I nod frantically, feeling everything. “I told you,” he growls. “You don’t just react to pain. You react to me.”

And God, he’s right. My body opens for him, melts around him, and now forever yearns for him. Only him.

Our rhythm is wild and desperate, like we’re chasing something we’ve waited our years to find. And with every thrust, every moan, every look—I feel it. The ache in his hands as they hold me. The tremble in his breath as he drives deeper. The way his eyes won’t leave mine.

Then, something shifts.

His pace falters—not from hesitation, but because the weight of everything between us crashes into him. His grip tightens. His body shakes with restraint. And when he finally speaks, it’s not just need pouring from his lips. It’s emotion. It’s everything.

“I love you, Kerry Kind. I’m so fucking in love with you.”

Tears prick my eyes, my chest tightens, and my entire body unravels under the weight of his words. I can’t hold back. Nor do I want to.

As the tears now flow, I whisper, “I love you too, Victor Grimes. I love you so much.”

A strangled groan tears from his throat, masking the emotion in his voice but not the tears now flowing from his face. We fall apart together as we come together.

I cry out loud as my orgasm crashes into me while Vic growls my name, burying himself deep, throbbing inside me, pulsing, shaking, gripping me like he never wants to let go.

And I don’t want him to. So, I hold him through it, kiss him through it while we pour every resurrected piece of ourselves into one another because this isn’t just sex. This is us. This is love.

Chapter 28

His Second Chance – Vic

New York has always been home, but it no longer feels like mine. The city has changed. I have changed. But walking these streets with Kerry, showing her the places that made me, feels like I’m reclaiming pieces of myself I thought were lost.

New York is loud and chaotic, a city that never stops moving, but with Kerry beside me, everything slows down.

I take her through the tourist traps first, watching her eyes light up as she sees Times Square for the first time. I pretend to be impressed by the Empire State Building, I even let her drag me through Central Park for a carriage ride that I swear I hate, though the look of wonder on her face does make it worth it.