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“I love you, Sophie.”
19
I stare at Declan, trying to remember which muscles are required to draw breath. My body seems to have forgotten that basic function. Even my heart seems to have stopped beating momentarily.
He loves me.
I think I knew that already, on some level. But knowing it and hearing it are such vastly different things that they seem worlds apart.
Declan loves me.
Maybe it’s pathetic, but I’ve never really been loved before. Jared cared about me, and I cared about him too, so much. But I think we were both too broken, too scared and adrift, to truly love each other. Not like this.
Because when Declan says he loves me, I know he means it with his entire being. And more than that, I know he’ll act on that love. He’ll protect me. He’ll take care of me. He’ll respect me and worship me. Nothing about his feelings for me is theoretical. It’s all visceral and so very, very real.
“Soph?”
Declan’s brows draw together a little, and I realize with a start that I’ve just been staring at him in silence for who-knows-how-long. I shake my head a little to clear it, and the movement seems to restart my heart and my breath. My jaw falls open slightly as I suck in air.
His cheeks turn a little pink, and he ducks his head a little before meeting my gaze, his hands still cupping the sides of my face. “Sorry. I hope that didn’t make everything super weird. But I do. I love the fuck out of you, and I had to tell you. You’re strong, and you’re loyal, and you’re so fucking beautiful it takes my breath away. But you don’t have to say it back. That’s not what I was expecting, and I don’t—”
“I love you.”
The words pour from my lips so fast that they almost trip over each other, as if I’m afraid I’ll lose my nerve if I hesitate. Or maybe it’s just that I don’t want to hold them in for another second longer.
Maybe it’s that I want him to know the truth.
Declan’s eyes widen. “You do?”
“Yes.” My pulse picks up, thrumming in my veins as I repeat the words, slower and more deliberately this time. “I love you, Declan.”
His smile is one of the most gorgeous things I’ve ever seen. I don’t know which one of us moves first, but we meet somewhere in the middle as our
mouths collide.
This kiss feels different than any we’ve shared previously, and I don’t know if it’s because neither of us is holding anything back or because those three little words seem to echo behind every stroke of our tongues.
Maybe it’s a little of both, honestly.
Declan’s hands slide through my hair, cradling my head as he kisses me so deeply I feel like I’m drowning in it. We end up on the floor, and I’m not sure if it’s because we moved or if we just melted into it. I definitely feel boneless as Declan pulls away from the kiss and trails his lips over my face and jaw. He works his way down my neck, then across the line of my shoulder, his hands moving down to grasp the hem of my shirt. When he tugs it over my head, I raise my arms to help him, and my bra vanishes a second later as Declan reaches beneath me to unclasp it and then tosses it away.
His mouth keeps moving, exploring and tasting my newly exposed skin. He wraps his lips hungrily around my right nipple, swirling his tongue around it before switching to the other. He keeps doing that until my breasts are flushed and hot from the attention, and my nipples are so hard and sensitive that I feel the scrape of his teeth against them all the way down to my clit.
Even as he keeps up the delicious torture of my breasts, his hands start moving again, making their way lower until he finds the button and fly of my jeans. He undoes them both deftly and slides a hand inside, dipping beneath my underwear and cupping my pussy.
He slides two thick fingers inside me at the same time he sucks hard on my nipple and grinds the heel of his hand against my clit, and I arch up against him, clamping my inner muscles hard around his fingers.
Declan lets out a choked breath, nuzzling his face against the soft flesh of my breast as he fucks me with his fingers. “You’re squeezing me so damn tight, Soph. So fucking tight.”
I nod dazedly, looking down at him as he drops hot kisses in a line over my stomach. When he reaches my core, he shifts his hand and presses his lips to my clit softly, making me jump. Then he sits back and tugs my pants and panties down my legs.
Love and heat burn in his eyes as he slides his hands over the bare skin of my calves and up the insides of my knees before gripping my thighs firmly. When he spreads my legs wide open, pinning them apart, my breath hitches at the possessiveness in his touch. My inner thighs clench, trying to bring my legs back together to relieve some of the ache in my clit, but he holds them firmly.
“Uh uh.” His gaze drops to my exposed pussy, which is already swollen with need, aching for his touch. “Stay wide open for me. Let me look at you.”
And for a long moment, that’s just what he does. Even though he has to feel me squirming beneath his touch, panting and practically begging for more, he takes his sweet-ass time, sitting back a little and gazing down at me.
Like he’s trying to memorize me. Like he wants to remember this moment forever.
