Holden carries me into the flat because we can’t keep our hands off of each other. Everywhere he touches is electric, igniting fires on my skin.

Desire, white-hot, threatening to burn us alive—it consumes me. The feel of his body under my fingertips is accented by the sensations of his responses that echo inside. Each touch I give to him, I sense how it feels to him receiving it. It’s a strange doubling-over of sensations, and it creates a primal hunger.

The door slams as we stumble our way into his flat. Inara squawks loudly, but neither of us pay the bird any mind. Holden reaches the backside of the couch and rests me on it, freeing his hands to explore further.

I’ve resisted as long as I can so I drive my hands between us and into his pants. I need his cock inside me so badly, it’s crazy. He rips his shirt off, fumbling with his belt and letting his pants drop, groaning as I grip his thick shaft.

He tries to pull my shirt off, but I refuse to let go of his cock. He growls and rips my shirt apart, letting the shreds fall as he roughly grabs my breasts and kneads them.

Stroking his shaft, leaning my head back, inviting him in. He kisses my neck, and shivers run down my spine. I’ve never felt such a deep need.

His thumbs tweak at my nipples, which are stiff. Shocks run from my tits right to my brain, clouding thought.

As he kisses down my neck, the roughness of his unshaven face scratches me, adding to the overwhelming sensations.

He drops my left tit and pushes his hand between us, touching my clit lightly.

“Ah!” I cry out my pleasure, throwing myself back until I’m leaning over the couch supported only by his arm.

Slowly he eases a finger into my wetness, stroking my silky folds.

“Holden” I gasp, needing so much more but loving every moment too.

He pulls me up to him, forcing his tongue into my mouth as he pushes one finger in and out. It’s filling but not nearly enough.

He grabs my hips, lifts me up in an almost impossible maneuver and flips me. Bending over the back of the couch, my ass waving in the air, he drives his cock into my waiting slit, filling me in a single hard thrust.

“Oh!” I cry out in surprise and pleasure.

His girth fills and expands me, pushing in until he can go no further, driving me over the couch. He doesn’t stop once he starts, slamming into my pussy over and over. Skin on skin slapping fills the air around us, as well as the sexy sounds of him grunting with each thrust.

My heart pounds in my ears as white-hot pleasure takes over. Gasping as he continues to take me, I’m close, climbing to the edge, then suddenly he pulls out.

“No!” I exclaim, looking back at him over my shoulder.

He scoops me up into his arms and carries me towards the bedroom. Tossing me lightly onto the bed, he stands over me, his cock bouncing as he positions himself between my legs.

His eyes lock with mine, alight with the fire of his desire, and more, his passion and love for me that flows back and forth between us like a river.

Without preamble, he grabs my legs, pulls me to the edge of the bed, and drives his cock in again. He slams me so hard that my tits bounce up and down.

Closing my eyes and biting my lip, I let the pleasure carry me away.

He grabs my arms, forcing them over my head as he leans across me without stopping his rhythm. Opening my eyes, I stare into his. The connection between us is deep. I didn’t know anything like this could exist.

His heart beats in time with mine. He’s close. The tension in him resounds inside of me. He thrusts deep, holding, and I fall over the edge with him.

Shudders explode, muscles clench tight, and my back arches up forcing him deeper inside. We hold, entangled in each other, until the moment passes, then he collapses on top of me breathing heavily.

“I love you,” he exhales into my ear.

“I love you too,” I say, turning into him.

Resting my head on his chest, at peace for the first time I can remember. No one is out to get me, I’m not on the run, and I’m no longer hiding from my past.

“All those years, chasing you, I never knew,” he murmurs.

“Knew?” I ask.

“That I wasn’t chasing you to catch you, I was chasing you because we’re meant to be together.”

“Yeah,” I chuckle. “Weird, isn’t it?”

“The ancestors have blessed us,” he says, so soft I’m not sure I heard him right.

“Ancestors?” I ask.

He glances down, one hand tracing the line of my spine from my ass to my neck and back again.

“Yes,” he says. “Remember when we were outside, and you said you saw something?”

“Yeah,” I respond.

“That was them,” he says.

“Oh,” I say, thinking that over.

I’ve never been spiritual or thought much about fate, or religion, or anything but surviving. My life never gave me the luxury of exploring things like this, but I know I saw something. Figures of some kind. If he thinks they’re his ancestors, what do I know about it?

We lie, tangled in each other, for a while. I’m drifting towards sleep when he stirs, sliding out from under me, then climbing off the bed.

“Aww,” I groan.

He glances in my direction and smiles.

“Be right back,” he says.

Sleepy, I shrug, then pull the covers around and slide under. Tucking the pillow under my head I get comfortable, ready to sleep. It’s been one void long day no matter how well it’s ended. It’s high time to rest.

Holden walks in, wearing pants now, which is disappointing to some primal, needy part of my brain. I like looking at him fully naked.

Scooching to one side I make room for him on the bed, but he doesn’t sit or climb in. He stands there, next to it, looking at me with both hands behind his back. He clears his throat, looks around sheepishly, then kneels.

“Holden, what are you doing? I’m tired, let’s sleep,” I grouse, rising up onto an elbow.

He looks, and the weight of his gaze stops everything. My throat goes dry, he can’t be serious.

“Cersei,” he says, his voice thick with emotion.

“No…” I trail off unable to finish the thought.

A hint of doubt passes over his face, but it’s quickly replaced by resolve. He smiles, bringing his hands out between us, and in his cupped palm lies a small box made of a dark wood. The lid of it is open and inside is a dazzlingly bright ring with the most gorgeous stone I’ve ever seen.

“I never thought I’d feel this way,” he says. “Void, I never thought I’d feel again, period. You’re the one. The only one I want, forever. Will you, please, accept this token and become my bride?”

The universe stops. There’s a moment between heartbeats when everything is silent, and in that instant, everything changes.

He did.

He proposed.

Void, he loves me! Me!

Say yes, idiot, Athena whispers.

Time resumes as I gasp, and my heart makes its next intended beat. Tears run down my face, my smile goes from ear-to-ear like some kind of vapid moron.

YES! YES! YES!

I scream it over and over, wanting the entire universe to hear my acceptance of his love and my return of it to him. He’s staring, waiting, and only then do I realize that no sound came out of my throat which has closed shut with the overwhelming emotions raging inside.

Shaking my head, forcing myself to swallow, I clear my throat.

“Yes!” I yell and leap from the bed onto him, knocking the small box aside. “By all the void in the universe, yes!”

He’s knocked back by the force of my impact but grabs me all the same and rises with me in his arms. Our lips smash together, and amazingly, I feel his rock-hard cock pressing against my ass. Wrapping my arms around his neck tightly, I swing my hips out and lock my legs on his waist. One-handed, I pull his raging dick out and slide myself onto it.

He groans as my hot, wet pussy clamps on his member, taking him fully.

It’s hot and wild and fast as we race to a fresh climax together. Pulling myself up and down, slamming him in and out, while our tongues dance throughout.

Joy wells up inside of me, and it feels like I might explode from more than the orgasm that is building. When it comes, like an explosion, it rocks my world, but nothing can shake the certainty and the happiness that it represents. The universe is right, somehow, in ways it’s never been before.