Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Eli
The city lights filtering through Isla’s windows cast everything in a soft glow, including her tear-stained face pressed against my chest. Five years of pain and misunderstanding have dissolved into this moment, and I can’t stop touching her—gentle strokes down her spine, fingers threading through her hair, anything to convince myself she’s really here.
“You okay?” I murmur against her temple. Her scent—citrus and rose—fills my senses, achingly familiar.
She nods against my chest, then pulls back just enough to meet my eyes. The vulnerability there steals my breath. No more walls, no more pretenses. Just Isla, finally letting me see all of her.
“I missed you,” she whispers, fingers tracing the loosened knot of my tie.
“Every day, Eli. Even when I thought I was doing the right thing, I missed you.”
The confession hits me hard. My hand cups the back of her neck, thumb stroking the soft skin there.
“I missed you too. Enough that sometimes I’d wake up reaching for you, convinced it was just a nightmare.”
Her eyes darken at my words, and the air between us shifts. Her fingers still on my tie, and I watch her throat work as she swallows.
“And now?”
“Now?” I lean closer, drawn by the way her lips part.
“Now I’m exactly where I want to be.”
The first brush of my lips against hers is gentle, testing. So different from our heated kisses in the past weeks, filled with anger and unresolved pain. This feels like coming home.
She makes a soft sound against my mouth, something between a sigh and a whimper, and my control starts to slip. My hands slide down her back, pulling her closer as the kiss deepens. She tastes like coffee and tears and forgiveness, and I can’t get enough.
“Eli,” she breathes when we break for air. Her hands fist in my shirt, like she’s afraid I’ll disappear. “Stay?”
“As long as you’ll have me.”
Her responding kiss turns desperate, needy, and suddenly the gentleness of moments before ignites into something more primal. My hands find her hips, pulling her flush against me as her fingers fumble with my tie.
“Are you sure?” I manage between kisses, even as my body screams at me to shut up. “We don’t have to?—”
Isla’s hands still on my chest, a flicker of something in her eyes—not doubt, but the weight of what this means now.
We’ve done this before. When the truth was buried, when I thought she’d left without a second thought. But now, I know why. And that changes everything.
“Isla,” I whisper, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “If this feels like too much?—”
Her fingers tighten in my shirt. “No. It’s not that.” A slow exhale. “This is the first time I can be with you without fear.”
The words undo me.
I cup her face, letting her see everything in me, too. “Then let’s make it count.”
Her smile is small but real. “I want this. I want you.”
And that’s all I need to hear before I kiss her again.
Those words, combined with the sight of her—lips swollen from my kisses, cheeks flushed, looking at me like I’m everything she’s ever wanted—snap the last thread of my restraint.
I capture her mouth again, walking her backward until her back meets the wall. Her gasp turns into a moan as I pin her there, one hand tangling in her hair while the other slides under her blouse to find bare skin.
“God, I missed touching you,” I growl against her neck, and feel her shiver in response.
My breath catches as she loosens my tie, letting it fall.
Her fingers tremble against each button of my shirt, and she follows their path with gentle touches that make my skin burn.
This feels different than the last time - no desperate grabbing or rushed touches.
Just us, taking our time, saying everything we couldn’t say with words.
“You’re thinking too much,” she whispers, pressing a kiss to my collarbone.
I laugh softly, the sound catching as her teeth graze my skin.
“Can you blame me? Five years ago, you disappeared without a trace?—”
“And now I’m here.” Her hands still on my chest, right over my hammering heart. “I’m not running anymore, remember?”
The vulnerability in her voice makes my throat tight. I cup her face in my hands, forcing her to meet my eyes.
“Neither am I.”
Something shifts in her expression, like a final wall crumbling. Her kiss is almost brutal in its intensity, and I respond in kind, lifting her until her legs wrap around my waist. She gasps as I press her harder against the wall, the sound driving me crazy.
“Bedroom,” she manages between kisses. “Down the hall?—”
“I remember.” The words come out rougher than intended. Of course I remember. I remember everything about her, about us.
I carry her through the familiar space, memories of other nights like this flooding back. But this is different. Better. Real in a way it never could have been before, with all our secrets between us.
Her bedroom is bathed in city light, the bed still made—evidence she hasn’t slept here tonight. I lay her down carefully, taking a moment to just look at her. Hair spread across the pillows, chest rising and falling rapidly, eyes dark with desire and trust.
“You’re staring,” she whispers, reaching for me.
“Can’t help it.” I follow her down, bracing myself above her.
“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?”
A blush spreads across her cheeks, and I have to kiss her again. My hands find the buttons of her blouse, undoing them slowly. Each inch of exposed skin gets my full attention—lips, teeth, tongue—until she’s arching beneath me, making those little sounds that drive me wild.
“Eli, please?—”
“Shh.” I nip at her collarbone, soothing the sting with my tongue.
“Let me take care of you.”
Her hands clench in my hair as I move lower, mapping every inch of her with my mouth.
“You’re still wearing too many clothes,” she complains breathlessly.
I smile against her stomach. “Patience.”
“Five years wasn’t enough patience?”
The words hit home, and I raise my head to look at her. Even flushed with desire, there’s vulnerability in her eyes. I move back up her body, needing to kiss her, to make her understand.
“Never again,” I promise against her lips. “No more waiting. No more running. Just us.”
Her answer is a kiss that steals my breath, her hands finally pushing my shirt from my shoulders. When skin meets skin, we both gasp at the contact.
“Just us,” she echoes, and I’m lost.
Every touch is memory and sensation colliding. She fits against me like always, but this time, she isn’t slipping away.
I kiss beneath her ear, and she shivers, breath catching. My grip tightens—not to hold her still, just to remind myself she’s real.
Her fingers trace my shoulders, slow, deliberate. Like she’s relearning me. Like we’re both memorizing what we never really forgot.
“I love you,” I whisper against her skin. The words I’ve held back for weeks, for years, finally breaking free. “I never stopped.”
She gasps softly, her fingers tightening on my shoulders. But I can’t stop the thought that sneaks in as she holds me closer. What if this is temporary? What if I wake up alone again?
Then her lips find mine, and the fear vanishes. Because this time, I believe her when she says she’s not running anymore.
Her breath catches, tears gathering in her eyes. “Eli?—”
“You don’t have to say it back.” I brush my lips across her cheekbone, tasting salt. “I just needed you to know.”
She frames my face with her hands, making me look at her. The vulnerability in her eyes takes my breath away.
“I love you too. Even when I was running, even when I thought I’d never see you again—I loved you.”
My hands tremble as I slowly undress her, peeling away each layer until she’s gloriously bare before me. She returns the favor, unbuttoning my shirt and pushing it off my shoulders. Soon we’re both naked, skin flushed with desire.
I trail kisses down her body, savoring her gasps and sighs. When my mouth finds her molten clit, she cries out, arching into me. I take my time, exploring her with lips and tongue until she’s shuddering beneath me.
When she comes apart in my arms, my name on her lips sounds like absolution. After the explosive climax, I pull her into my arms, our bodies still acutely sensitive and damp with sweat.
She buries her head against my chest, and I plant a soft, lingering kiss on her hair, inhaling her heady scent. Her fingers dance lightly across my skin, tracing patterns that send shivers down my spine as our pounding hearts gradually settle, relishing this profound, rekindled connection.
There’s no urgency now, despite the intense, almost desperate hunger that consumed us moments ago.
We’ve tumbled over the edge into something deeper, more profound.
My hand glides over the curve of her back, memorizing every soft contour.
She shivers at my touch, pressing closer, fitting herself perfectly against me.
Our eyes lock, and I’m struck by the raw vulnerability I see there—the same mix of longing and fear that courses through my own body.
Slowly, reverently, I position myself over her, feeling her legs part to welcome me.
As I slide into her slick, tight warmth, it’s like coming home after being lost for too long.
We move together in a gentle, ancient rhythm, each roll of our hips a silent promise, a reclamation. Her nails dig into my back, sending jolts of pleasure throughout my entire body as I thrust deeper into her. Our lips collide in a fierce kiss that tastes of desperation, hope, and reunion.
Her breath hitches as she begins to tremble around me, soft whimpers escaping her, and I’m utterly lost in her pleasure.
She comes hard, crying out my name in a broken, desperate moan, and that sound alone sends me spiraling over the edge.
Every nerve ending is on fire as I come deep inside her, my grip on her tightening as I let out a ragged, satisfied cry.
We cling to each other through the aftershocks, her tears mixing with the sweat on my neck. There are no words, only this overwhelming feeling of two souls reuniting after endless loneliness.
We lie tangled in her sheets, the city’s glow casting everything in soft blues and silvers. Her head rests on my chest, right over my heart, while my fingers trace idle patterns on her bare shoulder. The peaceful silence feels like a gift after so many years of words left unsaid.
“What are you thinking about?” she asks softly, pressing a kiss to my collarbone.
“How different this feels.” I tighten my arms around her. “Last time we were together, before you left... I thought I knew what love was. What trust meant.”
She props herself up on an elbow to look at me, hair falling around her face like a curtain. “And now?”
“Now I understand that real trust isn’t about control.” I brush her hair back, letting my thumb trace her cheekbone. “It’s about being brave enough to be vulnerable. To let someone see all of you, even the broken parts.”
Her eyes soften with understanding. “Even the parts that are scared of becoming your father?”
“Especially those parts.” I pull her down for a gentle kiss. “Just like you’re letting me see the parts of you that are afraid of following your mother’s path.”
She settles back against my chest, her arm tightening around my waist.
“I used to have nightmares about it, you know. That I’d end up like her—so focused on protecting the people I love that I’d sacrifice my own happiness.
She gave up everything to give me a better life, walked away from any chance at love to keep me safe.
And here I was, doing exactly the same thing. ”
“You’re not alone anymore,” I press my lips to her temple. “We face things together now. Both of us.”
The sight of her against her white sheets, city lights playing across her skin, takes my breath away.
“God, you’re beautiful.”
A blush spreads across her cheeks, but she doesn’t look away. This is new too—this ability to be completely open, completely ourselves with each other. No more masks, no more protective walls.
“I love you,” she whispers, reaching up to trace my jaw. “I know I already said it, but—I need you to know it wasn’t just the heat of the moment. I love you, Eli. All of you.”
Something fierce and protective wells up in my chest. I capture her hand, pressing a kiss to her palm. “I love you too. The strong parts, the scared parts, all of it.”
Her answering kiss is soft at first, but quickly deepens. I feel her smile against my lips as I pull her closer, need building again.