He had been listening to my thoughts.
I tilted my body toward his, willing his hand to move, his lips to touch mine. Something.
Luc growled low in his throat as his hand pressed my hips back into the mattress. “No.”
“No?” I repeated dumbly.
He nodded. “There’s something you need to fully understand first.”
I wasn’t sure I was capable of understanding anything at this point, but I would try. “What?”
Those bright pupils latched on to mine, refusing to let me look away. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for us to get to this point. I’ve fantasized about it. Dreamed about it. Had nightmares over it. There were times that I believed we would never get to this moment, but I never, ever gave up wanting this—wanting you. I never gave up hoping we’d find our way back to each other and that eventually we would be here, that you would find me and want me. That I would be worthy of you.”
Worthy of me? How could he think that he wasn’t?
“I want you so badly it hurts to breathe sometimes.” His voice grew softer, but his words became more powerful. “There is nothing I want more than to lose every part of me in you. Nothing. And yeah, that’s not an exaggeration. Screw world peace and fucking harmony for all species on this planet. You are all I’ve wanted for what has felt like forever.”
Hearing his words was like being struck by lightning, and he wasn’t finished.
“If I give you what you want, there’s no going back. Are you ready for that?” His hand slid up my waist, stopping just below my breast. “Because I’ve already waited forever for this—for you. I’ve done nothing but watch and wait, and I am not walking away again. If I kiss you, if I touch you again, I will not be able to go back to the way things are now.” The next breath he took trembled as much as I was. “I won’t be able to pretend that you aren’t my everything.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“That you’ll always have me. That you’ll always be mine,” he continued, his words fast and heated. “Are you ready for that? Because it’s intense, I know. I’m a lot to deal with. You think I’m a handful now? You haven’t seen anything yet, Peaches. I’m needy when it comes to affection—your affection—and I’ve been starving for it.”
And I was starving for him.
“So, tell me, please, did you really have a moment of clarity, Evie, or is this just a moment of need born out of a desire to distract yourself?”
I touched his cheek with trembling fingers, feeling his skin hum under my fingertips. I felt like I was about to step off a cliff. “I want you to kiss me.”
A snarl of satisfaction left him, and then his mouth was on mine. No time was wasted. His lips parted mine in a deep, powerful kiss that left me shaken. His tongue slipped against mine as I pulled at his shoulders, dragging him to me, and for a moment, we were chest to chest as he tilted his head, his hand cradling my jaw.
Luc kissed like he was starving, like he could devour me with his lips, his tongue, and I wanted to be devoured whole. I tried to move, but the blanket had somehow tangled in our legs, keeping mine pinned. A groan of frustration broke our kiss, and Luc’s thick laugh lifted the tiny hairs all over my body.
“Is that all that you wanted?” he asked.
I tried to shake my head, but his hand held my chin in place. I had to speak. I did. “No.”
“What else?”
“You,” I repeated. My hands slid down his sides, finding the bare skin underneath.
His head kicked back, and he groaned as my fingertips skated over the skin of his back. His chin snapped down, and he was kissing me once more, but he shifted off and onto his side. I didn’t get a chance to protest.
Luc’s hand left my chin and made its way down my throat. I moved with the path of his hand, arching as his palm grazed over the top of my breast. He didn’t stop there, and disappointment flared.
“Later,” he promised, and then his palm was trailing a lazy circle down my stomach, fingers slipping over my navel. His hand reached the band of my shorts.
I might’ve stopped breathing.
Luc’s gaze was pure fire as his eyes lifted to mine. Just the tips of his fingers slipped under the soft material. “This? Is this what you wanted?”
I was beyond the ability to speak, my pulse pounding. All I could do was nod.
Electricity danced over his hand as it slipped fully under the band, and I bit down hard on my lip to keep from crying out. I tasted blood, and I didn’t care. I reared off the bed as his fingers unerringly found their way.