Chapter 18
For a moment, Ben didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. His eyes were locked on hers as if he couldn’t believe what he’d heard.
Whatever he found—certainty, perhaps—it seemed to break something loose inside him.
“Sara.”
Her name on his lips sounded different now. Reverent. Possessive. His.
And then he was kissing her, a kiss that threatened to consume her completely. His mouth moved over hers with devastating purpose, one hand fisting in her hair while the other pressed flat against the small of her back, holding her against him like he’d never let go.
She melted into it. Into him. She gripped his shoulders, feeling the powerful muscles bunch and flex beneath his shirt. He tasted like mint and something darker, something wild, and she couldn’t get enough.
He lifted her without breaking the kiss, carrying her the few steps to the nest. The edge of the mattress hit the backs of her knees and she fell backward into the impossible softness, sinking into the layers of blankets and pillows that seemed to embrace her.
He followed her down into the nest, his weight settling over her. He was so big. She’d known that, of course, and she’d felt the strength in his arms every time he’d carried her. But having him here, pressing her into his nest, covering her with his body… it was something else entirely.
“Tell me if I need to stop,” he whispered against her throat.
“Don’t you dare,” she said fiercely, and he groaned, the sound vibrating through both their bodies. His mouth found the sensitive spot beneath her ear, and she gasped, her hips arching involuntarily. His whole body shuddered in response.
“You smell incredible.” His nose traced along her neck, inhaling deeply. “I’ve been going crazy. Every time you’re near me, every time I catch your scent on the wind, all I can think about is burying myself inside you.”
“Ben…”
“Do you have any idea what you do to me?” His teeth scraped lightly over her pulse point, drawing a whimper from her throat. “Six years of control. Six years of telling myself I didn’t need anyone. And then you show up with your brownies and your smile and your ridiculous bunny food—”
She choked a laugh, caught between amusement and desire.
“I know everything about you.” He pulled back just enough to meet her eyes. In the candlelight, his amber gaze was molten. “The way you hum when you’re cooking. The way you talk to your plants. The way you cry at sappy commercials and pretend you’re not. Everything, Sara. I can’t help it.”
“That’s very stalker-adjacent,” she said breathlessly.
“I prefer ‘devoted.’”
His mouth curved—an actual smile, rare and devastating—and Sara felt something crack open inside her.
This was the Ben she’d been catching glimpses of all along.
The tenderness beneath the grumpiness. The humor hiding behind the scowl.
The passionate, devoted heart he’d been protecting for six long years.
And he was giving it to her.
“I want to see you,” she whispered. “All of you.”
His breath hitched. For a moment he didn’t move, just searched her face like he was memorizing every detail.
Then, slowly, he sat back on his heels and yanked his shirt over his head, revealing the broad shoulders and powerful chest that sent a wave of heat through her body.
But it was the look in his eyes that made her heart pound—nervous and hopeful and so desperately in love it made her ache.
He hesitated a moment longer, then stood up and removed his jeans.
Oh. My. God.
She’d felt the size of his erection through his jeans, but it hadn’t prepared her for the reality.
For the differences. His cock was a glistening silver shaft, long and thick and perfect, emerging from a fur-covered sheath.
He fisted it in one huge hand, watching her face and she understood.
He was offering himself to her gaze, vulnerable and wanting.
“Tell me if it’s too much… If I’m too much…” he said hoarsely.
She immediately shook her head and held out her hand. “You’re perfect.”
A shudder ran through his body. He settled over her again, careful to keep his weight from crushing her, but the hard planes of his chest beneath the soft fur created a tantalizing friction against her breasts.
The nest enveloped them, layers of soft blankets and pillows creating a world just for the two of them, a cocoon of candlelight and shadow.
She reached for him, her fingers tracing the rigid muscles of his back, and he shuddered again. “Don’t tease, Sara.”
“I’m not teasing. I’m exploring.” She smiled and tangled her fingers in the thick, soft fur between his ears, rubbing gently. “I’ve wanted to do this since the first time I saw them.”
His hips bucked at her touch, pressing that hard, silver length against her thigh. A soft growl rumbled through him. She felt the vibration where their bodies were pressed together, and she wiggled impatiently, desperate for more.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, kissing a path down her neck.
He lingered over the sensitive skin there, nipping and licking until she was arching against him, her hands clutching at the fur of his shoulders.
He hooked a claw under the thin strap of her cami and ripped it away, baring her to his avid gaze.
His eyes went dark and possessive, and her breath hitched in response. “Mine.”
He lowered his head to her breast, and the wet heat of his tongue against her nipple made her cry out.
He wasn’t gentle. He wasn’t careful. He took what he wanted, and she gave it freely, her fingers twisting in the fur on his back as he worshipped her body with hands and teeth and tongue.
He made her feel cherished and wanted, a precious, treasured thing.
And she felt a deep, primal satisfaction in being claimed so completely.
She’d spent her life being temporary. With Ben, she was forever.
He pushed her shorts and panties down, tossing them aside without a second glance, and then he settled between her legs, hooking her knees over his powerful arms. He looked down at her, his silver-blue eyes hot with a hunger so intense it stole the air from her lungs.
“Ben,” she whispered.
“I’m going to make you mine, Sara.” He pressed a kiss to her inner thigh. “All mine.”
She couldn’t speak. She could only nod, a silent offering of everything she was, everything she wanted to be.
He entered her in one, slow, possessive thrust.
She cried out, her head falling back against the pillows as her body stretched to accommodate him.
He was huge, bigger than she’d imagined, and the sensation of being so completely filled threatened to overwhelm her.
He gave her a moment to adjust, his body still and taut with restraint, but when she wrapped her legs around his waist, that restraint shattered.
He began to move, a slow, deep rhythm that sent wave after wave of pleasure through her.
Each thrust was a declaration, a claim, a branding of her very soul.
This wasn’t just sex; this was something deeper, something older.
A joining of two halves of a whole. He whispered her name over and over, a litany of praise that made her feel like the most cherished woman in the world.
His hands were everywhere, stroking, caressing, claiming.
He took her higher and higher, a relentless, driving force until she shattered, crying out his name as pleasure, bright and blinding, consumed her.
He followed her over the edge a moment later, burying his face in her neck with a guttural cry that was half-growl, half-weeping.
He shuddered against her, his whole body shaking with the force of his release.
She held him, her arms wrapped around him, his heart a steady, reassuring beat against her chest.
For a long time, they lay tangled together in the nest, the only sounds their ragged breathing and the soft whisper of the wind against the windows. “That was…” She couldn’t find the words.
“Yeah.” His voice was rough, satisfied, still slightly dazed. “That was.”
She laughed, the sound bubbling up from somewhere deep in her chest. He lifted his head to look at her, his ears swiveling forward, and his expression was so openly besotted that it made her heart flip.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing. Just… you.” She reached up to trace the line of his jaw, marveling at the softness of his fur. “You built me a nest.”
“I did.”
“You carried me across the lawn in my pajamas.”
“Also true.”
“And you just thoroughly ravished me in said nest.”
His mouth curved—that rare, devastating smile. “Guilty as charged.”
She pulled him down for a kiss, soft and sweet, and felt him melt against her. When they finally broke apart, he rolled to the side, gathering her against his chest and arranging the blankets around them with instinctive care.
“Stay,” he murmured into her hair. “Stay here tonight. Stay here every night.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” He sounded almost surprised. “Just like that?”
“Just like that.” She nestled closer, breathing in his scent—wild and musky but most of all, home. “You built me a nest, Ben. The least I can do is sleep in it.”
His arms tightened around her, and she felt his chest rumble with something that might have been a laugh or might have been a purr.
“I meant what I said,” he told her quietly. “About mating for life. About this being permanent.”
“I know.”
“And you’re sure?”
“Ben.” She tilted her head back to meet his eyes.
“I’ve been waiting my whole life for somewhere to belong.
For someone to choose me. Not as a temporary thing, not as a convenience, but really and truly and forever.
” She touched his face gently. “And then I found you. Grumpy and kind and so desperately trying to protect me from yourself that you didn’t notice I was falling in love with you the whole time. ”
His breath caught. “Love?”
“Love.” She smiled at his stunned expression. “Is that okay?”
“Is it—” He made a sound that was half laugh, half groan. “Sara, I’ve been in love with you since you left bunny food by my fence. Since the moment you looked at me like I was someone worth knowing instead of someone to be afraid of.”
“You’re not scary.”
“I’m a six and a half-foot rabbit with claws and mating instincts and a serious attitude problem.”
“Like I said.” She kissed his chin. “Not scary.”
He laughed then, really laughed—a full, rich sound she’d never heard from him before. It transformed his face, softening the hard edges, making him look younger and lighter and impossibly beautiful.
“You’re impossible,” he said.
“And you love me.”
“God help me, I do.”
She grinned and burrowed closer, pulling one of the ridiculously soft blankets up to her chin. The nest was exactly as perfect as it had looked—warm and supportive and somehow shaped precisely to cradle her body.
“This is really comfortable,” she mumbled against his chest. “Like, absurdly comfortable. How long did you spend arranging all this?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Ben.”
“Several hours. Over multiple days.” His voice was rueful. “I may have also reorganized the blankets four times because the colors weren’t right.”
Sara’s heart squeezed with affection. “You’re adorable.”
“I am not adorable. I’m intimidating.”
“You’re an adorable, intimidating bunny who built me a love nest and I am never letting you forget it.”
His hand slid down to pinch her hip lightly in retaliation, making her squeak. “Watch it, sweetheart. Or I’ll show you just how intimidating I can be.”
“Promises, promises.”
He growled—low and playful—and rolled her beneath him again, his eyes glinting with renewed interest.
“Round two?” he murmured against her lips.
She smiled up at him, at this wonderful, impossible man who’d claimed her as thoroughly as she’d claimed him.
“Give me everything you’ve got, Thumper.”
His expression flickered between outrage and delight. “You’d better be careful what you wish for. Because I can keep going and going and going…”
She kissed him before he could finish his promise, pulling him down into the nest, into her arms, into the beginning of their forever.