Page 69 of Everything We Found

“I know,” she said, moving under him, trying to feel more of him.

He reared back, straddling her hips, and yanked up her shirt. She wasn’t wearing a bra and his eyes flared with molten desire. He pushed the shirt up further until it caught under her chin. “This needs to go.”

“It’s going.” They got it over her head together and she tossed it onto the floor as Thomas dove for her breasts. His tongue traced the contours of one, circling her nipple, drawing the tight bud into his mouth, his teeth gently nipping as his hand caressed and molded the other.

Nadia writhed underneath him, arcing her back as one of his hands curved under her spine, angling her better for his mouth. She was drowning, going under, and all she could do was let herself sink. Nothing made sense, yet everything did. Her fingers raked through his hair, scraping his scalp, his back. She clawed at his shirt, tugging it up over his shoulders. He lifted his head just long enough for her to pull off the garment and toss it aside before he brought his mouth down on her other breast.

Aroused beyond measure, she moaned his name. And for someone who’d never begged a man before, she begged Thomas.

She grasped his cheeks and lifted his face. She kissed him, wet and open mouthed. “I need you.”

He broke their kiss, putting inches between them. His eyes found hers. “If tomorrow?—”

Her insides liquified to quicksand. She silenced him with another kiss. “There’s only now.” Their future, their reality—it had no place here. Later they’d think of tomorrow.

Some elemental level of understanding passed between them and Thomas gently touched her lips in a lingering, scorching kiss.

Then he was scooting back, dropping kisses in the dip of her midriff, over the rise of her hips, dragging her sleep pants down until he was there. His mouth on her center. His shoulders between her legs. He glanced up at her, the rich depth of his hazel eyes surprisingly complex as they met her gaze. Then he gave her a wicked grin right before his mouth and fingers gave her exactly what she needed.

He started slow, learning the language of her body with a patience she lacked. She’d be devouring him. If he asked her right now to run away with him, she would. If he asked her to change her name and disappear with him, she would. Because her entire world narrowed down to him.

His tongue traced her in long, deliberate strokes that had her grappling at the sheets, her legs shaking, and her hips lifting off the mattress to meet him. Her thighs closed around his head for only a breath because he growled deep in his throat and pressed them apart. His thumbs stroked the sensitive skin on her inner thighs in a maddening contrast to what his mouth was doing.

He didn’t rush. Just built her up and up until she felt that unbearable pressure. Then his fingers curled inside her.

She moaned his name like it was the only word she’d ever learned.

He groaned against her again, the vibration undoing her further. Unfurling her. And that’s when she realized something. He wasn’t just giving. He was taking from her. Claiming every tremor and gasp as she reached her peak. As if they belonged to him.

Before she crashed back on earth, he kicked off his joggers and briefs, and stalked up the bed, settling his weight between her legs as he braced himself above her. “Look at me,” he softly commanded.

And she did. The deepening twilight outlined his features. But it was the naked vulnerability reflecting in his eyes that had her own veneer evaporating like ice falling from branches after the first true thaw, no longer able to resist the change of season. Gone was the carefully constructed armor he showed the world. He’d let her strip that away, leaving himself bare. Just for her.

“This is real,” he said.

“Tom…” Her thumb gently grazed his cheekbone and she felt him shudder. His eyes briefly closed. Her breath hitched. This wasn’t a fling for him. It didn’t feel like one to her either.

“I love you,” he murmured. “I’ve loved you since you were thirteen and too proud to admit you were hungry. Loved you when you graduated college and I couldn’t be there. Loved you through every relationship you’ve had with men who weren’t good enough for you, knowing I was the worst.” His voice fractured on the last word and he pressed his forehead to hers. “Every good thing I tried to do made me less worthy of you. I did them anyway.”

“Thomas—” Her heart was breaking for him. For them. Her thumb caught the dampness at the corner of his eye.

“I am the worst thing that could happen to you.”

“You’re also the only thing that ever felt inevitable.” Some forces weren’t chosen. They chose you, and all you could do was stop pretending and start surrendering.

“Nadia.” A plea, a pledge. Then he was pushing inside her.

Then he was moving over her. An age-old rhythm, measured at first, almost reverent, until the last thread of his control broke.

Braced on his forearms, his hands found hers and pinned them beside her head, their fingers interlacing. Her legs wrapped around him, pulling him deeper, and the noise he made against her neck was so raw, so undone, that her own eyes pricked with tears.

Their pace quickened, their breaths grew erratic until she felt herself falling, breaking apart. Collapsing. A complete, utter dismantling of self. Then reassembled into something new, someone whole. Someone different.

He found relief on a deep moan, his face buried in the crook of her neck, his lips sucking on her skin. His arms bound around her back. She couldn’t get any closer to him as he pulled her over the edge with him if she tried.

“Nadia. My love,” he whispered against her ear.

Love.And the things they did for it. It was the last thought on her mind before she fell asleep in his arms, their legs entwined, the final sliver of daylight fading.