Those words again. My undoing.
“Please.”
My fingers slid out of her. I pulled down my sweats, my erection springing free. My hands went to Everly’s hips, lifting her gently so she straddled my lap. “This is how we’re gonna go. Nice and easy. You control the pace. If anything hurts, we stop.”
The corner of Ev’s mouth kicked up. “You’re going to let me have control?”
I couldn’t help the scowl that came to my lips. “I let you have control.”
“Sure, you do.” Her hands went to my shoulders, and all amusement fled as she sank onto me. Her forehead touched mine. “Needed this. Just you and me. Us.”
She was right. When we came together, something was different. Every feeling and sense seemed heightened. If someone had told me that was possible, I would’ve called them a dirty liar. But it was the truth.
Everly began moving, rocking her hips. It was a slow and glorious torture. My hands slipped under her tee and cupped her breasts. She arched into me, taking me deeper and pressing her flesh into my hands.
I let out a groan as my hips rose to meet her movements. I’d tried to stay still, but with Ev, it was impossible. I always wanted more. To feel every inch of skin. To be planted in her as deeply as possible. To lose myself in the way she always made me feel—alive and at home, all at the same time.
Everly quickened her pace, and we found that rhythm that was ours alone, the energy that lit my blood on fire. My hands dipped to her waist, my lips finding the shell of her ear. “Need more?”
“Just need you.”
My hand dropped lower, my thumb finding that bundle of nerves and circling. The space getting tighter with each pass.
“Hayes,” she breathed as if my name were part prayer, part plea.
My thumb hit the spot where she wanted me most, and I pressed. Everly tightened around me, throwing me over that cliff that was the best high and the sweetest downfall. And not once did she let her eyes close as we fell. Together. I saw love and need and home in those eyes.
Her forehead came down to rest on mine again. “Love you.”
“For the rest of my days.”
Everly’s hand found mine, twining our fingers. “It seems crazy to know this fast. But I feel the same way.”
“Sometimes, the truth is the thing you know the fastest.”
“I guess I can see that.”
“You know that means I’m moving in, right?”
She straightened, scanning my face. “You want to move in with me?”
I cupped her cheek with my hand, stroking her cheek with my thumb. “It’s important to you to make your sanctuary there, in every sense of the word. Of course, I’ll move to be with you. This is just a house. What you’re doing is important.”
Tears filled her eyes, spilling down her face. “I haven’t even been able to make myself walk inside the main house.”
“I’ve been thinking about that.”
She sniffed. “Thinking that I’m crazy to try to make living there work?”
“No. I think you just haven’t found the right blend of the old and the new.”
“Okay…”
“Th
e main house is in rough shape anyway. I say we tear it down and come up with plans for something new. Something that’s ours. You’re fulfilling your promise to give that land goodness again, but you’re also building something that’s you. Us.”
Everly brushed her mouth against mine. “Have I told you lately that I love you?”