Chapter 13
Sam
I carried Jess up to my loft, my heart pounding with need and relief and overwhelming love.
She'd come back. She'd chosen me. And now she was finally where she belonged.
I laid her on my bed—our bed now—and just looked at her for a moment. Three weeks of hell, and she was here. Real. Mine.
"Sam," she whispered, reaching for me.
"Hold on." I stepped back, my eyes traveling over her. "I've been dreaming about this. About you in my bed. Let me look."
She flushed but didn't cover herself, and I felt something fierce and possessive surge through me. This woman. This brave, stubborn, incredible woman had driven across the country for me.
Had chosen me.
"You're wearing too many clothes," I said huskily.
"So are you."
"We'll fix that." I pulled my shirt over my head, watching her eyes darken as she took me in. "But first, I need you to understand something."
"What?" Her voice was breathless.
"Last time, we were desperate. Scared. Running on adrenaline and fear of losing each other.
" I moved closer, settling one knee on the bed.
"This time? I'm taking my time. This time I'm going to worship every inch of you.
Make you come so many times you forget your own name.
Prove to you in every way possible that you're mine and I'm never letting you go. "
She shivered. "That sounds like a threat."
"It's a promise." I leaned over her, bracing my hands on either side of her head. "Last time I claimed you. This time I'm keeping you. You understand the difference?"
"Tell me."
"Claiming is about taking. Keeping is about holding." I pressed a kiss to her temple. "About proving every single day that you made the right choice. That I'm worth staying for." Another kiss to her jaw. "That this—us—is real."
"I already know it's real," she breathed.
"Good. Then you won't mind me spending the next few hours reminding you." I pulled back to start unbuttoning her shirt, taking my time with each button. "Because I've got three weeks of missing you to make up for. And I plan on being very thorough about it."
Her breath hitched. "How thorough?"
"Very." I slipped the shirt off her shoulders, revealing the simple bra underneath. Not the expensive lingerie from before—just practical cotton. And somehow that made it even more perfect. "You came back to me. Gave up everything for me. The least I can do is make sure you never regret it."
"I won't regret it."
"I know." I unhooked her bra, freeing her breasts. "But I'm going to make damn sure anyway."
Then I lowered my mouth to her skin, and the conversation ended.
I kissed her slowly, deeply, pouring three weeks of longing and pain and love into it. She responded with equal intensity, her hands fisting in my shirt, pulling me closer.
"Need you," she gasped against my mouth. "Need to feel you. Need to know this is real."
"It's real, baby. So fucking real." I started unbuttoning her shirt with shaking hands. "And I'm going to spend the next several hours proving it."
I stripped her slowly, worshiping every inch of skin as I revealed it. She was thinner than she'd been, stress written in the sharp angles of her collarbones, the hollow of her stomach.
"You haven't been taking care of yourself," I said, pressing kisses to her ribs.
"Neither have you," she countered, her fingers tracing the new lines in my face.
"Then we'll take care of each other." I pulled her shirt off, then her bra, and finally had her bare before me. "Starting now."
I took my time exploring her body, relearning every curve, every sensitive spot, every sound she made when I touched her just right. This wasn't the desperate claiming of the tent or the intense reunion of my shower. This was worship.
This was love.
"Sam," she gasped as my mouth closed over her nipple. "Please—"
"Please what? Tell me what you need, baby."
"You. Inside me. Making me yours again."
"You never stopped being mine." I moved to her other breast, lavishing it with the same attention. "But I'm going to remind you anyway. Going to make you come so many times you forget you were ever anywhere but here."
I worked my way down her body with my mouth, kissing and licking and learning her all over again. When I reached the waistband of her jeans, I looked up to meet her eyes.
"I love you," I said. "I need you to hear that. Before we go any further. I love you, Jess. Not just your body. Not just what we have in bed. You. All of you. Everything you are."
"I love you too," she said, her voice breaking. "So much it hurts."
"Then let me make it stop hurting." I stripped off her jeans and underwear, leaving her completely bare. "Let me show you what love is supposed to feel like."
I settled between her thighs, and her hands immediately went to my hair, trying to pull me where she wanted me.
"Impatient," I teased.
"It's been three weeks. I'm allowed to be impatient."
"Fair enough." I pressed a kiss to her inner thigh, then licked a slow stripe up her center that made her cry out. "But I'm still taking my time."
I worked her with my tongue and fingers, learning her pleasure all over again, finding the rhythm that made her arch and moan and fist her hands in my hair. But this time, every touch was accompanied by words.
"I love you."
"You're so beautiful."
"You're mine, and I'm never letting you go."
"I love the sounds you make."
"I love how you taste."
"I love everything about you."
When she finally came, crying out my name, I stayed with her through every aftershock, extending her pleasure until she was boneless and gasping.
"That was—" She couldn't finish the sentence.
"Just the beginning." I crawled up her body, settling between her thighs. "Now I'm going to make love to you. Slow and deep and real. Going to show you what forever feels like."
I stripped off my own clothes with efficient movements, then settled back over her. My cock rested against her entrance.
"Look at me," I commanded softly. "I want to see your eyes."
She met my gaze, and I saw everything there—love and trust and desire and the beginning of forever.
"I love you," I said as I pushed inside.
The feeling of being inside her again after three weeks of hell was almost overwhelming. She was tight and hot and perfect, her body welcoming me home.
"I love you too," she gasped, wrapping her legs around my waist and pulling me deeper. "God, Sam, I missed this. Missed you."
"Missed you too, baby. Every fucking second." I started moving, slow and deep like I'd promised. "Thought about this every night. About being inside you. About hearing you say my name. About making you mine all over again."
"I'm yours," she moaned. "Always yours. Only yours."
The words made something fierce and possessive surge through me. I gripped her hip with one hand, angling her exactly where I wanted her, and started moving with more purpose.
"That's right. You're mine now. My woman. My partner. My everything." Each word was punctuated with a deep thrust that made her gasp. "And I'm never letting you go again."
"Don't want you to let me go," she said, her nails digging into my back. "Want you to keep me forever."
"Forever." I leaned down to kiss her, swallowing her moans. "Gonna marry you, Jess. Gonna put my ring on your finger and my baby in your belly and make sure the whole world knows you're mine."
She clenched around me at that, and I groaned.
"You like that? Like the idea of being mine body and soul?"
"Yes," she gasped. "Want all of it. Want your ring, your baby, your life. Want everything with you."
"You're getting everything." I could feel her getting close, feel her body starting to tighten around me. "Gonna give you everything you want, baby. Starting with making you come on my cock while I tell you how much I love you."
My hand slid between us, finding her clit, and she cried out.
"I love you," I said, circling that sensitive bundle of nerves. "I love your strength and your stubbornness and your brilliant mind. I love how you argued with me in that parking lot. How you refused to give up even when you were terrified."
"I'm close."
"I love how you led those lawyers through a blizzard. How you survived being lost on my mountain. How you came back even when you were scared I'd reject you."
"Please."
"I love everything about you, Jess Madison. And I'm going to spend the rest of my life proving it. Now come for me. Come for the man who loves you more than anything in this world."
She shattered with a cry, her whole body convulsing around me, and the sight and feel of her pleasure pushed me over the edge. I buried myself deep and let go, filling her with everything I had, marking her in the most primitive way possible.
"Mine," I groaned. "You're mine, and I'm yours, and we're never being apart again."
"Never," she agreed, still shaking with aftershocks. "Together. Always together."
I collapsed beside her, immediately pulling her into my arms, keeping us connected. Her head rested on my chest, her hand over my heart, and for the first time in three weeks, I felt like I could breathe.
"I can't believe you're really here," I said into her hair. "I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and you'll be gone."
"I'm really here." She pressed a kiss to my chest. "And I'm not going anywhere. Ever."
"Tell me how it happened. How you went from partnership track to driving across the country."
She told me everything—the panic attack in the client meeting, the realization that she couldn't keep drowning, the methodical way she'd planned her escape. The resignation letter and Belinda's fury and the week of logistics and preparation.
"I didn't do it impulsively," she said. "I know that's important to you. I made a plan. I researched. I set up a business that can support me. I'm not expecting you to take care of me. I'm taking care of myself. I just want you to be part of the life I'm building."