Page 65 of Secrets in the Deep

She gasped louder, her nails drawing down his back.

“Ryan,” she breathed.

There it was again. His name on her lips, like it belonged to her. And it did.Hebelonged to her. He had since the moment they met.

He buried his face in her neck, feeling the pulse against his lips, fast, unsteady.

Her thrusts became urgent, the tenderness shifting to something more demanding. More desperate. Needy.

He met those thrusts. Matching them.

Her body tightened in a way that made coherent thought impossible. Made anything outside of this room, this bed, dissolve entirely.

She tugged his mouth back to hers again. And that’s when her breath broke. Her back arched and she groaned into his mouth.

Her fall pushed him over the edge, and he broke with her, shuddering waves rolling through his body as he held her closer. Tighter. Her name somewhere in his throat.

The silence that followed was one he could sit in for hours. It was familiar and comfortable and safe.

For a few long beats, he didn’t move. He remained where he was, half his weight on Emily, half on the mattress, as her fingertips rolled up and down his spine.

Slowly, their breathing returned to normal, and he finally slid onto the mattress. She eased into his side, fitting just as perfectly as he remembered.

He should say something. Do something. But he couldn’t. Not yet. So instead, he pressed a gentle kiss to her shoulder and let the feel of her cheek that lay over his heart wreck him.

15

Emily drew circles on Ryan’s hard stomach, her brows pulled into a deep frown. The morning sun was only just creeping through the curtains. She should already be up. She needed to be on set at ten, and she had no idea what time it was.

But she couldn’t move. She felt nervous and scared, like any small movement would pop this perfect bubble they’d created the night before.

“I always loved it when you did that.”

Her fingers froze. It took her a few seconds, maybe longer, to look up. Then dark, devastatingly handsome eyes stared at her, the day-old stubble giving him an almost dangerous appearance.

And hewasdangerous. In every way. But mostly to her heart.

“Did what?” she asked softly.

“Drew circles on my stomach to wake me up.”

Something flinched in her lower belly. No, actually, that wasn’t accurate. It was a huge, almost debilitating kick. “Ryan…what are we doing?”

“We’re lying in bed while you tempt me to roll you over and kiss you until you agree to a repeat of last night.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t distract me with humor.” She sat up and grabbed the shirt from the floor beside the bed, then tugged it over her head. One steadying breath, then she looked at him again. “In two months, we’ll finish shooting and I’ll return to my apartment in California, and you’ll still be here.”

Words sat on the tip of her tongue. Words about giving it all up for him. About moving here and living a simpler life. One that would feel so much more meaningful to her.

But something kept them inside. Maybe fear. Fear that what happened five years ago would happen again. That he’d take her decision from her and tell her he wasn’t letting her give up her career for him.

He sat up slowly, his gaze steady and deliberate. “Two months is a long time. We don’t need to figure it all out right now.”

Her heart dropped. His answer wasn’t wrong. It just hadn’t been what she wanted. There was no assurance, no promise that they’d make this work. That he wasn’t letting her go a second time.

She nodded, offering a small, practiced smile that only Emily Prior, Golden Globe award-winning actress, could pull off, and climbed out of bed.

She’d only gotten one step away from the bed before strong fingers wrapped around her wrist and tugged.