Page 102 of Dirty Puck

“What?” I practically gasped the word.

Like he’d flipped a switch, all traces of that ‘benefits Reece’ vanished and my Baker stood in front of me again, showing me an almost childlike vulnerability, using his eyes to speak all the words he couldn’t quite get out yet. His mouth moved over mine with the hunger I’d been longing for. Like someone who’d finally realized what he was about to lose.

“I thought I lost you,” he breathed, lips brushing my throat. “God, I was so damn scared I’d lost you.”

“You did,” I whispered, threading my fingers into his hair. “But I would’ve come back. All you had to do was ask.”

“I’m asking now,” he rasped, kissing his way down my neck, open-mouthed and slow. “Stay. Be mine. Please.”

My breath hitched. My heart pounded so hard, it felt like it would burst. I glided my fingers to curl around his face, thumb brushing over the roughness of his cheek. He peeled my fear away with aching care, watching every inch of skin he caressed like it mattered. His hands traced reverent paths across my chest, down my sides. I was trembling, from the cold, from the heat, from the overwhelming sense of coming home.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, mouth warm against the curve of my breast. “Every damn inch of you. I missed this. I missed you.” Then he squeezed his eyes shut, taking along pause before looking me directly in the eyes. “Iloveyou.”

His voice cracked just slightly, enough to break something loose in me. I held his face in my hands, kissed his jaw, the bridge of his nose, his temple. Those were the words I’d been waiting to hear from him.

“I love you too, Baker Reece,” I confessed, my voice barely above a whisper. “I thought you knew it in Vegas. But when you pulled away—The agreement. It was over. You never saidanything.”

He groaned—deep and unburdened—capturing my mouth again, softer now, full of regret and raw emotion. His hands moved to my back, pulling me flush against him. I felt the heat of his body, the steady thump of his heart beneath his chest, and I knew every beat was for me.

Then he murmured against my skin, “I was an ass. Scared. Stupid. But I can’t live without you. You’re not just part of my life—youaremy life.”

Fingers traced lazy circles over the small of my back, sliding down to the curve of my waist. He held me like I was the most delicate glass, yet the strength of his embrace told me I didn’t need to come home because I was already there.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, breathing in the scent of him—ice, musk, and something achingly familiar. “I wanted to stop loving you,” I breathed. “I tried so hard.”

Reece kissed a trail down my jaw, nipping gently at my earlobe. “You’re the only woman I want for the rest of my life.”

His kiss turned possessive, hands moving with urgency again, pushing through the folds of my pussy, the rough drag of his fingers against me sending a jolt of heat through my belly.

I gasped into his mouth, one hand bracing against the vanity, the other curled around the back of his neck. “Please,” I whispered. “Don’t make me wait.”

His breath stuttered as the tip of him dragged against my center, and he sucked in a sharp breath. He’d changed the condom.When had he changed the condom?

The difference between what he’d given me minutes ago and this—I couldn’t find the words.

“Tell me again,” he said, forehead pressed to mine. “Tell me you love me.”

“I love you,” I breathed. “I love you so much, it hurts.”

That was all he needed.

He slid inside me in one slow, perfect stroke. We both gasped, clung to each other, eyes locked. He didn’t move, not yet. Just held me like this, buried inside, our foreheads touching, breaths mingling.

“I’ve never made love to anyone before,” he murmured. “Not like this. Not like you.”

My eyes stung. “Then do it right,” I whispered. “Give me all of you.”

He began to move—slow, deep thrusts that had me panting against his mouth, my fingernails digging into the skin of his shoulders. Each movement was deliberate. Worshipful. His hands mapped every inch of me like I was sacred. His lips chased every moan from mine, kissing them away, replacing them with gasped confessions.

“I need you.”

“I missed your laugh.”

“I love your heart.”

He hit a spot that made me cry out, and he caught the sound with his mouth, swallowing it whole. “You feel like home,” he whispered.

I was shaking—legs wrapped around him, arms locked tight, body pulsing around his. He was close. I was closer.

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