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And I know, without a doubt, without fear, that whatever life we have left, I will spend it standing beside her.

“Eamon,” she says it like my name is a confession.A surrender.An invitation.

I cross the space between us in three strides.My hand wraps around the back of her neck, and I kiss her deep, slow, and hungry.I kiss her like I own her.Like I always have.She moans into my mouth, her fingers already curling into the front of my shirt.

"Take it off," she breathes against my lips."Now."

I obey without hesitation.My shirt falls away, hers right after, fabric whispering against skin.Her bra loosens under my fingers, sliding down her arms.My hands find her instinctively, cupping her breasts, teasing her nipples, tracing every inch of her bare skin.Like I have to learn her all over again.Like I’ll never get enough.

A soft gasp breaks from her when I ease her backward, her knees brushing the edge of the mattress.She falls into it with a helpless little sound, her red hair spilling like fire across the pillows, wild and untamed.I’m on her a breath later, following her down, my mouth never straying from her body.

I trail kisses over her collarbone, down the trembling lines of her ribs, across the hollow of her waist, worshipping every fragile, furious piece of her like a man who nearly lost it all.

She trembles, but it's not fear.It's need.

Slowly, reverently, I strip her, my hands never straying far from her skin.Every inch of her feels like a miracle pressed into my palms, a silent reminder of everything we almost lost.My teeth graze along her thigh as I slide her knickers down her legs, the taste of her already teasing the back of my throat.

"You have no idea what you do to me," I murmur against her skin, dragging my tongue up the delicate line of her inner thigh."How impossible it is not to fall apart at your feet every goddamn second of the day."

She arches toward me, breath hitching, a silent plea."Please, don’t stop," she whispers, voice broken and aching.

Lifting my head, I catch her gaze—steady, raw, endless."I’m not stopping,mo chroí," I promise, the words rough against the thickness in my throat."I’m just beginning."

Her thighs part under my hands like a prayer unfolding, and I settle between them like a man finding the only place he’s ever belonged.The sight of her wrecks me, already wet and ready for me.I lower my mouth to her, savoring that first taste like it’s oxygen after nearly drowning.

Her fingers dive into my hair, desperate for more, but when her hips arch to meet my mouth, I grip them firmly, holding her in place, making her take every slow, aching stroke on my terms.Building her higher until she's cursing my name through gritted teeth, her whole body strung tight.

When she gasps for me, wrecked and desperate, I finally give her what she needs.My mouth closes around her clit, sucking slow and deep, every vibration against her making her body jolt and writhe.

"That’s it,mo chroí," I breathe into her, voice breaking against her skin."Fall for me.Break for me."

She trembles, thighs clenching around my head, breath hitching so sharply it punches through the silence.Two fingers slip inside her, curling just right, dragging a ragged moan from deep in her chest.

"So fucking perfect," I whisper."And so fucking mine."

Her body bows off the bed, a raw offering.I take everything she gives, everything she is until there’s nothing left but the wild hammering of her heart against my hands, against my mouth, against every shattered piece of me that only she could ever make whole.

I drink her in like she’s holy.

Because she is.

She tugs at my hair, her voice wrecked, desperate."I need you.Now."

I move over her, slow but sure, lining myself up with her slick entrance.One smooth thrust, and I’m inside her, deep, buried to the hilt, where I was always meant to be.

We go still.For a heartbeat, I hold her against me, feeling every tremor still working through her body, every shuddering breath.My heart pounds against hers, frantic and reckless, like it’s trying to tear its way into her chest.Like it's trying to lose itself in her.

Neither of us speaks.There are no words big enough for this—for what we lost, for what we fought for.

Because this isn't just sex anymore.It’s not about dominance or control or chasing release.It’s about every goddamn thing we survived to get here.

Every choice.Every broken, bleeding moment that led us to this.

I press my mouth to her temple, my lips lingering there, breathing her in like she’s the only thing keeping me tethered to the earth.

Aoife shifts, her hand sliding up my spine, curling into the back of my neck like she needs the connection as much as I do.Her skin is damp, hot, alive beneath my palms, and when she exhales, it feels like she’s giving me something sacred.

Then, her legs wrap around my hips, tight and desperate, anchoring me to her like she’s afraid the world might tear us apart again if she lets go.I start to move, slow and deliberate, savoring every inch of her.