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“That too.”

He smirked as he crawled up, planting his knees between mine and bending over to press a gentle kiss to my lips. “Yes.”

“Yes, what?” I asked, still panting and struggling to catch my breath.

“Yes, I did, and I’m okay with it.”

I chuckled, sliding my numb arms around his neck and pulling him closer. “Now, you.”

“Now me what?”

“Your turn,” I whispered, lifting my head and locking my ankles together behind his firm butt.

Unfortunately, that was the moment I remembered he was still dressed. Well, that won’t do.

Without wasting any time, I reached for the hem of his t-shirt, liberating him from that first before starting on his pants. Holden didn’t even try to stop me. He also finally cut the noble crap, obviously accepting that I was very much a consenting party to this encounter.

Finally helping undress himself, he kicked his pants and underwear away once I’d pushed them to his knees. Then he sealed his mouth over mine and kissed me so deeply I could taste myself on his lips. In the past, I might’ve found it vaguely repulsive, but with him, a strange sense of satisfaction washed over me.

I’ve marked him. He’s mine. So there.

As soon as all the fabric was out of the way, I locked my ankles around his hips again and pulled him down, frowning when he froze instead of going any further. “What’s wrong?”

“We need a condom,” he ground out, those sharply handsome features tight with restraint as he looked into my eyes. “I’m serious, Alicia. I’m way too close to the edge to fuck around without one right now.”

“We don’t need a condom,” I whispered, tightening my muscles to pull him further down. “What we need is to start working on producing an heir, right?”

He stiffened. “Are you serious?”

“Well, yeah? We both agreed to it and⁠—”

“That doesn’t mean we have to start trying right away.” He pressed another chaste, gentle kiss to my lips, still refusing to move even though I was practically vibrating with need underneath him again. I could feel the heat of his skin radiating into me and it was driving me crazy knowing he was so close. “We have time, Alicia.”

“Are you clean?” I asked instead of arguing the point. “Because I am.”

“So am I,” he murmured, those eyes locking on mine in the silvery moonlight filtering in through the windows. “You really are serious about this?”

I nodded, intently holding his gaze as a myriad of emotions tumbled through my chest. While I knew how unlikely it was that we’d get pregnant tonight, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that clause in the contract.

Okay, maybe that’s not quite accurate. What I haven’t been able to stop thinking about is the fact that we agreed to make a baby together.

At some point, anyway.

He smirked as he finally started lowering his hips. “Okay, then. Let’s roll the dice.”

As soon as the heat of his skin came into contact with mine, my brain shut down entirely, not a single thought about anything remaining. Holden sucked in a sharp breath, following it up with a long, low groan that sent my body humming all over again.

“Fuck, Alicia. Shit. No. This feels too good.”

“Let it,” I whispered, lifting my head to claim his lips for another kiss as he set my very blood on fire just sinking into me. “This is a first for me, so I probably won’t last either.”

“Yeah. Same.”

Moving slowly and gently, he slid inside, muttering curses as his muscles locked and he even started trembling slightly. Every single part of this was so much better than I’d ever imagined it could be, from the way he was gliding against places that’d never been touched before to how he kissed me like he’d been waiting his whole life to do it.

We moved together in a slow, intoxicating rhythm, and while I couldn’t be sure how he felt, I let myself get lost in him. With Holden’s delicious weight pressing me into the mattress and the feel of him inside me with nothing between us, it was easy to forget ours had been an arranged marriage.

Our bodies fit together like puzzle pieces, every move he made bringing me closer to the edge, and if the noises he was making were anything to go by, the same was true for him. All the while, he never stopped kissing me, finally groaning my name when I felt him swell deep inside me.