I opened my eyes.

"Who burned you?" he pressed.

I stared into blue.

"Who burned you, baby?"

"I can't be with you," I told him.

"Who burned you, Livvie?"

"I can't be with you, Nick."

"Who burned you?"

"I can't be with you because my father is a piece of s.h.i.+t and I care about you too much to have his stink settle on you."

Nick went silent.

But the room went wired.

He heard me and he got me.

Every word.

He got me.

He knew who burned me.

He knew, my father burning me, there was no me. There was just Vincent Shade's daughter, and me not even having me, I couldn't give myself to someone else.

I felt the electricity snap against my skin, but for Nick I had to force out my plea.

"Let me go."

Nick didn't move or speak.

I slid my hands up and curled them around either side of his neck.

"You need to let me go, sweetheart," I whispered.

He moved then.

He slammed his mouth down on mine and kissed me.

I didn't bother fighting it. It had been weeks since I'd seen him, touched him, heard his voice. If I couldn't fight it to stop something from starting that I knew for the both of us was unhealthy, the need I had for him after weeks without him was impossible to beat.

So, no.

I didn't fight it.

I kissed him back.

He moved us toward his bed.

On our way we tore at each other's clothes. I heard ripping. I knew I popped some b.u.t.tons off his s.h.i.+rt. I didn't care about either.

I just needed him.

We fell to the bed partially clothed. We made frantic but light work rectifying that.

If before s.e.x had been a battle for control for us, now it was war.

It wasn't hungry.

It was wild. Frenzied.

Abandoned.

I had no thought. Not one. Not about anything but what I was feeling and what I could make him feel.

In return, Nick's intensity coc.o.o.ned me. The world melted away. There wasn't even his bedroom. His bed. These were incidentals. They existed without existing.

It was just him. The noises he made. The feel of his body. His smell. His hands on me. Mine on him. Our tongues. Our teeth. His c.o.c.k. My p.u.s.s.y.

Reduced to that, safe in Nick, trusting in that moment that was just him, only him, nothing else existing, I eventually gave in and gave him everything.

I gave him the real me.

Safe with Nick, I submitted.

Relaxing into the position he'd earned, his hand wrapped around the back of my neck, my cheek pressed to the bed, arms under me, a.s.s in the air, taking his c.o.c.k, he felt my capitulation and drove in faster.

"You mine?" he grunted.

"Yes," I whispered.

He had me.

So he claimed more.

I felt his thumb invade my a.s.s.

My eyes drifted blissfully closed and my body started trembling.

"You mine?" he growled.

"Yes," I breathed.

His hand at my neck held me down while he f.u.c.ked my a.s.s with his thumb and my c.u.n.t with his c.o.c.k.

"You mine?" he bit out.

"Yes," I repeated. "Yes, Nick. Keep f.u.c.king me. Please. Keep...f.u.c.king...me."

He kept f.u.c.king me and my trembling turned to shuddering, the violence of it growing more and more as I felt him take me and listened to our noises fill the room. The sound of our f.u.c.king. His low grunts. My heavy breathing.

Suddenly, I knew I was going to lose hold on it, my o.r.g.a.s.m was going to overwhelm me and I couldn't let that happen. I had to keep it together. I had to live that moment for eternity. It couldn't be over. I'd never have it back. I'd never be nothing but Nick's. I'd never have him all to me.

"No," I whispered, the word breaking, trying to lock against his thrusts so I could freeze us in time, keep my climax at bay, have what we had right then forever.

"Livvie?"

"No," I whimpered. "Don't...wanna...lose you," I panted.

His thumb slid gently out of my a.s.s and his hand at my neck moved in, around and down until he had it hooked at my chest.

He pulled me up as he kept powering up inside me, his lips now at my ear.

"I'm right here," he said.

I closed my eyes.

He pulled away, turned me, dropped me to my back in the bed and grasped my hips, yanking them up and into him so he was crouched back on his knees, again inside me, taking me.

I opened my eyes and his gaze held mine.

"Right here, Livvie."

I felt the tears rise in my eyes as I reached out, planting a hand in a slap against his abs, feeling them work as he drove into me, his gaze locked to mine.

"Nick."

"Right here, baby."

I threw my other hand back, pus.h.i.+ng it against the headboard and driving myself down on him as he took me.

"f.u.c.k," he grunted, his face darkening.

He was close.

My hand at his abs curled in, my fingernails scoring flesh.

I was closer.

His c.o.c.k rammed deep.

"f.u.c.k," he groaned.

"Nick," I whispered then arched uncontrollably as my body shattered while Nick kept f.u.c.king me, doing it gripping my hips hard, yanking me to him, sighing deep, all while shooting inside me.

Simultaneous o.r.g.a.s.m.

Beautiful.

If I was going to lose him, lose that moment, that was the perfect way for it to happen.

I was just coming down when I felt his warmth cover my torso and I realized he'd fallen into me, his face in the pillow at my side.

I put my hands to him, moving, stroking, memorizing, feeling my frame jerk lightly with the aftershocks, my lips parted, eyes closed, breath steadying.

"You're f.u.c.king spending the night," Nick growled into my neck.

My body had felt liquid.

At his words, it turned solid.

He lifted his head.

I opened my eyes. "We can't-"

He cut me off. "We're gonna figure it out."

"There's nothing to figure out."

He looked over my head, muttering, "I'm not findin' this part of you bein' a f.u.c.kin' nut cute."

"Sebring," I called quietly.

He looked back at me, a mixture of s.e.x and irritation on his face.

I liked that look so much I felt my p.u.s.s.y convulse.

He felt it too.

"Christ," he bit out, his hips bucking into mine.

"Sorry," I whispered.

"Don't apologize for milkin' my c.o.c.k," he ordered.

I pressed my lips together and tried not to convulse again at his words.

"You came here tonight thinkin' I needed you."

I decided not to answer and not just because I'd made that clear earlier so he already knew the answer.

"All I did was kiss you and now I gotta take my s.h.i.+rt to a tailor to put new f.u.c.kin' b.u.t.tons on it," he carried on.