Outside, wind still chased snow across the mountain.
Jolie wrapped her legs higher around his waist and held on.
She had wanted him from the beginning. But this was different now. Want had become attachment somewhere between breakfast in bed and stories of scars told in the shower.
It terrified her.
It thrilled her more.
Something fierce broke loose in him.
He surged into her, deeper, faster, every careful wall stripped away. She arched up to meet him, taking everything he gave, the pleasure building.
He lowered his forehead to hers, breath ragged.
“If things were different…”
She stilled beneath him. “What?”
“If I’d found you sooner…” His voice dropped lower, nearly lost beneath the sound of their bodies. “Maybe we might have had a chance.”
Her heart clenched so hard it hurt.
She kissed him to stop the ache of hearing it.
“We have this,” she whispered against his mouth.
“It’s not enough.”
“It’ll have to be.”
He made a low sound that seemed torn out of him. Then he slid a hand between them, finding the place where they were joined, touching her with practiced pressure that shattered whatever control she had left.
Pleasure crashed through her so suddenly she cried out.
“That’s it,” he murmured. “Give it to me.”
She came with his name on her lips, shaking beneath him while he held her through it, still moving slowly, drawing every tremor from her body as if he couldn’t bear to waste a second.
When she opened her eyes again, he was watching her like a starving man offered one meal.
She touched his cheek.
“You’re not gone yet.”
“Feels like I am.”
He thrust once, twice, then buried himself deep with a groan that rumbled through both of them. His body locked, then shook as release took him. He hid his face in her neck, breath harsh against her skin.
She held him there.
For a long moment neither moved.
The greenhouse was silent except for their breathing and the hiss of wind against glass.
Finally he lifted his head. His hair was damp, his expression unguarded in a way she’d never seen.
She brushed the lock back from his forehead.
