Page 71 of Raven

I unlocked the door and stepped aside so Beatrice could walk in first. As soon as she crossed the threshold, she stopped. Took a breath.

Then another.

Her shoulders softened.

“This place smells like you,” she whispered, almost to herself. “It smells like home.”

“It is home,” I said gently. “Yours. If you want it.”

She turned, her lips parted slightly.

I crossed to her, set my hands on her waist, and pulled her in. “I’ve been carrying this around with me since the day I left. Every mission. Every moment. It’s always been you, Bea.”

“I missed you so much,” she said, tears forming again. “I didn’t know if it would feel the same when you returned. But it does. It’s better.”

“I told you I’d come back.” I touched her cheek. “And I meant it when I said I’d always return to you.”

She pressed her cheek on my chest, and I could feel how deeply she needed to believe that—how badly she wanted this to be real.

So I gave her something solid.

“I want you here. With me. Permanently.”

She pulled back just enough to look me in the eye.

“You mean—live with you?”

“I mean, unpack your things. Fill this place with your mess. Let Mandy and Mike take over the bed. Let me wake up next to you, every single morning. I mean marry me. I love you.”

Her lips trembled.

“Say yes, Bea,” I whispered. “Say you’re mine.”

A beat of silence.

“Yes.”

35

Beatrice

I leaned backand looked into his eyes. The want I felt for him was overpowering me and I knew it was him too. Six weeks apart. A brush with death. The kind of fear that sinks into your marrow and makes you question how many tomorrows you’ll get.

As soon as the front door closed behind us, something inside me snapped loose.

We didn’t speak.

We didn’t need to.

His jacket was gone in seconds. My shirt hit the floor a breath later. I backed him up toward the bathroom, kissing him like I was starved for him, which I was. His hands roamed my back, my ribs, my hips like he was mapping my body all over again. Clothes trailed in our wake, piece by piece, until we stood naked under the bright lights of the bathroom, breathing hard, foreheads touching.

Raven turned on the shower, steam curling into the air as he reached for me again, lifting me like I weighed nothing. My back hit the cool tile, his mouth hot against my neck. We moved together under the spray; the heat of the water was nothing compared to the fire burning in us.

I wrapped my legs around him, gasping as he slid into me—slow at first, like he needed to feel every inch of me again. I cried out his name, fingers digging into his back. He kissed me hard, deep, like he couldn’t bear to let go even for a second.

“Mine,” he murmured against my mouth, his voice rough, reverent.

“Always,” I whispered.

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