Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 37324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 187(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 187(@200wpm)___ 149(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry,” she whispered again.
“I don’t want you to be sorry, Ivy. I just want you to believe me when I say that I’m not going anywhere.”
Her lips trembled, and she nodded, resolve written on her beautiful face.
I leaned in, kissed her softly—just a slow brush of mouths that felt like an oath—and pressed my forehead to hers.
“You’re it for me, Sunshine.”
She let out a soft, unsteady breath, the kind that felt like surrender. Her shoulders eased, her fingers loosened their grip on my hoodie, and her expression softened into something new. Something wide open.
The fear was gone. So was the hesitation.
She looked at me like she saw the truth now, as though it finally landed in her chest where it belonged, solid and real and unshakable.
“You’re it for me too, Saxon.”
The words weren’t fragile or uncertain. They were threaded with the kind of conviction that didn’t leave room for doubt. She meant every single syllable. And the words landed like a punch to the ribs, knocking the wind out of me in the best damn way.
I didn’t answer with words.
I leaned in and kissed her.
Mouth to mouth, heat to heat, with steady pressure. Her hands curled into my chest, and she melted against me like she’d been waiting for this exact moment to set herself free. I felt it in the way her breath caught. In the way her lips parted, soft and eager, moving with mine as I deepened the kiss. Not to rush. Not to take. Just to feel. To anchor us right here, in the quiet aftermath of almost losing something neither of us wanted to live without.
She tasted like hope. Like every second of doubt being stripped away, one breath at a time, until all that was left was the truth between us—raw and simple. Irreversible.
And I took it.
Because she was mine.
17
SAXON
The kiss didn’t stay gentle for long.
I didn’t ease her into it. Didn’t hold back or pretend I wasn’t starving for more. My hands dropped to her hips, my fingers flexing through the soft knit of her sweater as I shifted beneath her, moving so she went from sitting sideways on my lap to straddling me. Her breath hitched as I guided her forward.
She slid into place like her body knew what we needed better than her mind did. Her knees bracketed my thighs, her legs spreading slowly until her center was pressed right over the thick line of my cock. The stretch of denim between us added friction. The tease of heat where I wanted her bare.
I didn’t move at first. Just let her feel my length. How hard I was already. How fucking desperate I was to bury myself inside her and never come up for air again.
Her fingers gripped the front of my hoodie, and when her hips shifted just a fraction, her breath broke on a gasp that sounded like it came from somewhere deep inside her.
My hold on her tightened, and my voice dropped to a rough rasp against her ear. “Feel what you do to me, Sunshine. My cock’s been hard since the second I saw you.”
She trembled, her forehead resting against mine. Her lashes fluttered as her hips rocked instinctively, her body already chasing the friction like she couldn’t help it.
“That’s it.” My hold on her hips tightened, my fingers digging deep enough to bruise. I moved her exactly how I wanted her. Up and down, slow enough to make her shiver. “This is mine, Sunshine. All of it. You move how I say, come when I say, and no one touches you but me.”
Her mouth opened like she wanted to speak, but forgot how. Her breath caught in her throat instead.
I didn’t look away, and her eyes stayed locked on mine. I wanted her to see how gone I was for her. How nothing and no one else existed for me. Not the past. Not the future. Just this moment. Just her.
She rolled her hips again, slower this time. Her lips parted on a soft, involuntary moan that just about finished me. Then she bit her lip, stifling another sound of pleasure.
“Don’t you dare hold back,” I growled as I grabbed a fistful of her sweater at the small of her back and held her flush against me. “I want to hear the way I make you feel with every moan, whimper, and fucking scream.”
She nodded and moved harder. Her thighs tightened, and her hips rocked in a dirty rhythm that sent blood roaring through every inch of my body. My cock throbbed beneath her, straining against the layers between us. Aching for the heat I could already feel.
She wasn’t just wet. She was drenched.
“So needy already,” I grunted. “My sweet little sunshine’s filthy under all that softness, huh?”
I caught her mouth again in a rough and dirty kiss. My tongue swept in, and I felt her moan skitter down my spine. Her nails scraped the back of my neck, and her chest pressed even closer.