The water whooshed around us again, droplets spraying us, and Cora bucked on top of me, her eyes pinching shut as she rode me as if this was the last chance we’d ever have. She cried out, stuttering and breathy, the sunset glinting off the curve of her cheek as she arched away from me. But I gathered her into my big arms, holding her closer while she thrashed and moved through the body-wracking orgasm.
The raw pleasure on her face pushed me over the edge. Pleasure coiled and uncorked deep inside me, spreading through my limbs with an urgent fire. My whole body went tense as the orgasm roiled through me, something guttural and animal floating past my lips. The heat of my release coated her insides, spilling out, washing away with the ocean.
Cora’s chest heaved as she collapsed into my arms. I held her, pressing lazy kisses to her forehead, as we basked in the aftermath. My dick pulsed softly inside her, and the rush of the waves tickled us.
“Thank you,” she finally said, tipping her head up to look me in the eye. She wiped at a spilled tear.
“For what?”
She nestled against my chest, making a home there as she always had. “For reminding me there’s a whole life worth living.”
Her words landed like the saddest spear. I kissed the top of her head. “You can still have the life you’ve always wanted, Cora. Are you willing to fight for it?”
“I’ve always thought I had no right to fight for it,” she said softly. “Not when I’ve had everything a person could ever dream of.”
“That’s not true,” I told her. “You’ve had everything except the most important part. Freedom.”
She nodded, her gaze drifting to the horizon. “I want that. I want it so bad.”
“I’ll do everything I can to make sure you get it.”
She blinked, another tear sliding silently down her cheek. “You will?”
I nodded.
“You’d do anything, even if it took me away from you?”
I didn’t like the question, not even a little bit. I’d spent too many years being away from her. I didn’t want to consider more years of the same. But I sensed she was asking it as a test. To see where my priorities lay. And they would always be aligned with her best interests. Nothing less.
“Your freedom is number one. The rest will sort itself out afterward.”
We sat like that for so long, lost in the rhythmic rush and return of the waves, kept warm from the heat of the other, saltwater lapping at our thighs. After a while, she started dragging her hand through the thick, dark sand. And then she sat up, holding a glinting piece of glass between her fingers.
“There’s beach glass,” she said, showing off the sky-blue nugget. “But it’s not quite the right shade of Axel Fairchild blue.”
I drew a deep breath. “Do you still have yours?”
“They’re hidden at the condo. What about you?”
My gaze dropped to her shoulder. I hated to admit it, but the beach glass remnants in the exact shade of Cora Margulis green eyes had been a burden too great to bear at the time. “I threw them away. Years ago.”
She nodded, looking a little disappointed. “I would have done the same in your position.”
I nuzzled her neck. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“Heartbroken is an understatement of how I lived for…years,” I admitted in a rush. “I tossed the glass into a dumpster in Chinatown one drunken night, and I always regretted it.”
Her smile started out sad, but then it glinted with mischief. “I guess this just finally proves that I’ve always been a little bit more devoted than you, huh?”
I laughed, covering her mouth with a kiss.
I’d let her win this one.For now.
When devotion was on the line, she had no idea just how I intended to win this battle.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE