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The friendship grew, we fell in love, and I never thought there would be a single moment she wouldn’t be there.

Until she wasn’t.

She’s here now, though, and I need to remember that. I need to do everything in my power to make sure she never leaves my sight again.

Okay, so that’s a little unrealistic. But, while Kato, Madd, and I decided to give her a shadow to keep her from running again, now I’ll make sure there are several guards near her at all times, whether we’re home or not. No one will ever hurt my girl again.

Leaning my forehead against hers, I say the words that have been locked inside my chest for four long, agonizing years. “I love you, Everest. Fuck…I love you so much.”

“I love you, B. I never stopped.” She tilts her head to touch her lips to mine.

The kiss is sweet at first, almost a gesture of comfort or perhaps reassurance.

But then it turns desperate. So many unsaid words pour between us, between our lips as our tongues thrust against each other, tasting and teasing.

My cock has been hard for two fucking days and it hasn’t gone down, especially with her straddling my lap.

When her arms go around my neck and her hips begin to writhe, I groan as I struggle to refrain from coming in my jeans like a fucking teenager.

It doesn’t matter how many people I’ve fucked in my life – no one ever has ever or will ever hold a candle to the way my sweet girl makes me feel.

“Fuck me, B. Make love to me. I need you so bad,” she murmurs against my lips.

While I want to rip her clothes from her body, yank her panties to the side and thrust into her right here on the couch, there’s been way too many miles and too much time between us.

I plan on spending as much time as possible recommitting every curve, every dip and valley of her body to memory, and erasing the memory of any other motherfucker who’s touched her since we’ve been apart.

Chapter 12

Everest

At my request – or maybe it was a demand – Brix shoves to his feet, one of his thick arms under my ass, the other raised to tangle a hand in my hair as he continues to kiss me, devour me, licking into my mouth with such desperation that my heart races and thuds against the back of my ribcage.

He doesn’t stop kissing me, even as he makes his way through the penthouse, stopping at a wall and pressing my back against it, holding my weight up with his hips as he cups my breasts through my shirt and kisses the swells.

His hand is rough as he yanks the front down, the sound of fabric tearing mixing with our moans and pants, then sucks one of my nipples between his lips, teasing it with his teeth and tongue before releasing it and returning his mouth to mine.

The sting from the tattoo is barely even noticeable through the throb of my pussy and the want burning through my veins.

Kind of funny that I really didn’t mind the fact that Brix wanted to brand me with their initials. I’d grieved the loss oftheir marks on my skin almost as much as I’d grieved the loss of our child and our future together.

It’ll take a lot more than a few swipes of a knife to rid my skin of what Nico started.

Brix pulls me from the wall and begins to walk again, but neither of us are paying much attention, our eyes closed. He bumps into a wall periodically, but one of his big hands is cradling the back of my head to keep me from getting hurt.

I can tell the moment we step into the bedroom by the influx of his warm, spicy scent.

But there are other smells in here, too. Both masculine and feminine.

An overwhelming surge of possessiveness makes me pull from his mouth to frown at him. “You are not fucking me on the same bed you fucked countless other people.”

His eyes are glassy with lust, his lips pink and kiss swollen, but he smirks. “Is my sweet girl jealous?”

“Fuck yeah, I am,” I say, grabbing a handful of his long hair and pulling so he has to look at me.

The growl that erupts from his chest and the way his cock twitches against his jeans is all I need to know about how he feels about me pulling his hair. Yep, I’ll be doing that a whole lot more.

I love how silky soft and warm it feels in my hands. And really, it’s the only thing anyone could consider soft about my hulking man these days.