like a prayer. I worked her through it, easing off only when she tugged weakly at my hair.

I was hard and ready for her so I crawled up her body, sliding my arm under her shoulders so I could hold her close. The knowledge that this might be our last time together made my chest ache. She wrapped her legs around my waist, tilting her hips up in silent invitation, and the trust in her eyes nearly broke me.

With my gaze locked on hers I slid inside her, the overwhelming sense of connection almost undoing me.

Cassidy’s fingers dug into my back as I rocked into her, each thrust a reminder of what I’d be losing. Her breath hitched with each movement, those little gasps of pleasure that I’d grown addicted to. That I’d miss like breathing.

I couldn’t get enough, drinking in the sight of her - her flushed cheeks, parted lips, the way the morning light caught thegold in her hair. Her eyes were dark with desire but swimming with something deeper, something that made my heart race.

“Harle,” she moaned, arching into me, and Christ, the way she said my name - like a prayer, like a promise she knew she couldn’t keep.

I captured her lips in another desperate kiss, pouring everything I couldn’t voice into it. All the words stuck in my throat. How she’d changed me, how she’d made this house feel like a home, how I’d wake up tomorrow reaching for her.

Her nails raked down my back, spurring me on, and I could feel her starting to tighten around me. My free hand found hers, pinning it above her head, our fingers intertwining. One last connection, one last moment of being completely wrapped up in each other.

“That’s it, darlin’,” I encouraged, feeling her trembling beneath me. “One more for me. Let me see you, Cass. Let me remember you like this.”

The words slipped out before I could stop them, too honest, too revealing. But Cassidy’s only response was to pull me closer, her legs tightening around my waist as if she never wanted to let go.

My hand worked between us, circling her clit as I drove deeper. Her body fluttered around me, her breath coming in short gasps. I was close too, but I needed to see her fall apart one more time. Needed to carry this memory with me.

“Harle, I’m—” Her words cut off in a cry as she shattered, her body arching off the bed, her inner muscles clenching around me. The sight of her coming undone, knowing I’d done this to her, pushed me over the edge. I buried myself deep inside her as I came, her name falling from my lips like a confession.

Like the ‘I love you’ she wasn’t ready to hear from me.

The suitcase feltlike it weighed a thousand pounds as I carried it down the porch steps. Each thud of my boots against wood marked another moment closer to watching her leave. To letting her go.

The morning light filtered through the trees, casting dappled shadows across the path to her car, and even nature seemed to be mocking me. Everything looked too damn perfect. The sky was too fucking blue, the air was too crisp, for a morning that felt like someone was carving out my insides with a rusty spoon.

Cassidy walked beside me, her arms wrapped around herself like she was trying to hold something in. Or keep something out. The space between us crackled with everything unsaid, and Christ, there was so much I wanted to say.

Stay. I love you. Don’t leave.

The words pressed against my teeth, desperate to escape, but I swallowed them back. Because the truth was, she could be carrying my child right now, and that complicated everything. What kind of asshole would I be, dropping that emotional bomb on her when she was already dealing with so much?

So I kept walking, one foot in front of the other, watching from the corner of my eye as she stared at the ground like it held all the answers we were both looking for.

The gravel crunched beneath our feet, each step a countdown I wasn’t ready for. Ten steps from the porch, her shoulder brushed mine. Accident or intention, I couldn’t tell. Twenty steps, and I caught the scent of her shampoo on the morning breeze, that hint of vanilla that had become as familiar as breathing. Thirty steps, and my fingers itched to reach for her, to pull her close one last time.

But I didn’t. Because starting something now would be like striking a match just to watch it burn out.

She stumbled slightly on a loose stone, and my hand shot out automatically to steady her. The brief contact sent electricity racing up my arm, and damn if that wasn’t a perfect metaphor for everything about us. One touch and I was lit up like a Christmas tree.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, pulling away quickly. But not before I caught the slight tremor in her voice, the way her eyes darted everywhere but at me.

The car waited at the end of the drive like a damn time bomb, counting down the seconds until she’d drive away. And here I was, the guy who could fix anything you put in front of me, completely helpless to stop what was coming.

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