Chapter 29
Lachlan’s fingers stroked her cheek, then rested beneath her chin, lifting her face to look at him.
Britt’s breath caught in her throat at the unabashed love and devotion reflected in his whisky-amber eyes.
Every voice in her head screamed that she loved this man, even if none of it made sense.
She had no memories of Lachlan. Not of meeting him, falling in love with him, having his child—but the feelings were undeniable. Feelings she didn’t want to go away.
And if keeping them meant being Brittany Freeman, then that’s what she wanted. She hoped like hell Lachlan was right because walking away from him and Paloma felt like the worst possible fate.
“I can do the test?” Lachlan asked.
“Please,” Britt said, giving herself permission to hold onto him as closely as he held her. “I need to be sure about who I am or … who I’m not.”
She tilted her head back as Lachlan leaned forward, pressing his forehead against hers.
A natural motion between the two of them, as if they’d done this hundreds of times.
Perhaps they had. Moments locked and hidden away in the memories she couldn’t access.
She closed her eyes, inhaling his scent—so familiar and comforting.
The urge to dive her fingers through his hair grew strong.
Another instinct that could easily be driven by her past.
“I have missed you so much,” Lachlan whispered, his hands caressing her back and leaving a trail of butterflies fluttering in their wake. “I—”
“Stop!” Britt said, a fissure of panic slicing through her. “Don’t say another word.” The words hung heavy in the air between them. “Not until we have proof of who I am.”
She couldn’t bear for him to pour out his heart when she wasn’t sure she was the woman he wanted her to be. The woman, after a year of fighting it, she now hoped she could be.
“That’s why I want to tell you now. So you get it through that beautiful, thick, stubborn head of yours that nothing will change how I feel about you.”
“No.” She gripped his t-shirt in her fists. “I don’t know the right thing to do here, Lachlan. I’m so scared that things won’t turn out how you expect them to, and I don’t want to disappoint you or Paloma.”
“I would never blame you or be upset with you if they didn’t,” Lachlan reassured her. “It wouldn’t be your fault—”
“Just stop talking,” Britt said, sliding her arms around him. The strong muscles of his back relaxed under her touch as she pushed her body flush with his.
Chuckling, Lachlan said, “I’ve heard that from you so many times.” His laugh reverberated from his body through hers as he quietly studied her. “Let me guess, you just want me to hold you?”
“You aren’t guessing, are you?”
“Nope.”
“Can you do that?”
“I can and I will do anything ye ask of me, as always,” Lachlan said. The emotions in his voice brought tears to her eyes. “Saying no to ye has never been an option for me.”
“I’m sure Brittany Freeman found it hard to say no to you, too.”
A flicker of a frown played between his brows, giving him the most charming boyish look. “You actually had no problem telling anyone no, including me.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“You weren’t my wife, Britt. And that wasn’t because I didn’t ask you. I’m not going to tell you how many times you turned me down,” Lachlan said, amused and wistful.
“I thought Brittany Freeman was a smart woman,” she said, moving her hands to caress the sides of his face. “How she didn’t stake her claim on you officially seems foolish.”
“Who knows?” Lachlan said, his eyes twinkling with mischief. “I might get lucky the next time. I don’t really know how to give up on what I want.”
“What do you want, Lachlan?” The question was a veiled proposition, bold and daring.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Britt looked away, her face warming as she studied the floor where her bare feet rested between his larger ones. Lachlan dipped lower until his face was at eye level with hers.
“I want you.” His voice was low, deep and seductive. “Whatever your name is.” His eyes narrowed on her mouth, inciting a flurry of fantasies about his lips on hers. “Whoever you are.”
“Lachlan …” His name tumbled from her lips as the energy in the room crackled with a palpable passion that weakened her knees.
She couldn’t fight the shift unfolding between them, like barrelling past a point of no return.
Her yearning for him had been unleashed and couldn’t be put back in the bottle even if she tried. She was done trying. “I want you, too.”
Lachlan’s arms scooped under her ass, pulling her against him as he hoisted her into his arms like she weighed no more than a feather.
She wrapped her legs around his hips as her arms draped around his neck.
The enormous bulge in his pants pressed against her dampening mound as he spun her around and pinned her against the door.
He leaned forward, their breaths tangling together in symphonic unison.
The gruffness of his voice sent a chill down her spine as he whispered in her ear, “I swear I’ll die right here, right now, if I can’t taste you.”
Britt stifled a gasp as he pressed his erection firmly against her. Her nipples hardened into tight buds as her breaths quickened. Her heart was about to pound out of her chest.
She swallowed hard, glancing at the hallway behind him. “What about Paloma?”
“She’s locked in her room watching a Disney movie. She won’t hear a thing.” The intensity of his gaze bored into her. “Unless you’ve suddenly turned into a moaner?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Honestly, I’m not quite sure how I’ll handle you …”
“Feasting on your pussy?” Lachlan asked with a devilish grin. “Why don’t we find out?” He took a step back, lowering her legs to the floor, then gripped the edges of her yoga pants and panties, waiting for her permission.
A force beyond her control triggered the slightest nod of her head. Two seconds later, Lachlan was crouched low next to her feet, lifting her legs from the garments. He tossed them onto the floor, then gripped her hips as his head dipped between her thighs.
He inhaled her. “Fuck, you smell the same. The sweet scent that only visited me in my dreams, torturing me when I’d wake up and you weren’t there.”
All her resistance to being Brittany Freeman was vanishing like smoke carried away on a hurricane-force wind.
She didn’t have most of her memories, but she couldn’t deny how right it felt to be with Lachlan just like this.
She wished like hell that she could remember what it felt like to have his tongue on her, enthralling her, pushing her over the edge of ecstasy.
But could any of those memories compete with the real thing happening now? She didn’t think so.
“I’m here now,” Britt whispered. A boldness from a place she couldn’t identify rifled through her as she lifted one leg over his shoulder, closing the distance between his lips and the object of his desire.
“That’s my Britt,” Lachlan damn near growled.
He squeezed one ass cheek as he jerked her forward.
His ragged breath teased and tantalized her wet sex as his laser-focused gaze discovered how much she wanted him.
“You’re so fucking wet.” He dragged a finger slowly against her sensitive flesh, then stared at his moist finger in awe.
“You want me almost as bad as I want you,” Lachlan announced, then licked and sucked her essence from his finger.
“I can’t wait to lick your beautiful cunt and remind you that you belong to me. You are mine. Always.”
His words tattooed on her heart as he spoke, becoming her truth.
A new memory all their own. One that could not be denied.
She wanted to surrender to his certainty.
But admitting he was right felt too reckless.
As though it would jinx her from getting the answer she wanted from the DNA test, ruining any chance of getting the life she wanted.
But nothing could take this moment away from her.
Lachlan gripped her waist, hoisting her higher with a strength she couldn’t understand, and coaxed her to drape her other leg over his shoulder.
He contorted his body like an acrobat, maneuvering their positions until her back was against the floor, and he was nestled between her legs at the perfect angle to do the best kind of damage.
His tongue dragged slowly along her slit, sending an electric tremor through her body.
She bit down on her bottom lip, bracing herself for what was coming next.
With a deliberate and deliciously slow pace, Lachlan’s tongue explored every inch of her sex with reverent precision.
He licked her center with a ruthlessness that left her dizzy and aching for release.
Every nerve ending in her body sparked to life.
He hummed against her flesh, the vibration sending shockwaves to her core.
The man knew exactly where to lick, where to suck, where to apply pressure. He knew her body better than she did.
“I’m so … close … ” Britt whispered through panted breaths.
“Trust me. I know,” Lachlan said with a cocky smirk she couldn’t see but could definitely feel.
“You remember this,” he murmured against her slick heat. Not a question. He circled her clit with the tip of his tongue, then flattened it, applying delicious pressure.
She gasped, sucking in a deep breath as her hips bucked involuntarily, followed by a series of shudders washing over her.
“Stay still,” he commanded. The authority in his voice made her wetter. The warm softness of his mouth circled her clit in an intoxicating pattern before sucking it between his lips. Her nails dug into his shoulders, holding him tighter as she rode the undulating waves of rapture.
She had no memory of being intimate with anyone but couldn’t imagine she’d ever felt anything this good.
And before the thought could take root, Lachlan’s tongue plunged inside her as he fucked her with his mouth, establishing a rhythm that had her climbing toward an explosive release.
Her thighs trembled against his shoulder as she rocked softly against his mouth, chasing her orgasm.
“Take over, you know you want to,” Lachlan commanded, briefly breaking contact. “You’re not shy, Britt. I’ve got you.”
Britt’s fingers threaded through his hair, tugging with urgent need as she pushed his face harder against her clit.
Her hips moved of their own accord, grinding against his face as she went blind from the pleasure building within her.
Each sensation was familiar yet brand new—her body remembering what her mind couldn’t.
Her movements were calculated and coordinated, focused on a single goal as she bucked against his tongue.
Her breaths were ragged. Whimpers low and muffled.
Every ounce of her concentration zeroed in on claiming the fierce orgasm unfurling within her.
There was no wasted energy on wild moans or feral screams to distract her from the task at hand.
She pressed her mound harder against his face, riding him until her eyes flung open in shock.
Her back arched, her spine tingled, and her muscles tensed as an explosive orgasm ripped from her body from head to toe.
She barely registered Lachlan’s tightening grip on her hips as the aftershocks of the orgasm hit her harder and harder until she collapsed, totally spent.
“That’s my Britt,” Lachlan said huskily, peppering her neck with kisses. He shifted her limp body into a more comfortable position as she struggled to get her brain to function properly.
Kissing her softly on the nose, Lachlan said, “You should get comfortable. You’re staying with us tonight.”
And the words he didn’t say hung between them.
She knew she’d be staying with them every night after this one, too.