Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
W hen we got back to Pendragon, Kingston dropped me off at the front, where Landon waited silently.
He shuttered his expression as we approached, but relief peeked out as I met him at the top of the steps. He pulled me into a hug, and tears stung my eyes.
I buried my face in his shirt, but he sensed my pain and lifted my chin. His concern morphed into silent understanding, even though he had no idea what Kingston had shared.
It was as if knowing their reality had changed me physically, and one look told him I’d never be the same.
“Let’s get you upstairs.”
I nodded and let him lead me toward the front door. But we turned before we went inside, both of us searching for Kingston across the lawn. Both of us waiting for him to come find us.
Without a word, Landon brought me to Camelot Courtyard to grab my things from the sleepover, which felt like a lifetime ago, and then to my room to change for bed.
“I need to be with him tonight. But tomorrow, can we…talk?”
He searched my face for answers I couldn’t give him yet. “Of course,” he said. “Come find me when you’re ready.”
I nodded, glancing at the adjoining door across from his. “Is Max…?”
“I left the cabin before him.” His jaw tightened slightly. “After we finished cleaning up. I’m not sure if he’s back.”
I pulled out my phone and sent him a quick text.
Unsurprisingly, he sent back the bathtub emoji, which brought a much-needed smile to my face.
Slipping the phone into my backpack, I turned to Landon. And after he kissed me good night, he opened the door to my room and waited as I walked across the hall to Kingston’s.
When I lifted my bracelet to the sensor above the handle, his brow furrowed. He winced as the lock clicked, and I opened the door. I wanted to ask him what he’d remembered. What he saw when that happened.
But, after everything Kingston had shared, I couldn’t bring myself to push him out of the dark.
“Are you okay?”
With clenched teeth, he nodded and forced a smile. “I’m good. Don’t worry about me tonight. I’ll see you in the morning, beautiful.”
“Okay.” I chewed on my lower lip, glancing between the open door and Landon. “Buns, I?—”
“I know.”
I wanted them both with me. I wanted all three of them sleeping beside me at night. Somehow. Although, logistically, that fantasy required some preplanning.
But tonight, I needed Kingston.
And Landon knew it.
So, with a soft smile, he nodded toward Kingston’s door. Letting me know he wasn’t going anywhere. Letting me know we’d have our time, so I could spend tonight where my heart needed to be.
And I went inside, listening for the soft click that followed once I was safely tucked in Kingston’s room.
As I waited for Kingston, anticipation built in my chest. My heartbeat quickened, and my feet refused to stay still. Even with the somber veil over the day, nervous excitement thrummed through my whole body.
I couldn’t sit, moving from the chair to the bed, using the restroom to brush my teeth and wrangle my wind-swept hair, and finally, changing into my cutest sleep shirt.
Okay, fine. Yes, I wore more lingerie under it than usual.
So, sue me.
But the fluttering in my belly, rising up to my throat, left me eagerly waiting for Kingston to come find me. Anticipating the end of what we’d started on the mountain. And feeling like it was happening for the very first time.
In a way, it could be, if the night led where I hoped it might go. But even if it didn’t, we would get there. It was inescapable—the need to be connected with him.
And I couldn’t wait.
In that moment, I didn’t doubt his feelings for me. No fear that I was just a pawn in a larger game he intended to play. No hesitation, as he walked into the room and his eyes lit up at the sight of me standing there.
“Hi.”
His smile brightened everything further. “Hi.”
He stepped in front of me, cradling my face in his hands as I pushed up onto my toes to seal his lips to mine.
His hands swept over my hair, my neck, and up and down my arms. Like he couldn’t stop touching me, couldn’t decide where he wanted to stop, or if he ever did.
When his palm stroked down the length of my back, my whole body shivered and I clutched him tighter.
“I never thought I’d feel like this for anyone or be with anyone this way again. I never thought I’d feel…”
“Feel what?”
“Real,” he whispered.
His lips found mine, and he swept his tongue inside my mouth as if he couldn’t wait to taste me.
A shiver ran down my spine, the familiar thrum of electricity between us going all the way to my toes. Wrapping my arms around his neck felt effortless, aligning every inch of my body with his—as natural as breathing.
As we explored each other with that kiss, I never wanted to let him go. Never wanted to break our connection.
I wanted more but couldn’t get close enough.
Pulling back, I reached for his shirt. As he raked his gaze over me, I undid the buttons one by one before I peeled the material off his skin carefully.
He swallowed deeply and watched me as I slipped the shirt off his shoulders. Letting me take my time. And trusting me.
The tattoo on his right shoulder surprised me, and I forced myself not to be distracted by the expanse of tan skin I exposed, but my eyes lingered on the definition in his lean, muscular frame.
I traced the cut of his abs and the line of his oblique muscles leading down to his pants.
Looking first before touching him with my hands, and then finally, doing it all over again with the press of my lips.
I wanted to explore every inch of him, find every memory his body held onto, the pain lingering in his bones from bruises that had faded a long time ago, so I could kiss them all away.
Shirtless Kingston ranked up there with barefoot Kingston, because the trust in his eyes as I undressed him was vivid, bright, and so real it stole my breath.
Even with the bandage still on his chest.
It was smaller now. Healing.
But still, at the thought of what his father had done, my heart ached, jaw tightening as I tried to stop myself from crying. I ran my fingers over his skin near where he’d been marked, my voice trembling. “I hate how much he’s hurt you.”
He cupped the back of my neck. “He can’t hurt me now. Nothing can, while I have you in my arms.”
A tear slipped down my cheek.
Cradling my head, he kissed away the tear, and then found my lips again. As he deepened our kiss further, his hand skimmed along the edge of my shorts until it rested at the small of my back. Fingers playing over my skin, they slipped under my shirt.
But, ever the gentleman, Kingston didn’t push forward without pulling back first. “I don’t want to rush a single moment with you. But…I’m liable to lose myself in you right now.”
“Then, do it.”
I leaned forward and kissed his chest, and Kingston took me at my word. He guided us back until my knees hit the bed, and then he climbed onto it first. We shared a secret smile as I took his hand, letting him help me up, and meeting him in the center, where we knelt and kept going.
Together.
We peeled away every piece of his clothing, and then we did the same with mine. He held on long enough to let me take him in my hands, and I swallowed hard at the sight of him, reveled in the feel of him in my hands.
Ready for me— waiting for me.
I stroked slowly, trying not to rush. Delighting in each and every stuttered breath. Then, mine quickened.
When he removed my shirt, he took the same time with me. Staring at me like I was a work of art. Trailing kisses from my collarbone to my breasts. And sliding down the straps of my bra. All so he could take me in his mouth, lave his tongue over my lace-covered nipple.
As his other hand tugged down the cup on the other side, teasing with every roll and light pinch, until pleasure zinged down to my clit. Sliding his hands down to my panties, he eased them past my hips. I kicked them away, growing eager now. Still unable to stop touching him.
He pulled away only long enough to grab a condom from the bedside table, before kneeling in front of me again. Kissing me long and slow. Slipping one hand between my legs. And finding me ready for him as he ran his fingers over my sex and eased one inside me.
I gripped his shoulders as he worked his hand, my core tightening with each slow thrust in and out.
My neck rolled. My head dropping back. And a long, low moan left my throat.
And when he added a second finger, I cried out at the stretch.
Breathing and letting him in, the need for more rose higher and higher until I couldn’t wait.
“Kingston, I need you.”
“I know. I’m with you, love.”
He sank back onto his heels, bringing his legs around to sit cross-legged on the bed as he stared at me kneeling over him.
The whole time, he never stopped moving his hand.
Never stopped preparing me for what came next.
And he leaned forward and kissed my belly before slowly sliding his fingers out.
He pulled me toward him, easing me onto his lap.
My arms came around his neck. Legs wrapped around his waist. I sought his lips as he lined up his cock where I needed him most. Teasing the head over my clit, he groaned at the wetness gathered there for him and stopped just long enough to put the condom on.
As he nudged my entrance, he cupped my cheek. My eyes fell closed, and I leaned into his palm. Amazed that we were finally here, with no doubt in my mind how much I wanted this.
“No, Quinn, look at me,” he breathed. “I want to see your eyes when I’m inside you for the first time. I want you to see mine.”
My eyelids were heavy, my body ready to give in, but I gave him what he wanted easily. Wanting it, too.
He kissed my lips, his tongue meeting mine for one brief moment, before he held my gaze and wouldn’t let it go.
And slowly, carefully, he eased inside me.
My eyes widened at the first press, at the change starting deep inside me, knowing there was no coming back from this.
Our bodies joined, slowly and steadily. Inch by inch, I let him in. Connecting us, binding us, and feeling everything change, my world shifting completely, in that one moment.
As he moved beneath me, I moved with him, meeting him for every fluid stroke, gasping with every urgent thrust. Never letting go of his neck, never breaking his stare, I cried out when it became too much.
He kissed me, exhaled with me, waiting for the emotion to ease before we kept going.
Together, we moved and breathed through every rising wave of pleasure. Sweat coating our skin, our breaths mingling in the quiet space between our lips. Together, my soft edges mixed with his sharp lines, erasing the pain and scars and leaving nothing else but this.
Together, we were a masterpiece—vivid and bright.
Real.
We were painfully, perfectly real and nothing—no one—could take this away from us.
Arms and legs trembling, my climax peaked. I cried out, pleasure racing down my spine. Arching my back. Curling my toes. And as he made me come apart, he pulled me down for one final thrust. Burying himself inside me with a deep groan until no space remained between us.
Until all that was left was something intangible, but real. Somehow stronger than the entire world around us.
Something that didn’t need words, although Kingston gave them to me, anyway.
Blue-gray eyes, steadfast and sure, stared at me as he wrapped one arm around my waist. With the other, he gripped my chin. “No version of me will exist, now or in the future, without the memory of this. Without you .”
Tears filled my eyes, and I nodded, assuring him I felt it, too. “I’m with you.”
I whispered the words as my body shook, and even though I couldn’t voice it yet, I knew.
What he’d said, and what it truly meant. A promise he would never take back.
And what had changed in my heart, shifting irrevocably in that one moment.
A truth I vowed silently to hold in my heart and never forget.
Because it mattered. Because it meant everything.
And because I loved him, too.