Come on, come on. Stop!

He’d had the strength to walk away from Meredith; he should have the strength to walk away from Nola, too.

He fought with every fiber of his being. A vein pulsed in his forehead. Muscles went rigid. But... Nola gasped his name and gripped his ass, and he thrust harder. Need to come, to make her come, overpowered him. Resist? Impossible.

Guilt lived and died in a single heartbeat, killed by Nola’s uninhibited response to him. More. In, out. Slamming. Driving into her. Pulling out. In, out.

When he felt his testicles drawing up, he pressed his thumb against her clitoris. Like a magic button. She erupted a second time, shouting with wild abandon, her inner walls clenching on his length.

Too much, too much. He threw back his head, bowed his back and unleashed a savage roar. The beast joined him.

This is euphoria. His last coherent thought as shudders rocked him, and he saw stars. The rapture...

When the stars faded, he collapsed atop Nola. Huffed for breath. Heart still racing.

As she sighed with contentment, a strange sensation sparked, baffling Bane. He thought he might be... content.

Nola had blown his ever-loving mind. She hadn’t let him top—she’d insisted on it. One had not dominated the other. They’d shared command, and he’d loved it. Another memory seared into my brain. One he would forever cherish.

How could he give this woman up, ever?

He couldn’t.

Can’t lose her. Won’t. Not to circumstance, and certainly not to death.

He’d planned to end his own life after Aveline’s defeat, but the idea had lost its appeal. Leave Nola without a guard? No! Never again experience this bliss? Hell, no.

He could stay on Terra—and be subject to her will, if ever she decided to enforce it. And what if she changed, becoming like every other queen, as he’d once feared? The heart-eating thing...must have been a fluke, he decided.

Besides, she’s worth the risk.

With the thought, realization dawned and panic hit. I think I’m falling in love with her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Turn your afterglow into a party for two!

OUTSIDE, THE STORM continued to rage. Nola fought to calm her labored breaths as Bane regarded her with a thunderstruck expression and rolled to his side. What thoughts tumbled through that head of his? What would he do next? Get up and leave without saying a word, or draw her closer for a snuggle?

She waited, dazed by everything that had happened, expecting option A but hoping for B. Her first experience had been better than she’d ever envisioned. Blissful. One avalanche of pleasure after another. A communion of bodies and souls, crazy hot and...perfect. But she’d never felt more vulnerable.

Waiting...