Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Henry
The first thing I noticed was the light, thin, golden slats cutting across my bedroom as the sun crept through the blinds.
The second was Ariana.
She lay on her side, facing away from me, the sheet tangled low around her hips, her hair spilling over my pillow. I didn’t move. Just watched her breathe. Slow. Peaceful. The kind of peace that was cathartic. That could only be felt from finally facing your fears.
I knew the sex would be good. With her, it always was.
But what I hadn’t expected, what I hadn’t been prepared for, was the trust.
Her trust.
Last night she’d put herself in my hands. Unequivocally. Completely. The weight of it hit me harder than anything I’d experienced in years. Maybe ever. And I wanted more of it.
Something squeezed at my chest as I admired her in the morning light. It wasn’t the first time I’d watched her sleep. But it was the first time she looked like she wasn’t carrying a weight that was about to crush her.
Instead, she looked lighter. Softer. Almost like the last piece of her past had finally loosened its hold on her.
Her breathing shifted, and without opening her eyes, she rasped, “I can feel you watching me.”
A laugh rumbled out of me, quiet and low.
I slid my hand along her stomach, pulling her back into my chest, savoring the warmth of her skin against mine. My thumb brushed over the faint scars marring her stomach. Unlike every other time I’d touched her here, she didn’t flinch. Didn’t tense.
She let me touch her.
She trusted me with every scar and imperfection.
“You can feel me watching you?” I murmured.
She rolled to face me, her blue eyes bright as they locked on mine. Her fingers threaded through my messy hair, tugging just enough to make my pulse increase.
“After last night,” she said, her voice a rough whisper, “I’d like to think I’m becoming an expert on what your eyes feel like on me. Not like I had much choice.” A small smile tugged at her mouth. “It was one of the few senses I had left.”
My brows lifted. “What’s that?”
“The sense of feel,” she breathed.
I brushed my thumb along her hip, unable to stop touching her. Wanting her. Feeling her.
“And what did you feel?”
“Everything, Henry.” She leaned in, ghosting her lips against mine. “I felt everything.”
Every last ounce of restraint snapped, and I crashed my mouth against hers, my body reacting before I could stop it. And I didn’t want to stop. I was driven by one thing and one thing alone. The insatiable need this woman sparked inside me.
She hooked her leg over my hip, pulling me closer, and need unfurled low in my stomach, especially when I felt her heat against my throbbing erection.
“Did you enjoy it?” I asked against her lips.
She huffed a soft, incredulous laugh. “You know I did.”
“Do you regret it?”
“No.” Her gaze didn’t waver. “Do you?”
“Not for a fucking heartbeat.”
I kissed her again, our tongues tangling in a desperate dance.
I pulled her even closer as I pulsed against her, craving her in a way that didn’t feel entirely sane.
She arched into me, her breathing uneven, her nails digging into my back.
Into the scars marring my flesh. The pain it caused only made me want her more.
“I wouldn’t mind a repeat,” she murmured. “Feel free to tie me up anytime you want.”
A rough sound escaped me. “I plan on it.”
I rolled her onto her back and hovered over her. Her hair fanned across the pillow, making her look like an angel.
“But right now…” I rasped as I buried my head in the crook of her neck, nipping and licking at her sensitive skin. “I need your hands on me. Need to feel you everywhere.”
I slid into her, slow and steady, and she gasped, wrapping herself around me. Arms. Legs. Heart. Soul.
And in this moment, I couldn’t tell where I ended and she began. We moved together like we’d been doing this for years, some instinctive rhythm neither of us had to think about kicking in.
Last night had been fire.
Sharp. Intense. All-consuming.
This was something else entirely.
This was connection.
Raw. Terrifying. Addictive.
With every slow roll of her hips, every soft sound that fell from her throat, something tightened around my heart. Something I’d never experienced before. Something I never believed I could. Not after the blood on my hands. The people I’d failed. The losses that had carved me from the inside out.
I didn’t deserve this.
I didn’t deserve her.
But the thought of letting this go, letting her go, was worse than any fear I’d ever faced.
Her lips brushed mine, her fingers gripping my shoulders as we climbed together, the intensity building until it was almost unbearable.
I tried to fight it, but Ariana wouldn’t let me.
She pulled me closer, her legs circling my waist like a vice.
It wasn’t just the way her body moved with mine that undid me.
It was the feelings she brought out of me.
Years ago, I swore I’d always remain in control.
Control was the one thing no one could take from me. After everything I’d been through, it was the only shield I trusted.
But every day with Ariana had chipped away at that armor. The way she looked at me. The way she challenged me. The way she didn’t cower or shrink away from me.
The way she saw who I really was underneath it all.
And when she kneeled before me last night, trembling but trusting, it wasn’t only her surrender on the floor of my bedroom.
It was mine, too.