Tears pricked at my eyes, and I buried my face in his neck. This. Right here. This was my safe space. The place that felt like home.
Axel ground up into me, sending pinpricks of light fluttering behind my eyelids. I rocked against him, starting a slow rhythm that soon evolved into something frenetic and needy. Nobody could fill me like Axel did. This wasn’t just sex, this was communion.
His fingertips dug into my ass cheeks as he matched my rhythm. The noises of our lovemaking were slick, juicy. Axel grunted softly, a few locks of his hair falling into his eyes as he searched out my gaze.
And oh, the way he looked at me. I wanted to capture it and save it forever. He watched me with an intensity that threatened to unravel me on the spot. Like he would never let go of me now. Like he had never fully let go to begin with.
I didn’t need to say the words that were on my heart. The air between us was thick with love and a tenderness so deep that it threatened to devour us.
Electricity sparked and swelled as our hips collided in a perfect rhythm.
“Axel,” I moaned, clinging to the sinewy ridges of his arms. “I…It’s too good. You’re too good.” I was helpless now, a victim of our passion. My breasts jiggled every time he drilled up into me. Sweat prickled at his temples, the blue storm of his eyes a raging tempest now.
His fingertips dug into the flesh of my hips as if they planned to root there, pulling me into him with every thrust. I squirmed against him, something powerful and cataclysmic around the corner. There wasn’t just an orgasm waiting in the wings; this climax was going to split me open and change my life.
That’s what Axel did. What he’d always done. Opened me up and showed me what else was out there.
“Ohhh, Axel. Please. Please. Please.” I didn’t even know what I was begging for, just that I needed more of it. More of him. As the desperation within me rose, his eyes glazed over. He fucked me until I was squirming against him, fisting the top of his hair, begging for it to never end.
My climax hit in a shuddering wave, lava hot and fast. I screamed his name. Louder than I thought possible. He yanked at my hair, forcing my head backward.
“Say it again,” he growled, still grinding into me even though my pussy was a throbbing, sensitive mess.
“Axel.” I wrapped my arms around his neck, my heart pounding as my climax stretched through me for round two. Everything felt broken open, vulnerable, volatile. So maybe that’s what pushed the words out of my mouth. “I’ve never stopped loving you.”
I captured his mouth in a kiss before he could respond. He slammed me down on his cock again and kissed me so hard that my lips buzzed. Axel erupted into me, the heat of his release coating my insides. We stayed like that for a long time, kissing hungrily, as though we were beginning all over again.
He squeezed his arms around me, his wet cock sliding in and out of me leisurely. I wished I could preserve this moment forever. Everything felt good again. No, it felt perfect. At least for a few blissful moments.
Axel pressed soft kisses to my neck, along my jawline, up to my lips. He tugged at my hair again, but this time it was gentler. It was just so that I’d meet his gaze. Our chests heaved as we stared at each other.
“Me neither, Cora,” he said.
Tears pricked at my eyes, and I surged forward for another kiss. I’d never stop needing more kisses from him. We had eight years to make up for. And who knew how much longer I could get them?
We fell back onto the bed together, his body covering mine. He propped himself up on an elbow and gazed down at me, the words swirling unspoken between us.
I was his.
And he was mine.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CORA
The weekend dissolved between us, a blur of sex, good meals, and more sex.
It was an escape. I knew it. He knew it. But we both just wanted to press pause on life for a minute.
Because good things came to an end. And in this case, the end was on Monday. I had to return to the office. I’d been working remotely long enough, and I had to show my face at Margulis Realty for a meeting. I didn’t know what awaited me, other than it put me within arm’s reach of Eli. I hadn’t heard a peep from him since he’d broken into my hotel room, which was as relieving as it was unnerving.
Bright and early Monday morning, I pulled on a new black form-fitting dress that Axel and I had picked out together from the comfort of his king-size bed. I appreciated his desire to help me replace what I’d left behind, to get back on my feet. I even let him pay. These things represented the start of a new life.
I wasn’t sure how long this new chapter could last.
“Hey. You call me when you can, okay?” Axel leaned forward to press a kiss to my lips as I rushed past him, gathering my work things. Today’s suit du jour was Armani in slate gray with a black tie. When he looked like this, perfectly pressed and every inch a businessman, I had to do a double take. But then when I noticed the tattoos peeking past the collar and cuffs of his shirt, he became impossible to resist.
“I will,” I promised, smoothing down the front of his tie. “And good luck with your meetings today.”