* * *
CORA
His arousal was pressed to my core, so close that it would be too easy to give in and take what I craved. I was teetering on the edge, desperate to tip over it.
I stared at him, wide-eyed. “We can’t.”
He lay on top of me, pressing my wrists into the bed above my head with one hand, the other on my hip as he rolled against me, his heat sliding against mine. “We don’t need to.”
The tension built as we connected in all the right places, places that had fireworks simmering behind my eyelids, places that ripped incoherent cries from my throat.
I locked gazes with him, fighting the urge to close my eyes and throw my head back, wanting to experience this with him.
I wanted to comewithhim.
His eyes were dark pools of desire, jaw clenched as if he was holding back, waiting for me. He was waiting. Oh, fuck. My body locked as I came, breath twisting in my lungs.
I’d missed this. Missed him.
He released my wrists and stroked the hair back from my face, kissing the corner of my mouth before burying his face in the crook of my neck, hips jerking as he came hot and hard against me.
We lay like that for the longest time, tangled, slick, and wet, and then he raised his head and looked into my eyes so deeply it felt as if he was looking into my soul.
“Promise me something, Cora.”
“Anything.” The word was a ragged whisper.
“If I go away again, if I don’t come back, you won’t come looking for me.”
The warm, fuzzy, post-coital haze was ripped away. “What?” I scanned his face. Earnest. Serious. He meant it. Hell no! “I’m not promising that.”
He fisted my hair and forced my head back in a way that skimmed the edge of pain. “Promise me, dammit.”
“Fuck you, Jasper. No.” I jerked free.
A strange sound escaped him, a ragged, sob-like sound. “Fuck. Cora. This place I go is bad. I don’t remember it, but I know it…I know it’s bad, and you have to promise me you won’t play with it. That you’ll let me go in peace, because I can’t lose you.” His gaze seared me, branding me, as if trying to draw the promise from me. “I love you and I won’t lose you.”
“And you think I’m okay with losing you?” I shoved him off me. “Fuck you, Jasper. This is a two-way street. You don’t get to ask for shit like that, not if you’re not prepared to do the same.”
I scrambled off the bed and tugged on my robe.
Jasper watched me from beneath dark brows. “You belong to me, Cora, remember?”
“No.” I shook my head. “That shit doesn’t work anymore. Things have changed and you know it.”
He dropped his chin to his chest, shoulders rising and falling as if he was struggling to compose himself.
He raised his head, expression smooth and closed-off. “Then maybe we need to go back to the way it was. To you hating me. If loving me puts you in danger, then—”
I bridged the distance between us and cut his words off with a hard kiss. “No.”
His breath exploded against my lips. “Cora…”
I brushed his nose with mine. “This is how it is now. You’re not the only one who gets to do the saving.”
He closed his eyes, dark lashes fanning across his cheekbones.
I brushed my thumb across his cheek. “We’re going to be okay.”