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How could she blame him? If Paul Evans did what she thought he’d done to Jasmine, if he’d nearly beat his own child to death, he deserved to be punished for his crimes. Mikel had protected his sister. Jasmine would have been eight years old. Mikel had done what he’d thought was right, made the only choice he had when the system had failed him and his family.
He relaxed into her arms and started shaking. The sob broke free, letting out a lifetime of trauma as she held on to him, keeping him grounded as he had for her. Their truths were breaking them down before they could restore who they were piece by piece.
“I’m so sorry.”
He sat, wiping the tears from his cheeks before bracing his hands on either side of her face. “That’s your response after I tell you I’m a cold-blooded murderer?”
“I can’t say if it was the right or wrong thing to do. But it’s done. We just need to decide if we’re willing to pick up the pieces we have left and start again,” she said, throwing his own words back at him. “You were a child—an abused and traumatized boy who protected himself and his siblings the only way you knew how. Sometimes the lines between right and wrong are not so black and white. Sometimes they get blurred into different shades of grey. I can imagine wanting to do the same if someone had hurt Lyra like that. I just don’t know if I would be brave enough.”
His grip tightened, nearly bruising her as she continued, “I know you just showed me what you think is the ugliest part of you, but you’re so blinded by the darkness that you don’t see the light. You’re not the villain of this story, but the hero. A fallen star is still a star.”
He trembled as he looked at her with his heated gaze, fierce and powerful, commanding every cell in her body merely by his presence.
“How can you believe that? After everything I put you through? After everything you know about me?”
“Because I never stopped loving you either, Mikel. You’ve always had my heart and you always will. You’re so much more than you realize.”
Pure adoration shone from his eyes. She had never felt so emotionally connected to him in all her years of knowing him. Mikel Evans had opened up and exposed every piece of himself, not bothering to hide what he thought was the ugliest, all so that she could make a decision that was best for her and her daughter. True sacrifice. Any doubt in her heart had been wiped away by his transparency. We will do it right this time.
She leaned her head towards him, parting her lips in invitation, needing to connect with him intimately, wanting to comfort him the way she used to. His mouth descended on hers, soft and slow, savoring her. His hot tongue traced the seam of her lips before flicking inside. Mikel’s hands moved to cradle her neck as she straddled him. A fire raged inside her—an inferno of true unselfish and unadulterated love. It ran much deeper than any feeling she had known before. Not the kind that fairy tales were made of, but the real, raw, painful love that comes from life and true sacrifice when two people come together and commit to growing and changing for the better.
She broke their kiss long enough to pull her blouse over her head, yearning to show him that she was there for him without words. His eyes hungrily admired her exposed flesh. Would he see her tattoo? His hands cupped her breasts over her white lace bra as she unsnapped the back. He pulled it off before setting it in the growing pile of her clothing as he expertly stripped her bare. She tugged his shirt off his shoulders, the firelight glowing against the contours of his muscled tattooed form—a body she once knew intimately, now so foreign to her. She gasped, tracing the ink across his heart. A constellation she knew so well. One she had on her own body. Lyra.
“You carried her on your heart all this time, and you didn’t even know,” she said, exploring his tanned skin.
He finished stripping, something flashing in his eyes like he wanted to say more, but this wasn’t the time. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him as he lowered her to the blanket. He hovered above her, his kisses melting her insides. She shivered with anticipation while he explored her body—cherishing her, worshipping her.
Her hands wandered, reacquainting herself with him as she burned from his closeness, sparked alive by his touch.
It had been so long since she’d been held like this, worshipped as a woman. Desire swam, pooling in her center. He trailed kisses down her neck, his teeth grazing her shoulder. The pain sent a bolt of pleasure to her core.
He growled. “You’re so goddamned perfect. Every inch of you.” He kissed and nipped her chest before lazily taking turns grasping and sucking her breasts. She dug her fingernails into his scalp as she writhed from the sensations building in her womb. Every nerve was alight with erotic anticipation.
She spread her thighs. “Please, Mikel. I need to feel you.”
He shook his head, his mouth moving farther south across her belly. He licked the white ink on her rib cage, tracing the stars of the constellation. She covered the sides of her stomach, self-conscious of the marks left from carrying their child: nature’s tattoos.
“Don’t you dare try to hide from me.” His deep voice vibrated against her, sending a shot of heat and wetness to her center. She had forgotten how dominant he could be when they made love. He gripped her hands, binding them at her sides while he traced each line with his tongue before leaving a kiss on every mark.
Her body lit with a fever, impatient and unable to wait another second. “Please, Mikel. I just need you inside me,” she begged, completely at his mercy.
“I know, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been with you. I wanna taste you when you come.”
He still held her hands in place as he lowered his face to the junction between her thighs and slipped his hot tongue between her folds. She gasped, eyes widening. Pleasure jolted though her as he lapped up her wetness.
“Oh! Oh, yes!” she moaned as her back arched.
He released her hands, hooking her legs over his shoulders as he used his fingers and tongue ruthlessly, seeking out her orgasm.
The pressure built and compounded until she shattered into a million pieces. White spots flashed in her vision as her body quaked and shuddered her release.
He climbed over and settled his weight on top of Remy, grounding her as she came back to earth. His mouth crashed onto hers. The taste of her essence on his tongue made the kiss even more erotic.
“Remy. Baby, I love you so much.”
She reached her hand out and slid his hardness into her slick entrance without hesitation. She wasn’t the unsure eighteen-year-old girl anymore. She was a woman and what she wanted—what she needed was Mikel.
He thrust, stretching her as she adjusted to him. Five years without having him or any other man inside her was like losing her virginity again. The burning pleasure overpowered every other thought as her impending need to come overrode all else. “I love the way you feel inside me,” she said, her voice breathy.
He pounded harder and faster. His eyes locked on her—glowing golden orbs in the firelight. His body tensed as his features grew serious. “You’re so tight, baby. So wet for me.”
“Only for you,” she panted.
“You’re mine, all of you,” he demanded.
“I’ve only ever been yours,” she admitted. The emotional intimacy they shared was unlike anything she imagined, and far deeper than she’d ever thought possible. This was a turning point. This was why she’d give him another chance. This was the Mikel she’d known he could be—the man she’d held out hope for.
The mixture of his intense gaze and the whirlwind of spinning desire dancing along her every nerve ending as he thrust inside her, propelling her off the cliff. Her orgasm crashed over her at the same moment his body tensed and pulsed. They came together, eyes locked, only compounding and magnifying their connection as their souls left their bodies, reuniting for the first time in five years. Completion. Connection. The stars were aligned. Death of the old, rebirth of the new. The end and the beginning. Life and death.
A second chance.
