Page 120 of Reckless Love

“I can see it,” I admit, voice thick.

“No matter what we have to do,” she says, grinding against me, “we’re going to get it.” She kisses me, and then she angles her head, deepening the kiss. The kisses go on and on, both a comfort and an escalation. It’s not long before she leans back and undoes the buckle of my belt, hitching her skirt up. “I need you. God, I need you so bad.”

Tugging her panties to the side, I draw her down on me, and she lets out a satisfied moan. I never get tired of watching her expression when I’m all the way inside her, like she’s never felt anything better, more fulfilling. That I make her feel that way is thrilling.

“Like this?” I ask, bringing her down as I thrust up.

“Yes, god. Yes. Like that. Don’t stop.”

But I let her set the pace because I can tell that’s what she needs. When the rest of her life spins out of control, Ava craves this pocket of certainty. Speed, depth, motion—it’s all her. Every inch of me is hers to command, hers to use as she needs.

Instead of trying to steer her, I dig my hands into her hair, and I keep kissing her, keep clinging to the stubborn notion that we will be okay. That even if Raul and Celia have won in the past, they won’t win this time.

There’s no more talk of being trapped, unable to escape.

We’ll get our happy ending.

As she drives us both closer to the edge, I refuse to let my mind drift from the moment, from the feel of her all around me. Maybe this is the beginning for us, or maybe it’s the beginning of the end, but either way, I want to be in this moment, to feel it, remember it. Because if there’s one thing I know, life is fleeting, precious, and no matter what happens, I’ll love Ava until my last breath on this earth.

“Stephen,” she gasps, trembling, head thrown back. “Oh, Stephen.” She’s breathless.

“That’s it, baby,” I murmur. “You make yourself feel good, and I’ll be right there with you.”

She slows to almost microscopic movements, and I grit my teeth, determined to hold on. But the press and rock of our bodies is an exquisite painful pleasure.

“Ava.” Her name is almost a guttural groan.

“I’m so close,” she says, hands on my chest as she leans back, angling more.

I flatten my hands along her back, and I try not to urge her to move faster, but fuck, it’s hard. Everything in me wants to flip her onto her back and finish us both in a blaze of quick, furious thrusts. She could come like that, I know she could.

But I can’t.

She gets the control.

“Oh,” she says, her breath hitching, and then she’s coming hard around me, crying out my name as her movements become more erratic.

I grip her hips, and I take over, seeking my own release, thrusting up hard and fast as she digs her nails into the back of my neck.

“Yes,” she urges me on. “Please.”

And then I’m spilling into her, moaning out her name as she kisses me over and over.

“Promise me,” she says. “Promise me that we’ll do anything to stay like this forever.”

“Anything?” I coax.

“They aren’t going to play fair,” she says, “and we shouldn’t either.”

“You’re sure?” I ask again, because I already know what I’ll have to do, the lengths I’ll need to go to. There are no guarantees, but I can try.

“We make a plan,” she says, “and we trap them before they can tighten the noose around my neck.”

The imagery makes me shiver.

I just wish we could be sure that whatever plan we make will turn out exactly as we want. “We’ll make a plan,” I agree.

But I don’t tell her that part of me is afraid we can’t win. Shoving that thought to the back of my mind, I kiss her like we’re already the victors and the life she showed me, well, it’s ours for the taking.