“I won’t let this grief kill you. Sebastian wouldn’t want that.”

Sebastian.

His name roars through my ears, awakening the agony all over again. Unbidden, a sob bursts free. But I don’t want to cry anymore. I don’t want to hurt anymore.

Liam’s determined to make me do both. “Cry until you can’t cry another second.” With every deliberate thrust of his cock, he drags out another sob. “Remember him and accept the pain. Embrace it until it no longer hurts.”

Memories of Sebastian flood my mind—his teasing blue eyes, the way he painted my portrait like I was special, how he felt inside me, claiming what he could. His touch and his love had filled me so completely.

Just like Liam’s doing now.

I wail harder than I ever have, my ass taking the brunt of his cock. Acceptance tears me open, bulldozing through my walls as if they were never there at all.

“He’s gone.”

Liam slows his pace, his thick shaft gliding between my cheeks as he brushes a hand over my hair. His thumb strokes my damp cheekbone, wiping away liquid grief.

“He’s really gone,” I weep.

“That’s it. Let it go.” His words follow the cadence of his thrusts, edged with a tenderness that sends a familiar shiver down my back. It’s unsettling, the way every hard inch of him moves inside me, his groin rocking against my backside, steady like the sea.

“He’s not coming back.”

“No, he’s not.” His warm lips hover at my ear. “But you’re going to be okay, because you’re the most astounding woman I’ve known, strong and capable of great things, and this will not break you.”

His fervent vow heats my stomach, igniting a spark in my core, dulling the burn.

“Liam…you feel…”

“Tell me.”

“You feel good.”

“You feel perfect,” he rasps, his hips building rhythm again. “Perfect and mine.”

I can’t be his.

“No.” The objection echoes in my thoughts, and I shake my head. “I can’t.”

“Yes,” he hisses, on the threshold of climax. “You can. You are.”

I can argue with him until I’m out of breath, but my body doesn’t lie. Whether I like it or not, Liam Castle will always have a hold on me.

As my bitter tears soak through the bedding, something raw shudders down my spine, fraying me with dangerous abandon.

“Make me come,” I choke out, the words heavy with regret and shame. Both press into me like Liam, each thrust a fierce mark of his ownership.

“You feel so damn amazing. Hell, you drive me out of my mind. I have no control.” His muscles tense, and with a final thrust, he locks into place. A guttural sound rips from his chest as he spills into me, deep and unrelenting—as if claiming every inch of what’s finally his.