Chapter 11 #2
He positioned himself at her entrance, then paused, wanting to savor this moment. The sight of her—flushed and wanting beneath him, her body open and ready for him, knowing that she had chosen him despite everything—was almost too much to bear.
“I love you,” he whispered, the words inadequate to express the depth of his feelings as he lowered himself on top of her.
“I love you, too,” she whispered back, and then she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him forward.
He entered her in one slow, deliberate thrust, both of them gasping at the sensation.
She was slick and ready from her climax, taking him easily despite his size.
The feel of her—hot and tight around him—was exquisite torture.
John held himself still for a moment, his forehead pressed against hers, their breaths mingling as they adjusted to the overwhelming sensation of being joined.
“You feel like heaven,” he whispered, his voice strained with the effort of restraint. “Fuck.”
He withdrew almost completely before driving back into her, setting a rhythm that was neither gentle nor rough but somewhere in between—measured strokes that hit deep inside her with each thrust. Her hips rose to meet his, and she wrapped her legs around him, their bodies finding a perfect synchronicity as if they’d never been apart.
“I need you,” she moaned. “Harder.”
“Do you need me to remind you who you belong to?” he growled, licking along her jawline. He increased his pace, lifting her hips and driving into her harder. “Who you’ve always belonged to?”
“Yes,” she gasped, her eyes squeezed shut in pleasure. “God, yes.”
“Look at me,” he ground out.
Her eyes popped open, instantly finding his. His need to possess her, to mark her and claim her as his, was more overwhelming than it had ever been before.
“You tell me. Tell me who.”
“You,” she moaned, her nails biting into his shoulders. “I’m yours, John. Only yours.”
His control snapped at her words. He drove into her hard and fast, his thrusts becoming more forceful, more demanding. There was nothing or no one else that mattered.
“And I’m yours,” he groaned against her neck.
“I want you . . . in the way you know I like,” she whispered.
He growled and turned feral as he flipped her over so she was on her stomach before she came up on her knees, leaving her chest flat on the bed.
He grabbed her hips and thrust into her from behind, the new angle allowing him to penetrate even deeper. Maddie cried out, her fingers clutching the sheets as he filled her completely.
“Is this what you wanted?” he growled, leaning over to press his chest against her back, one hand snaking around to cup her breast. “To be taken like this?”
“Yes,” she moaned, pushing back against him. “Don’t stop.”
John established a relentless rhythm, driving into her with powerful thrusts. Her body tightened around him as she met his thrusts, pushing back hard against him.
“John,” she gasped, her breathing frantic.
“Come for me,” he commanded, his breath hot against her ear. “Shatter around my cock so I can fill you and make you mine.”
At that moment, she moaned and shook, her core tensing harder around him as she cried out his name.
The intensity of her orgasm triggered his own, and with a final powerful thrust, John buried himself deep inside her.
“Oh, God,” he groaned, his hips jerking erratically as he spilled himself inside her. Wave after wave of pleasure crashed through him, more intense than anything he’d ever experienced before. He collapsed against her back, his heart pounding and his breath coming in harsh pants.
They stayed like that for several moments, John placing kisses along her back and shoulders while he fought to catch his breath.
Once he withdrew from her, he laid down and settled her beside him, her head on his chest. John held her close, one hand idly stroking her hair, not willing to break contact even for a moment.
“I’m never letting you go again,” he murmured against her temple, pressing a soft kiss there. “Not for any reason.”
She shifted in his arms to look up at him, her expression serious despite the satisfied flush on her cheeks. “Promise me,” she said. “Promise me you will always talk to me about what you are feeling. No matter what it is.”
“I promise,” he said, meaning every bit of that vow. “From now on, we face everything together. No more secrets, no more running.”
She settled back against his chest with a contented sigh. “Good. Because I’m not strong enough to lose you twice.”
He tightened his arms around her, listening to the steady beat of her heart against his own.
He still wasn’t certain he should allow himself to believe that his Christmas miracle had come true.
John had never been a man who believed in such things, but tonight, holding the woman he loved in his arms, he knew he’d received nothing short of a miracle.
He’d been redeemed in the heart of the woman he loved.
Tomorrow there would be explanations to their families, plans to be made, a future to build. But tonight, in the quiet hours of Christmas morning, there was only this—the two of them. Two hearts, finally whole.