Page 111 of Only Ever You

“I love you, Bash. I’ve only ever lovedyou.” Faye watched him take her in, her declaration that she’d hit him with and how it softened every line and crease on his face, making its way down to that stupidly giant heart inside of him. “If there was anyone I could want to fall stupidly in love with, it was only ever you.”

“I’m an idiot, Peanut,” Bash said through a watery smile.

Faye nodded quickly. “Yes.” Hands on the thickness of his neck, she closed the distance between them. “But you’remine.”

Their lips met and Faye’s heart roared like thunder. Bash’s body froze for less than a second before his arms banded around her lower back and pulled her up against him, lifting her onto her toes. Hot and eager and claiming with his kiss.

Fingers carded into her hair while Bash tilted her head, parted her lips, and Faye let herself be swept away in the heady taste of longing on his tongue, like it wasn’t enough to be kissing her, or for her body to be flush up against his as she clutched at his shoulders.

Heat erupted from her core that told her exactly how this night would end, hitting in one knee-weakening wave under her skin before burning through her chest.

Sheneededto be a part of him, and a certain part of Bash under the surfaceof his clothes felt like it needed to be inside of her too.

“Faye … Faye …” Bash lifted his lips for an interlude, enough for her to catch her breath for the briefest moment. Lips tingling and heart raising its fist against her chest for escape.

He kissed her greedily that time, a hand losing itself to her hair and the back of her head as he backed her up. When she pressed to a wall, she gasped with the cold surprise and tugged where her fingers scrunched up his shirt. He slotted his thigh between both of hers until she was straddled upon his leg and reaching up on her toes for more. Wanting to devour him.

Bash’s body was damn solid and his lips moved with hers so perfectly that Faye was lightheaded in an instant. Heat burned through his t-shirt and he moaned shamelessly into her mouth as she testingly tugged on his hair.

“Tell me what you want to happen, Faye.” His rasp was barely restrained. “Because I don’t think that I can let you go.”

“Don’t,” Faye managed between her panting. “Don’t let me go.” She crushed a long kiss to his lips. “But please take me upstairs instead.”

With the swiftness that Bash grabbed her waist and tugged her along with him, she wondered why she’d even needed to ask.

34

FAYE

This.Was. Happening.

Faye flicked on the light of the spare bedroom they stumbled into and hoped that Mrs Papplewick wasn’t a window watcher, or else she’d be getting a show tonight.Wardrobe. Drawers. Nightstands.She wasn’t concerned with anything other than the bed made up with white sheets in the centre of the room.

Spinning her to face him, Bash captured her mouth with all of the intensity he’d repressed for years. Faye ignored the cold scent of the unused room to breathe him in instead – his heady tang emanating with every impatient bump of their bodies.

His hands on her neck held her like he was afraid she’d slip away, but she wouldn’t dream of it. A few presses of his lips after she’d thought of them for a decade weren’t nearly enough.

Taking in every dip and groove of his arms, Faye tugged on his t-shirt. “I need this off.”

Bash grabbed the material by the scruff of the neck and pulled it off in one clean, too-sexy sweep, leaving his hair more rumpled than her fingers had already made it. How handsome he was when mussed was completely unfair.

The shirt landed somewhere – Faye didn’t pay attention. Her focus fell on theinches and inches of warm, bare, Bash-scented skin in front of her. Goosebumps rose on his smooth skin as she traced lazy patterns over his chest, crossing every endless freckle. Her thumbs passed over his nipples and?—

“Fuck me, Faye.” Bash slowly groaned.

“Yes.” Though Faye, in her excited state, wasn’t sure it’d been a request. “Yes. That. Yes.”

Hands were under her sweatshirt and lifting it up before she could. Had she known this would happen, she’d have worn her black bra trimmed with lace with more intent, thanking whatever controlled her fate that she’d chosen to wear it today.

Taking her in, Bash’s jaw loosened and he dragged in a deep breath, pupils so wide that his eyes weren’t blue anymore. “Can I touch you? Please?” He sounded like he might burst if she denied him.

When she’d wondered how courteous he’d be in bed … this was half her answer.

Faye traced her palms up his arms to his sculpted shoulders. “Anything you want.”

Bash’s pupils obliterated the blue-green sea that normally surrounded them. He cupped one of her breasts, studying how she grazed her lower lip with her teeth, before he bent and flattened his tongue over the lace.

A strangled sound flew out of Faye – she’d been devoid of touch for far too long. The force of her panting brought her strained nipple more into Bash’s mouth as the dampness of his tongue spread through to her skin.

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