What was that sound coming from him? Guttural, painful, sexy. I felt that low groaning in the flutter of my racing heart, the sweat on my back, deep in my belly where the ballerinas practiced pirouettes. My tongue lapped and lapped. I couldn’t get enough of his taste, his texture.

This was madness. I’d never be able to stop. I sucked harder, pulled his tip into my throat, and gagged.

Holy hell. I drew him further down and gagged again.

“Shit, Lex!”

I choked on his cum, thrown off by the nickname, but it was so flavorful, like nothing I’d ever sampled before. I didn’t want to miss a drop. He withdrew, and I whimpered, following with my tongue, still lapping. Lapping, lapping, lapping. Still tasting, still needing.

“Enough.” He picked me up and tossed me onto the bed where my body sank into heaven. Fluidity surrounded me, enfolding my skin in cool satin. I fisted my hands in it, suddenly discovering their existence. Why had it taken me so long? Fingers curled, smooth texture clenched in palms—everything exquisite, especially the inflexible expanse of his chest brushing the tips of my breasts.

His breaths whispered across my face, rustling my hair like a summer-laced breeze. My jaw slackened, tongue relaxed against my teeth, and a finger pressed inside. I closed my lips and sucked the salt from his skin. “Mmm.”

“God, I love you so much,” he said.

Soaring at his declaration, my mouth pulled on his finger, drawing him deeper. Tasting. I never wanted to stop tasting.

“No, baby.” He withdrew his finger. With a frown of displeasure, I chased it with my mouth. “Say what I want to hear.”

“Mmm, you taste so good.”

His laughter rumbled like a trombone. “I like you this way.”

“What way?” I almost told him to stop talking and let me taste again, but his voice was a drug I couldn’t resist.

“Higher than Mt. Fucking Everest.”

The curve of my lips felt alluring. “That’s pretty high.”

“Tell me you love me,” he demanded.

I loved everything about him. His taste, his touch, his voice. The way he made me feel, how he openly wore his vulnerability. The way he still loved me, protected me, even after all I’d done to him. Somewhere in the darkest corner of my mind, a siren sounded. A warning. Feeling this way was wrong…but I couldn’t recall why.

“I love you.” My chest squeezed as I uttered the words, and I imagined not only the love in Rafe’s green eyes, but the promise of forgiveness.

The promise of forever.

He smothered my grin with his mouth, and I was pretty sure Mt. Fucking Everest was a speck of dust in my brilliant world.

6. Homecoming - Rafe

6. HOMECOMING - RAFE