“Until Celestine ruined everything.”
I waved my hand dismissively. I could afford to be relaxed about that now. “We still got years of amazing times. I wouldn’t give those up for anything, no matter what happened after. They’re what brought you into my life in the first place.” I tugged her to my side, gazing down at her beautiful face. Reveling in the emotions it stirred in me that echoed back through the past. “You have no idea how much I wanted you even back then, angel.”
Rose peered up at me through her dark eyelashes. Her tone turned coy. “Yeah?”
“I’m not sure I had any idea what I’d do with you if you’d wanted me too, back when we were thirteen. But yeah. You were all through my dreams, day and night.”
She swiveled on her feet to face me, carefully so I could keep my arm around her. “I know you’ve got plenty of ideas of what to do with menow. Show me.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Show you?”
“Show me how much you wanted me.”
How could I resist a request like that? My hand came up to her cheek automatically. I tilted her face and claimed her mouth with a confidence I hadn’t quite had even a few days ago, let alone years.
The tender pressure of her lips as they welcomed mine was all the confirmation I needed.
This was my consort. I’d earned her love with the pleasure I’d always been able to bring her if nothing else. I deserved this happiness. Maybe it’d take some time before I believed that all the way down to my bones, but I was getting there.
Rose’s hands slipped up under my shirt, tracing the muscles of my back skin to skin, and just like that I was ablaze. I kissed her harder, guiding her hips against mine. The curves of her breasts grazed my chest.
I wanted to explore every curve of her body, but this wasn’t an ideal place to setheron fire. The apple trees stood too low to the ground for me to lean her against one. My mind spun and settled on the perfect spot.
I kissed her again with all the longing I had in me and then drew her with me toward the woods. “Come here.”
Mischief glinted in Rose’s eyes when she saw where I was leading her. All those years ago, we’d hung out in and around the abandoned hunting cabin even more often than the orchard. I shoved open the door with a creak of its hinges, pulling Rose with me, and kicked it shut behind us. Then I was nudging her up against the cedar boards, heedless of the dusty floor and the grit that marked the windows. The warm wood smell mingled with the delicate scent of her skin. She swayed into my kiss, and I jerked down the zipper of her dress.
I’d imagined kissing her in here—kissing her all sorts of places—back when I was thirteen. Where we’d have gone from there, I was definitely a lot surer of now.
As soon as the bodice was loosened, I braced her more firmly against the wall. My thumb traced along the base of her bra to her breasts and my other hand hitched up the skirt.
When I raised her leg alongside my hip, Rose arched into me, her core aligning with the erection already straining against my jeans. A stutter of breath escaped her at the same time as I groaned. Just that brief contact sent a pulse of hunger and pleasure through me.
While I plundered the sensitive territory beneath her bra, drawing a whimper from her as her nipple pebbled, I yanked the skirt of her dress higher. Rose was already fumbling with the zipper of my jeans before I hooked my fingers around the edge of her panties. This wasn’t going to be any drawn-out, lingering love-making today, but there wasn’t much I liked better than my angel fierce and demanding in her desire.
I stroked the slit between her legs, a fresh wave of heat flooding me at the wetness of her arousal, so ready for me. When I flicked my thumb over her clit, Rose growled and clutched me harder. Her fingers curled around my cock, and the need to be inside her drowned out every other sensation.
I lined myself up and plunged into her slickness. Rose moaned, her other hand gripping the back of my neck with a pinch of fingernails I didn’t mind at all. She sheathed me so perfectly my head whirled with the bliss of it.
With each thrust, our bodies melded closer together. Pleasure raced through my veins and tightened my balls. Rose’s breath had narrowed down to little gasps. “Yes,” she managed to murmur between them. “Damon.”
There was no better sound than my name on her lips in the throes of passion. It set off a swell of emotion behind my ribs. I tipped my face to her hair. My voice came out ragged. “Love you so fucking much.”
She arched into me, opening herself up to me as much as she possibly could. “I love you too.”
I adjusted her against me, seeking that perfect angle that would set off her release—and there: I bucked into her, she shuddered with a cry of bliss, and her sex clenched around me.
That was all it took to propel me over the same edge. I came with another groan, my mouth pressed to her jaw.
Rose hummed happily and looped both her arms across my shoulders as we both sank into the afterglow. I nuzzled her cheek and stole another kiss, this one less urgent.
“Now that’s what I call a welcome home,” she said.
I grinned. “Happy to provide the service whenever you’re in need.”
A giggle slipped out of her. She kissed me again, hugging me to her for several heartbeats, and then eased back. “I should pick some of those apples so we can actually enjoy them now that they’ve made their early arrival. Maybe we’ll get apple pie for dessert tonight.”
“I could go for that,” I said, and an electric zap shot through my arm.