He stopped to cast his arm toward his bed stand. It took me a second to realize what he was gropingfor.
“We don’t need it,” I said. Even if I hadn’t been taught as much, I could feel the protective heat of my spark flowing throughme.
Damon glanced at me, startled. A growl reverberating in his throat, he pushed me back on the bed, urging my hips up to meet him. A gasp escaped me as the tip of his cock grazed myopening.
“My way,” he said gruffly, catching myeyes.
I nodded, with a brief flicker of fear that was quickly wiped away by the ache of mydesire.
Damon plunged into me so fast and hard that the pain radiated out of me almost as quickly as it had come. Somehow the burn as he stretched me only fed the glow of my spark and the pleasure singing through everynerve.
He held there for a moment, a tremor passing through his shoulders as I clutched them. “So good. God,Rose.”
Then he started to move. He met me with slow, even thrusts that seemed to build and build, faster and rougher, hitting deeper inside me with each buck of his hips. I clung to him, every nerve aflame. The ache inside me grew and grew until it filled every pore, until I felt ready to burst with ecstasy. But I couldn’t quite reach thatpeak.
Damon lowered his head with another groan. Sweat dampened his skin. He kissed meroughly.
“Damon,” I said. “Damon, please.” I wasn’t even sure what I was asking for. Only that Ineeded.
“Oh, angel.” His breath stuttered over my cheek. “I don’t want to just fuck you, Rose. I want to own your fuckingheart.”
The words slipped out. “You’ve gotit.”
He made a choked sound and buried his head in my shoulder. “I loved you. I loved you so fucking much.” His fingers tangled in my hair, gripping hard as if to emphasize his point. “Don’t you dare even think about leaving here. Not without me. Not everagain.”
As if I could conceive of leaving while he had my body on the verge of shattering apart with bliss. “I won’t,” I said. “Not because you told me to. Because this is where Ibelong.”
“Yes. Yes, you do.” His hand slid over my ass, raising me even higher. Letting him hit a point inside me that set off every kind of spark imaginable. He thrust and thrust again, each pump of his cock shooting pleasure through my core. “Come with me, Rose. I’ve gotyou.”
Something about those words released the final wave. Pleasure crashed over me, my body shaking with it, a cry breaking from my lips. The light of my spark washed through me from head to toes in turn. As I soared on it, Damon’s hips jerked. He came with a stutter of breath. His thrustsslowed.
He tugged me to meet him for another kiss. Then he slumped onto the bed, half on his side, half still covering me. I turned to nestle against him, needing to feel him against me everywhere I could. My eyelids drooped. All I could feel was the glow trembling through my body and the heat of Damon’s skin embracingmine.
Nothing was carved in stone or bound with magic, but a sense of finality settled over me all the same. There was no coming back fromthis.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Damon
Rose’s arm slid against my side. Her fingertips pressed into my bare back as she hugged me tighter. The movement pulled me out of the satisfied haze I’d been drifting in, half asleep, for Lord knew how long. The soft murmur of her breath tickling over my chest suggested she was all the wayasleep.
Asleep here in mybed.
The haze in my head faded. The rest of the room came back into focus. The sheets with their stains that wouldn’t wash out. The mess in the kitchen. The periodic plinking of the dripping tap I could never totally fix. The chill that seeped through the exposed concretewalls.
This wasn’t the kind of place where Rose belonged. What the hell was she going to think when she woke up and saw what she’ddone?
And what had I said to her? God, in the heat of the moment, with her sweetness all around me, so many stupid words had come tumbling out. I’d told her I fuckinglovedher—
No, only that I used to. That was a little better. But stillpathetic.
My gut clenched. I pulled away from her and pushed myself off thebed.
Rose’s arm hit the mattress. She startled awake and blinked at me. A brilliant little smile started to curl her lips, and the twisting sensation inside me wrenched eventighter.
“Okay,” I said, grabbing my boxers. “You got what you wanted. Time togo.”
How to kill a smile in less than ten words. The light faded from Rose’s face. I tugged on my jeans and tossed her clothes onto the bed besideher.