Page 92 of The Next Lie

I don’t say it. That belongs to Nash, maybe. Or maybe it belongs to any of us if she likes the sound. I’m not thinking clearly enough to decide. I only know she is here under me, and every time I drive into her, some of the wildness leaves her face.

I release her wrists and cup her face.

Tears slide from the corners of her eyes. I wipe them with my thumbs and kiss her hard, my tongue moving with the same slow rhythm as my hips. She moans into my mouth, arms wrapping around my neck, nails dragging down my back.

My control fractures.

The pace changes.

Faster.

Harder.

Her body welcomes it. Demands it. She breaks the kiss and turns her mouth against my shoulder, trying to muffle her sounds. I grip her jaw and bring her face back to mine.

“No hiding.”

Her eyes are glassy. “Bossy.”

“Yes.”

I drive into her again, and the word turns into a sob.

She’s close. I feel it in the way she tightens around me, the way her thighs lock, the way her nails dig into my skin. I slide a hand between us and find her clit with my thumb.

She jerks.

“Ever—”

“Let go.”

She shakes her head once, stubborn to the end. “I can’t⁠—”

I press harder and thrust deep.

She comes apart under me. Her body clamps down around my cock in tight, violent pulses, and her cry fills the carriage house. I hold her through it, watching her face, watching the ghosts lose their grip for one clean second.

That second ruins me.

I bury myself deep and come with a sound that does not feel like mine. My body locks over hers, every muscle pulled tight, release tearing through me until the room narrows to Reva’s breath in my ear and her arms around my back.

I stay there afterward.

Mostly on my forearms, enough weight to ground her, not enough to crush her. Her fingers move lazily over my spine. Her breathing is uneven, but calm now. No keening. No panic. No faraway look.

She is here.

I kiss her temple.

Her mouth curves against my shoulder. “Better?”

A laugh moves in my chest. “That’s my line.”

“I’m stealing it.”

“Then yes.”

She turns her head, eyes heavy and warm. “Better.”