The door suddenly burst open, causing me to jump.

He was early.

Panic quickly transformed into excitement once everything registered. Through the foggy glass, I could see him, the defined muscles of his chest and arms. He was wearing black pants. Metal clanked as he whipped his leather belt out and threw it on the floor before stepping out of his clothes.

The door slid open. The hunger in his eyes was like nothing I’d ever seen from him. His manly scent saturated the steam-filled tub.

“You ready for me?”

I nodded eagerly. “You know I am.”

He stepped in and flipped me around. “You’d better hold onto the wall.”

Those words caused a shiver to roll down my spine. As he pressed his chest to my back, his hot erection slid against my ass. I held both of my palms against the tile wall and closed my eyes. The past several weeks had been one long bout of foreplay, so I was already wet. He opened the door briefly again to get something. I turned around to see him savagely ripping the packaging of a condom with his teeth. He spread the rubber over his cock before sinking all the way into me in one slow thrust.

“Oh God,” he muttered. As he began to move inside of me, he groaned, “Holy hell…I’ve missed fucking you. I’ve dreamt about it so damn much. I’ve been dying for this.”

“Me, too,” I breathed out.

He began to fuck me harder. At one point, I winced.

“Too rough?”

“No.”

“Good. I don’t think I can do it any other way right now. You feel incredible.”

Our wet bodies slapped together as he slammed into me, my finger nails digging into the grout. His thrusts were rough and sometimes painful, but even when it hurt a little, it felt so right, so perfect. I couldn’t get enough of him.

His breathing became suddenly uneven. “I can’t…too much…I’m gonna…”

“It’s okay. Let go, Sevin.”

“Fuck…” A second later, his moans echoed through the bathroom while he pulled me even tighter into him. My muscles contracted around his cock as he came, my own climax spasming through me. I’d nearly forgotten how intense sex with him was. Nothing compared to it.

He stayed inside of me, breathing against the back of my neck. He turned me around and kissed me tenderly then surprised me when he dropped to his knees on the shower floor. The water ran down over his silky black hair as he gently kissed my stomach and whispered, “Don’t ever leave me again.”

Kneeling down to meet his eyes, I clutched the back of his neck. “I would rather die than ever hurt you again.”

Offering his hand, he lifted me to a standing position before shutting off the faucet and squeezing the moisture out of my hair. He grabbed a towel and wiped my body and his own then led me next door into his bed.

He got on all fours over me, locking me in with his arms. “You’re not gonna sleep in there anymore, okay? I want you right here with me every night.”

My eyes began to well up upon hearing him say that. Even though I understood it, my having to sleep in the guestroom always hurt like hell.

“Nancy’s not gonna call or come around anymore, either,” he said.

“You don’t have to do that. She’s been a friend to you.”

“Yeah, but she’s also an ex-girlfriend, and I don’t want to upset you. I would expect the same from you. We’re done hurting each other, okay?”

When I nodded, he just continued to hover over me in silence. So much loss, so much pain and he was still able to look at me with the same love shining through his eyes.

“Lie back.”

“What are you doing?”

“I intend to make good on my promise about dinner.”

My eyes trailed down his neck to the carved V beneath his abs and down to his cock that was once again gloriously hard.

“You like what you see?”

“Your body is even more incredible than I remembered.”

He spread my legs open and rubbed his palm slowly down the length of my torso then cupped my pussy possessively in his hand as he said, “This body is mine. Promise me you won’t show it to anyone else ever again.”

“I promise.”

He then lowered his face between my legs. My eyes rolled back the second I felt the wetness and warmth of his lips on my tender skin. Applying pressure on my clit with his tongue, he licked and sucked until he brought me to orgasm. He was the only person to have ever gone down on me.

We made love slowly two more times that night in his bed—our bed. It felt monumental, because for the first time since running into each other on that dirt road years ago, we were truly free to do what came naturally.

All I ever wanted was to love him. Still, things would be far from perfect so long as the biggest representation of our love continued to be missing from our lives. There would always be a hole in his heart. I needed to figure out a way to fix it.

CHAPTER 26

SEVIN

Evangeline and I were officially done hiding. We finally came out to Lance as a couple, making it seem like we’d only gotten close in the months after her divorce. Of course, Olga knew the truth about our secret past but continued to play dumb. No one said a word about Rose. That was the best decision for now. Surprisingly, Lance and Emily seemed to accept the fact that we were together.

My role at Sutton Provisions had only gotten bigger over the years. I was now the Operations Manager, overseeing beef processing and fabrication. Someday, I would replace Lance as the company president. With Elle gone, I guess my being with Evangeline helped solidify me as a permanent member of the family in Lance’s eyes. While his acceptance almost seemed too good to be true, I would gladly take it.