Page 121 of Don't Take the Girl
My breath catches. "Falling is always scary..." I search his eyes, seeing all the pain we've caused each other, all the time we've lost. I wrap my legs around his waist. "But it's also the easiest thing I've ever done."
I press my heels into his ass, and he slides in, fully seating himself, and we both groan, the connection not only satisfying our carnal cravings but reuniting our souls. His lips brush against mine, but he doesn't kiss me as he slowly starts to move inside of me. These past years carved valleys between us and left scars we're still learning to trace, but we survived. We found our way back to each other.
With every deliberate thrust, I feel him reaching deeper, not just into my body but into the very core of who I am. His heartbeat thunders against my chest, the rhythm mirroring mine. This is more than desire, more than need. This is recognition, physical proof of a love that refused to die despite everything that tried to kill it. This isn't our first time, but it might as well be. Having him this way, after baring every wound, after exhuming all the ghosts that dared to haunt and keep us apart. This feels like the forever we were always meant to claim.
Each movement is purposeful as he finds that spot inside me that makes me see stars. The friction builds, and I wrap my legs tighter around him, anchoring him to me as my body begins to unravel.
My toes curl, and my back arches as pleasure coils tighter in my core. "Don't stop," I gasp, the words torn from my throat. The sounds spilling from my lips grow louder, more urgent, as he drives me toward the edge.
"I couldn't if I wanted to," he breathes, his voice rough with desire, eyes heavy-lidded as he hovers above me. "You feel too good. We feel good."
Before I can take another breath, his mouth claims mine with brutal need as his hips surge forward, driving deep with a force that makes us both cry out. His knees spread wider, bracing himself as he drives harder, each stroke reaching places that make me forget my own name. The rhythm becomes relentless and determined, as if he's trying to brand himself into my very soul. My walls begin to flutter around him, the telltale tightening thatsignals my approaching undoing, and his mouth tears away from mine as his breathing turns ragged.
"That's it, baby," he growls against my throat, his voice thick with possession. "Take everything I have."
The words shatter what's left of my restraint. My nails drag down his back as my climax crashes over me in waves that have me crying out his name. He follows me over that edge a heartbeat later, his body going rigid as he buries himself deep and collapses against me, his weight a welcomed anchor as we both struggle to remember how to breathe. I run my fingers through his damp hair, feeling the rapid thrum of his heartbeat against my chest, a rhythm that matches my own.
Countless heartbeats stretch between us in perfect contentment until exhaustion finally claims me, and for once, I welcome its pull. Fear no longer steals these moments, because I know we have forever to build new ones. Finally, there's nothing left but the reality of our dreams we dared to chase.
Chapter 36
LONDON
"Laney… Laney, where are you?" my voice echoes through the cabin as I throw the door open. She texted me she wasn't feeling good and was taking the rest of the day off. The text would be laughable under any other circumstance, but not while she's pregnant. Laney doesn't complain. She doesn't exaggerate. She once worked a full day in the training ring with a fever of 102 and insisted she was "just tired." The fact that she even acknowledged feeling unwell prompted me to abandon my meeting with my father and Baylor mid-sentence.
"Laney!" The desperation bleeds into my voice as I round the stone fireplace, scanning the empty living room, the lack of response putting me on edge.
"I'm in here," her voice drifts from the bathroom, strained but enough to slightly settle my anxiety.
"Laney." My hands grip the doorframe so hard my knuckles go white as I find her in the clawfoot tub, her hair plastered to her neck with sweat.
"What?" The single word comes out between pants, her eyes squeezed shut. "I said I didn't feel good. I just needed a bath. Baths always make me feel better."
"You're not supposed to take baths this late in pregnancy," I remind her, already moving toward the tub.
She waves a dismissive hand. "My belly isn't submerged. It's fine. I just needed the warm water. My stomach hurts."
"What do you mean your stomach hurts?" I drop to my knees beside the tub, water soaking through my work pants. "Laney, you're nine months pregnant. If your stomach hurts, that's not nothing."
Her face crumples, a flush of embarrassment coloring her cheeks as she looks away. "It's notthatkind of hurt." Her voice drops to barely a whisper. "My stomach is upset. I've been running to the toilet every few minutes."
"Baby…" My hand finds the curve of her spine, feeling the tension coiled in every muscle. "Don't be embarrassed. You're growing our baby. You're fucking beautiful. There's nothing you could say that would change that. But I think we need to go to the hospital."
Her eyes snap to mine, wide with panic. "We don't need—" she cuts off abruptly, her body going rigid as she grips the sides of the tub. For ten endless seconds, she can't speak, can't breathe, can only endure whatever's happening to her. When it passes, she's paler than before. "—to go to the hospital. I'm not due for another three weeks. It's just an upset stomach and some back pain."
"Back pain?" The words come out sharper than I intended.
"Yeah," she grinds out through clenched teeth, irritation and pain warring in her voice. "Why do you think I've been practically living in the bathroom?"
That's when I see it, the way she's bracing herself against the tub, the shallow, controlled breathing, the white-knuckled grip on the porcelain edge. This isn't an upset stomach. This isn't back pain.
"Okay." My hands slide under her arms, gentle but firm. "We're going. Right now."
"But I'm not?—"
"We're going to let the doctors tell us it's nothing." I meet hereyes, letting her see the fear I've been trying to hide. "But we're going. Please, Laney. For me. For our baby."
She stares at me for a long moment, and I can see the exact second she stops fighting the truth her body has been telling her. Her shoulders sag in defeat.
