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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
It was the most decadent kiss Charlie had ever tasted, and overflowing with hope. When he lifted her into his arms to carry her out of his office and into his bedroom, she deepened the kiss until her heart beat recklessly.
Their kiss was gentle and rough all at once, sweet and desperate. They rolled over on the bed until she was straddling him, and he reached up to smooth her hair back as it fell in a curtain over them. "I believe in love," he said softly. "And I've loved you from the very first moment." His gaze roamed her face like a touch. "But I grew up believing love wasn't enough."
She leaned her forehead against his. "It can be."
"You're teaching me that. Teaching me that we aren't my parents and we don't have to drag each other down. We don't have to be toxic to each other even if we're not exactly the same, even if some of our passions and hobbies are different. I should have learned a lot more from Susan and Bob than I did from my parents."
She nuzzled his hair. "It just took longer to understand that you could break the cycle your parents were stuck in."
He nodded so slightly it was barely there.
"Love goes wrong because of the two people involved," she told him. "It doesn't have to be th
at way for us, not if we're willing to work at it."
He stroked beneath the fall of hair at her nape. "Loving you isn't work. But I don't know if I'll be able to stop trying to help you in any way I can."
She held his face in her palms. "You wouldn't be you if you did. And I wouldn't love you so much if you weren't true to yourself the way I need to be true to who I am. I didn't see us as a partnership before, but now I do. And partners support each other. They share the cost, both physical and emotional."
"I will share anything and everything with you. You tell me what you need. I'll tell you what I need. Then like you said, we'll figure it out." He spread his hands. "All those parties, the people...I like to play there, but you, the Mavericks, Bob and Susan, that's my world. So if you want to attend a party with me, then you'll come. If you'd rather stay home to work or catch up on lessons or whatever, then that's what you'll do. I want you to be happy. We're not joined at the hip. I just want to come home to you."
"Home," she whispered. "I like the sound of that."
"You pick and choose your commissions. If it doesn't inspire you, don't do it."
"Or maybe when they ask for a cherub, I'll tell them they need a pterodactyl instead."
He laughed. Truly the most beautiful, wonderful man she'd ever known.
"God, I love you." She threw herself into him, hugging hard and tight, with all her breath, with everything in her.
"Then move in with me for good. Tonight. Now. Share my bed. Fall asleep in my arms every night. Wake up beside me every single morning."
"Yes," she whispered. "Yes to tonight. Yes to now. Yes to every night. Yes to every single morning."
Then she kissed him. Tasted his lips, then took his mouth, played with his tongue, and opened herself fully. She was ravenous for him, ripping his shirt off his shoulders, popping the snaps of his jeans. She gasped as he pulled down the top of her sundress and took her nipple in his mouth. She arched, moaned, tangled her fingers in his hair to hold him tight against her as pleasure spiked deep in her center.
His fingers caressed sensuously down her belly, pulling up the dress so he could slip beneath the elastic of her panties. "Marry me, Charlie. Marry me and be mine forever."
"Wait. Stop. What did you just say?"
But Sebastian didn't stop stroking her with sweet, hot patience, pushing her even higher. "Marry me."
"Sebastian." She writhed against him, struggling for breath, panting, everything a blur of sensation, his fingers inside her, his body plastered against her, his words. Marry me. She couldn't seem to say anything more than his name.
"Say yes, Charlie. Say you'll marry me."
She cried out then, a full-body explosion, an earthquake shuddering through her, breaking her apart, tearing her down. Then she grabbed Sebastian by the hair and pulled his face to hers. "Yes," she whispered again. "Yes, yes, yes."
And she devoured him with a kiss that said she'd never let him go.
*
They tore off the rest of their clothes in a flurry of madness. Sebastian wanted to be inside her, needed it so badly he could barely stop long enough for protection. Charlie's fingers trembled as she helped him. When the deed was done, she pushed him down and took control.
And it was so damn good to give everything he was over to her.
