MAGNOLIA GRANTHAM

I step inside the Van Cleef’s Montauk home and kick off my shoes, Xavier in tow. “I feel bad, but Skylar insisted.”

“Look who’s here!” Skylar trots around the corner, Theo not far behind her. She runs up to me, throwing her arms around me like she didn’t just see me at work yesterday. “I’m so glad you guys came.”

“I think you’re crazy for wanting to share your Hamptons weekend with us, but—”

“The more the merrier,” Theo says, taking our bags from Xavier. “We’ll put you two upstairs, if that’s okay.”

“Absolutely.” Xavier slips his arm around my waist.

“I’ve got dinner started.” Skylar skips back to the kitchen, her voice growing louder with each step that leads her farther away. “Theo brought Cards Against Humanity. I’m kind of feeling a good old-fashioned game of Bullshit.”

“The night is young,” I call back.

Xavier and I trek upstairs to check out our room, and I stop when I get to the door that held me up last weekend when I could hardly stand. Almost a week ago, I stood right here, listening to Xavier tell me I was the only girl he ever loved and the only one he still loved.

“You okay?” He rubs my back.

I nod, dragging in a cleansing breath. My heart fills, grateful for every difficult moment that led us right here to this spot. Every fiber in my body knows we’re right where we’re supposed to be.

The room looks just the way it did when I left last Monday. Theo and Skylar graciously offered to share their weekend with us, and normally, I wouldn’t encroach, but we owed it to ourselves to make up for last weekend.

To replace the bad with the good.

To bid our former selves adieu and figure things out together.

Xavier drags my hair from my neck, slinking it over my shoulder. I turn toward him. We took the last Jitney here. The sun went down long ago. A dusky light fills the room. He leans down, pressing his lips into my neck. My nipples wake, and my breath suspends.

I want him. I want this surrender.

His mouth finds mine, the room growing darker by the second. He tastes of peppermint and all that is right in my little world. An invisible thread connects us, and I’m positive our hearts beat in tandem.

My hand presses his chest. “They’re waiting for us downstairs.”

He takes a biting kiss. “They can keep waiting.”

“Xavier.” I say his name with one giant sigh, standing on my toes to help myself to another kiss.

His hands lift the hem of my shirt, my skin prickling under the grazing of his fingertips along my bare stomach. Our tongues tangle and weave. I fully accept that I belong to Xavier Fox and that I always did.

Xavier’s hips push into mine, and the outline of his hardness sends a flutter to my core. We walk backward until we find the edge of the bed in the darkness. He lays me down, gently tugging his belt until he frees himself. Climbing over me, he tugs my skirt up until it rests around my hips, and with one yank, my panties are gone.

His fingers trail down my inner thighs, veering toward my burning center as I shudder. He runs a fingertip along my seam before slipping it inside. I’m liquid, and it’s all for him. One finger glides in and out, gentle and steady, until he adds another. But it’s not enough. I want him.

Minutes later, Xavier produces a foil packet, tearing it with his teeth and sheathing himself before pressing my thighs apart and placing the head of his veined cock at my entrance. The room is pure darkness, tranquil and quiet save for our breathing. What little light trickles in from the window catches the glint in his beautiful blue stare. He focuses on me, gripping his engorged erection and pushing it inside me inch by inch.

I gasp when he’s completely inside, my legs tensing and relaxing as his weight anchors me to the bed. He lowers his mouth to mine, tasting my kiss and pushing himself deeper.

My fingers find his dark hair, grabbing small fistfuls and running the softness under my palm.

“I love you, Magnolia.” His body lifts from mine, yet we’re still connected. The thrusting stops. It’s just us and four of the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard. This time is even better than the first. “You’re mine. You’re the only one for me.”

My heart is so full, it wants to burst.

“You don’t have to say it back.” His words break my heart a little. It’s not that I don’t feel the same. Those words have never been easy for me to say. “I just wanted you to know.”

I inhale, closing my eyes. I can do this. I said it to him once before. I can say it again. It’s not a big deal. People say it all the time. Every day.

He chuckles. “You’re trying to talk yourself into it.”

My jaw slacks. How’d he know? “No, I’m not.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

His hips circle, and he reaches down to grip my ass, bringing me closer and deeper with each new thrust. The friction intensifies, the build-up coming like the soft rumble of thunder from a distant storm.

He groans. He’s getting closer. I can tell by the way his jaw clenches. He steals another kiss before his arms slink under my back and his hands tangle in my hair again. My hips buck back against his, faster, harder, needier.

Hard thrusts shift the bed. I’m not sure if they can hear us downstairs, but I’m not in a place of caring right now. My nails dig deep into his back, his shirt separating us. I wish we were naked. I want to feel all of him against all of me all over again. We deserve a proper reprise.

I tug my bottom lip between my teeth, my neck stiffening as I ride the wave. It rains over me, washing away my doubt and fear like an orgasm made of pure magic.

Xavier collapses on top of me, hot and breathless.

“I love you, Xavier Fox.”