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If I died right now, I’d die a happy man.

“What?” she says between moans, her voice tight.

“Come for me.” I rub her faster. Pinch and tug and torture her clit, making her eyes roll to the back of her head. “Come and I’ll tell you”—grunt—“just how thoroughly you’ve ruined me.”

“Fuck.” Her orgasm is as much of a force as she is. Ophelia shakes as she cries out my name. Tells me she hates me.

“You’ve made a home where no one else has been before.” With those words, with both hands on her hips, with my ribs cracking from how much I love her, I come. I empty myself in her ass, my fingers digging into her sweet flesh. “Inside my heart. You’re fucking there, and you’re never leaving. You’re never leaving me. They’ll have to pry you from my cold, dead hands, and I’ll still be holding on to you. Always.”

“James.”

I kiss her shoulder. Her neck. Press my lips to the shell of her ear.

“You love me.”

“Yes.” I’ll repeat it for as long as she asks me to. “I do.”

Our cereal dinner will have to wait. I have to take care of her.

First, the ankle cuff has to go. I pull out of her, lowering to my knees. I have one hand on her back to keep her from falling as I unlock the ankle cuff.

“You love me,” she murmurs.

“Yes.” Again. The cuff falls open. She’s in my arms, clinging to my neck, her cheek pressed against my shoulder. “Loving you scares me. It infuriates me, just the idea of it. Because I know I feel it, but I don’t have the first idea on how to love. I’m not sure if I can ever give you what you need.”

“As long as you love me.” Her fight has dwindled into nothing, giving way to exhaustion. Eyes at half-mast. Arms limp around my neck as I carry her upstairs. “You called it an inconvenience.”

“Loving you is inconvenient.”

“Fuck you.”

“Pretty sure I just did.” That earns me a surprised laugh. I’m teaching her about my world, but fuck. I wouldn’t mind breathing in some of her sunshine in return. “Ophelia.”

I put her down in our bathroom. One hand is placed firmly on her waist, while the other is under her chin, pulling her in for a kiss.

“You let me distract you down there.” I swipe my tongue along the seam of her lip. Kiss her. Bite her. “We’ll be having a guest sometime this week. Oliver. You can’t be distracted around him. Around anyone, ever.”

Pressing my lips to hers, I swallow the breath she sucks in.

“You’ll be there with me.” At that, dark eyes stare up at me. It won’t be long before she falls asleep. “I need you there. You’re a part of my DNA. My ribs. My heart. We’re doing this together.”

She raises a hand to my cheek, and I don’t stop her. “I’ll do better.”

Despite her exhaustion, I say, “This isn’t the first time you’ve had to stand up for yourself.” I’m talking about her years in foster care. I need to know. Not so I could use the information against her.

I’m curious about her. Just her.

She nods.

“Tell me about it. In detail.”

Her eyes are droopy. Her body clings to mine, her knees threatening to buckle. She’s tired. I don’t care. I need to hear how my brave girl managed to survive. I need to avenge her.

Once we eliminate the immediate threat, they’ll pay for what they did to her. Every last one of them.

“What part?” Her speech is slow. Sluggish.

I kiss her, praising her for being so good for me. “The names of the people who hurt you.”