Page 15 of True Fate

His molten gaze locked with hers as he leaned in, lifting her high against his chest. He seized her lips, his tremors rippling through her, setting her aflame. “I’m going to have you in my bed. More than once. But right now, this minute, I need you here.” He grinned, a roguish flash of confidence. “And I think you need me.”

Halting by the fireplace, he let her slide down his body, his hands steadying her until she found her balance. Then he turned, flipped a switch, and the gas logs roared to life.

She tilted her head, smile ready. “Are you seducing me, Justin True?”

“You got there first. Thirteen years ago.” Cradling her face, he leaned in to kiss her—fully, gently—pulling her into his body, into his soul, until she feared she’d never find her way out.

They sank to their knees, hands and mouths learning each other all over again, a slow, reverent rediscovery. Around them, longing spun a cocoon of intimacy so fragile and spellbound, it felt like it might vanish if they moved too fast.

Justin laid her back on the rug, bracing on his forearms as he settled over her. His body hovered above hers, the heat between them a living thing, pulsing, undeniable. But he hesitated, gaze locked on hers, searching for something—confirmation, courage, maybe both.

Why did she have to love a deep thinker?

Most men would have taken what was offered and called it enough. But he’d always wanted more. Her truth, her surrender. Herlove.

“I’m here,” she murmured and glided her hands down his back to his hips.

“I know.” A bead of sweat rolled down his temple, and Lainey realized he was holding back.

When the weight of this moment meant the world to her, too.

Needing him to understand, she locked her legs around his and arched into him. Inviting madness.

“I get your game,” he murmured, his voice rough, his breath hot against her cheek. Positioning himself, no hesitate this time, he drove into her in a single, brutal thrust.

Then he found a rhythm—deliberate, punishing, and meant to ruin her.

Ruin themboth.

She matched him with everything she had, their bodies perfectly in sync.

She drank in the sight of him rising above her, the hard lines of his face drawn with focus, and tucked it away like something sacred.

His lips parted on a ragged groan, the sound raw and unrestrained. His shoulders and biceps flexed, knuckles white as his fists clenched at his sides.

“I’m not going to last long,” he whispered, sliding his hand between them, his thumb teasing her still-sensitive clit. He caught her gasp before it escaped, swallowing it in a kiss that was as fierce as it was tender.

Lainey pressed a moan into the moist skin of his jaw. “Where did you learn this?”

Justin laughed, a first for her during sex, his dimple flaring to life. “Carnegie Hall.”

The sharp sting of jealousy was trampled by desire. His hands, his lips, his teeth stole every thought until all that remained was sensation—nerve endings firing, her body no longer her own but something wild and alive beneath him.

She wanted. She ached. For him. Only him.

When he leaned in, sucking her nipple between his lips, her world began to shatter.

Again.

Sensing she was ready to fall, he pulled her close, their slick skin pressed together, moisture pooling along his chest and neck. His breath came in quick, unsteady bursts, his body shaking with restraint. He groaned low, whispering words that held no meaning, and she answered with unspoken yearning, a language all their own.

“Now,” she breathed, and kissed him like it was the only way to survive. Hungry, aching, desperate for relief. For release. Forhim.

“This, Lain,this.” Anchoring her leg high on his hip, he thrust into her, setting a deep, relentless rhythm that erased the space between their bodies, their hearts. There was no room left for anything but that pure, blinding connection.

He waited for her, and the moment she cried out, her body clenching around him, he dropped his forehead to her shoulder with a muttered oath, pleasure crashing through him.

His trembling hands rose, framing her face as he kissed her—gentle, tender, a moment of pure, final bliss. They shook together, gasping, the air around them thick with the scent of sex. She gripped his back, his shoulders, vision swimming as pinpricks of black danced at the edges, unable to hold on to anything but the feel of him. Thenow.

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