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“I need you,” I mutter. “Give it to me.”

She almost looks panicked. “West…”

I say nothing, sliding my hand between our sweaty bodies, finding her sweetest spot. I’m gentle – the woman has already come five times, she doesn’t need pressure right now. But she still lets out the softest of sighs, tightening around me as we move together as one.

My lips find hers, and this doesn’t feel like sex anymore. It feels like something different. Something life changing.

I’m falling and flying at the same time.

“I can’t…” she gasps against my mouth right as her whole body tenses up, the edge of her orgasm curling through her. I circle her clit with soft, steady pressure and whisper her name, my chest so tight I feel like I can barely breathe as she breaks apart beneath me, clenching my cock as she cries out with pleasure.

Her orgasm is all it takes for me to fall, coming hard inside of her as I groan her name. “My wife. My Eden.” Every word feels more like a confession than a release.

And when we finally come down, our sweaty bodies sticking together, I can’t stop looking at her flushed face, her swollen lips, her eyes so sweet and trusting.

“You okay?” I ask, reaching out to brush a lock of hair away from her cheek.

“I have no idea,” she manages to say. “I think I might have died. If heaven is one long continuous orgasm.”

I laugh, though the sound feels rough against my throat. “You’re not dead. You’re very much alive.” And it’s the weirdest thing. I’ve never felt more alive than I do with her.

I’m not sure I’ve been this happy for a very, very long time.

She smiles up at me, all warm and sleepy, and I remember everything I’ve put her through tonight. “Stay there,” I murmur. “I’ll grab a washcloth and clean you up.”

“Don’t go.” She reaches for me, her voice thick with exhaustion.

The way she says it, simply needing me, undoes me. She could ask me for the moon right now and I’d find a way to capture it.

“Okay,” I whisper, pressing her hand to my mouth, kissing her knuckles. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good.” She nestles into me, her eyes fluttering shut as she drifts to sleep, and I pull the sheet over her bare body, tucking it around her like she’s something fragile I need to keep safe.

At this moment I know, more than anything else I’ve known in my life, that I’ll do whatever it takes to protect this woman.

Because, God help me, I think I’m in love with her.

EDEN

The next morning, I’m perched on West’s lap at the kitchen table, wearing his oversized dress shirt, the hem skimming my bare thighs. I have a cup of coffee in my hand – because caffeine is life – and I take a sip as West types out one handed replies on his laptop, like running a billion-dollar empire with one hand tied up is no big deal.

Except the other hand isn’t tied. It’s splayed over my stomach, his pinky occasionally dipping lower, reminding me exactly why he wouldn’t let me sit anywhere else.

“We could have gone into work,” I murmur, right as he steals my mug to take a sip. “Careful. You’ll spill it.”

“I’m capable of multitasking,” he says mildly, giving my thigh a squeeze that makes heat prickle under my skin.

Truth is, he’s been touching me everywhere butthere. Because he knows I’m sore. He made sure of that last night. Like a man determined to mark what’s his, he left me tender and aching in the best possible way.

He hands me my coffee back and resumes scrolling through his emails. And I can’t help but notice the subject line of one of them.

Annulment Draft.

My hand jerks, setting my cup down harder than I intended, coffee sloshing over the rim. My chest twists, sharp and ugly, and I try to wriggle out of his grasp. Of course we’re still getting this marriage annulled. Last night doesn’t change that.

I still hate the way it makes me feel though. Like he already has me halfway out of the door.

“Stop squirming,” he murmurs in my ear, his warm lips brushing my temple.