Page 54 of Mountain Struggle

“Oh God, Damien!”

He strummed her clit gently in time with his relentless pounding—riding the climax higher and higher. Just as Damien thought he couldn’t hold on any longer, he heard those magic words from her.

“I’m coming,” she moaned.

Her words, and the ensuing clenching of her sex around his cock, were the key to his orgasm. He thrust one more time and emptied himself inside her—the feeling so strong, for a second he wondered if he’d forgotten to sheath himself. He felt with his hand and reassured himself that the condom was in place. He’d never had sex without a condom before—not with Jamie’s mother, and not with any other woman—but he couldn’t imagine anything sexier than bareback sex with Tess. And the idea of making a baby with her …

This isn’t sex, this is love.

Tess’s face relaxed into a dreamy contentment. He felt an inordinate amount of pride that he’d been the one to put that look on her face.

“I’m never moving again,” she stated, immediately shifting her arms to pull him into a tight embrace.

Damien laughed. “Never again, huh.”

Tess smiled and kissed his mouth, his chin, his neck. Her mouth was smooth where he knew his own skin was rough. He tried to move his face away so as not to rough her up with his stubble, but she wasn’t having any of it.

“I love you, Tess,” he whispered roughly against her ear. The words, so unfamiliar, also felt somehow right.

He felt her tense, was about to reassure her that he didn’t expect her to reply in kind, when she brought her own mouth closer to his ear.

“I love you too, Damien,” she whispered.

Chapter 17

Tess

Tess woke up from her nap feeling like she could easily sleep twelve hours more. But she knew John was going to be bringing Jamie home for dinner, and she didn’t want the boy to worry about her, so she got up.

She stretched her arm gingerly—maybe she would take one of those painkillers the medic had provided. A different part of her anatomy was experiencing a much more pleasurable kind of burn.

Tess blushed as she thought of how hard she’d come, then blushed again as she thought of the aftermath. Damien had told her he loved her. And she’d said the words back.

It wasn’t just post-orgasmic bliss—at least not for her. She’d known she loved him for a long time, and the thought that he now knew didn’t scare her much.

She wondered how he felt about it.

Is he sorry he said the words?

Tess put on clean underwear and walked to her closet, looking for something to wear. She needed something that wouldn’t chafe against the road rash, but that would still keep her bandage covered.

She settled on a light-blue summer dress with ruched sleeves that just reached her elbows. Her beige espadrilles made her feel too dressed up, so she settled for bright orange flip-flops instead.

She walked out of her small studio and towards the main house, entering through the open patio sliding door.

Damien smiled at her from behind the kitchen aisle, where he was busy putting something in the oven. His eyes caressed her from head to foot.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, his voice a deep baritone that reverberated down her spine.

“Much better after that nap,” she said.

“And your arm?”

She resisted the urge to roll the shoulder. “It’s okay. I might take one of those painkillers?”

He was beside her in an instant, holding out a glass of water and a pill. She took the pill from him, thanking him, and choked it down with a small sip of water.

Damien went back to the kitchen area. “I’m making stir-fried rice,” he said. “And peach cobbler for dessert.”