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There would never be anyone else.
He found a rhythm, my hips lifting to meet it, and he wrapped his arms around me as he moved, so our bodies were locked together and his face was just above mine. I didn’t dare close my eyes, even as the tempo pushed me maddeningly close to the edge.
As he brought me right to the brink, my feverish breaths telling him all he needed to know, he kissed me again, with both our eyes open, and I gasped into his mouth while my body fell to pieces.
It was the same sensation as being struck by lightning. I was exploding into atoms and then rebuilt anew. But this was a different kind of agony. This wasn’t pain at all, but it was so delicious it hurt in its own way. It hurt my chest, knowing what a rare jewel of a moment this was and how badly I would yearn for this once it was gone.
He followed me, his whole body tensing, then shivering.
If this was drowning, we were drowning together.
Chapter Thirty-Five
I awoke around three in the morning with a choking panic clawing at my chest. I had fallen asleep, and Cade would have left to save us both the risk of being caught.
My hands reached out, expecting nothing but cool sheets and an empty space beside me.
Instead, I touched hard muscle and warm skin.
My heart stuttered.
He had stayed. He was still here with me.
I wanted to shake him awake and yell at him for being so stupid, and I wanted to kiss every inch of him for not going while I was asleep.
I curled against his back, skin to skin, and looped my leg over his, so I was as close to him as I could conceivably be right then. Placing a kiss at the back of his neck, I let myself bask in the glow of him.
He had stayed.
We had spent hours exploring each other, learning each other, destroying each other. We’d filled the night with as much passion as we conceivably could, because we had no way of knowing when we’d have another opportunity to meet like this.
I hadn’t forgotten just how against the rules this was, or how much trouble we could get into if we were discovered. If anyone knew about us, we’d never be allowed to see each other again. In all likelihood one of us would be forced into permanent temple life with someone else being pushed into our cleric role.
That someone would probably be me.
Still, I had no regrets. I wouldn’t have traded this one night with him for anything. It meant the world to me to have seen the look in his eyes when he knew what was going to happen, when he knew I wouldn’t say no.
We had fit together so perfectly I couldn’t conceive of anything more beautiful than that.
How could I regret perfection?
“Cade?” I whispered it against his ear, so soft it was barely a sound at all.
He didn’t stir, didn’t make a single grunt of acknowledgment. His breathing was quiet and even.
Then, because I wanted to hear it out loud, and it might be the only opportunity I’d have to say it in his presence, I said, “I think I love you.”
It sounded right.
Chapter Thirty-Six
When I got up in the morning, Cade was gone.
It was enough that for part of the night he had slept beside me. For him to stay right through until morning was much too dangerous, no matter how lovely it would have been to see the sunlight kissing his skin or to have one more tangle in the sheets.
I had to believe we’d have another chance to do this.
But even if we didn’t, I could survive a lot with just the memory of this one night.
