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Only trust.

That was what undid me.

For years I’d built my life around certainty, every decision measured against the same quiet question.

Is this safe?

But sitting there with Quinn straddling my legs and looking at me as though the answer mattered, I realised something else.

This was about choice. And somewhere along the way, without quite noticing when it had happened, Quinn had become the easiest choice I’d ever made.

My hand slid to the back of his neck, mirroring his touch.

“Yes,” I said quietly.

The relief in his eyes was immediate, bright and unguarded. “Good.” Then he kissed me again, slower this time, deeper, as though we had all the time in the world.

I wasn’t thinking about rules—I was thinking about him.

Quinn

Our clothes had ended up in an untidy heap on the floor, and we sat face to face, almost cock to cock, my legs around Max’s waist. Max was kissing me as if he’d forgotten the world beyond the bedroom door even existed.

That was new enough to make my heart pound.

The Max I’d met at Obsidian was precise, deliberate, and always slightly contained, even when things between us got intense.

This Max felt different.

He slid his hands into my hair, his thumb brushing my cheek between kisses, and when I pulled back for a breath, he looked at me as though he was still a little surprised I was here.

Then it hit me.

Max the Dom had disappeared, and in his place was a man who’d finally stopped pretending he didn’t need anyone.

And I needed this Max like the air I breathed.

I gave him a gentle push, and he landed on his back, his chest rising and falling, his gaze locked on me. He folded one arm behind his head, his hand curled around his stiffening cock.

I rested my hand on his chest. His heart was beating faster than usual.

“That nervous?” I murmured.

He chuckled. “I always said you were observant.”

“You still trust me?”

He met my gaze without hesitation. “Yes.”

That word settled between us like something fragile and precious. Trust had always flowed in one direction before, but now the current had shifted.

And Max wasn’t resisting it.

I leaned down and kissed him, slow and unhurried, and he slid his fingers over my back. Then I sat upright, grinning.

“You know, this is the part where I’m supposed to look confident.”

He blinked. “You do look confident.”