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I wouldn’t deny either one of us for a single moment longer.

The words I had held in for so long burst out of my mouth in a flurry of emotional diarrhoea. And once I started, I couldn’t have stopped if I’d tried.

‘Kali, I-’ he tried to speak as he attempted to close the gap between us, only to halt at the sudden barrage of words fallingout of me. Words I was sure he never expected to hear, especially when I hadn’t answered him before.

‘I love you, too, Chance,’ I began, keeping my eyes on his so he could see the truth in them; the depth of my feelings for him. I wanted to look away, to hide away for fear that he would no longer love me the way he had claimed, but I wouldn’t do that to either of us. Not this time. Not ever again. ‘I always have, and I’m so fucking sorry. I chose the coward’s way out, because Blake was safe. Or, I thought he was. I never could have imagined… but that’s beside the point. I have loved you from the moment we met, and I have loved you every day since, and I was the dumbest bitch to ever walk the earth, because I gave up without ever letting you know. I never should have let you go without a fight, without telling you how I’d felt all those years ago, but I didn’t think...’

‘You didn’t think I felt the same way,’ he finished for me, his voice quiet, contemplative, and so full of understanding I wanted to both cry and lash out at him. I didn’t deserve his compassion. Not after the life I’d forced us both to lead. Not after the betrayal we’d both suffered through.

But he wasn’t wrong. ‘You’re right,’ I agreed lamely. ‘I didn’t think you felt the same way, so I didn’t put myself out there, which is so fucking stupid because it’syou,and I just…’ I trailed off, fidgeting with my fingers as I broke eye contact. I was burning up again, but this time it was out of shame.

God, I was nervous.

But I shouldn’t have been. This wasChance, for fuck’s sake. He had never and would never hurt me. He was the safety I had been searching for in Blake. I wanted to go back in time and slap some sense into my younger self.

‘I get it,’ he said, softening even more as he slowly moved closer, a fire blazing in his steady gaze. ‘I was afraid to tell you,too. I thought I would lose you, that you could never love me the way I loved you. I guess… we were both wrong.’

I sniffed, my eyes stinging from the phantom welling of tears. But they weren’t so phantom after all, because, impossibly, I felt it when they spilled over and left tracks down my cheeks.

Chance stepped closer, crowding into my space, and cupped my face in his hands. His thumbs wiped away my tears as he tilted my head up to capture me with his gaze. A gaze so full of tenderness and brimming with love that I wondered if maybe I hadn’t died the first time. Maybe I was insane, because no one had ever looked at me the way he was looking at me now.

Like I was his beginning, middle,andend.

‘Don’t cry,’ he whispered, his breath ghosting over my lips. He was so close now that it wouldn’t take much to close the distance between us, to slant my lips over his and seal our words with action. ‘I’m here. I’m not going anywhere, and you’re never leaving me again.’

He said it all with such certainty, like being together was the only option moving forward, that I didn’t have a choice but to believe him.

I studied the grey and green flecks in his ocean-blue eyes, the colours swirling together with his emotions. I licked my lips, my tongue accidentally brushing against his mouth and giving us both a taste of what we had denied ourselves all this time. My breath hitched as I watched his pupils dilate until they took up all the colour in his eyes, leaving only a thin ring of dark blue in their wake.

I didn’t know who moved first. Perhaps we had moved together, but there was no longer any space between us. The kiss was barely a touch of our lips at first, testing the waters, allowing the other to change their mind one last time, because once we did this, there was no turning back.

But what started as a tentative brush of our lips quickly deepened, neither one of us capable of holding back for one second longer. His hands moved from where they cupped my jaw to cradle the back of my head, his fingers tangling in my hair as he held me in place with a firm intensity that belied his fear of what would happen if he let me go. He didn’t need to fear anything, though. I was his. No more hiding. No more pretending. I wasn’t going anywhere.

When my arms rose to wrap around his neck, anchoring him to me just as tightly, it broke that last frayed thread keeping our passion contained. The world around us dissolved until there was nothing but the two of us, our fingers grasping at each other’s hair as we opened our mouths, our tongues meeting for the first taste of forever.

I clung to him, desperate to get closer. My hands grasped at his shoulders as I revelled in the way his body plastered to mine, our passion forming a heat between us that I could feel all the way to my toes. So much was being said without words, our bodies speaking for us everything we had struggled to say before, and everything we still needed to say. I liked this way better, though. Words shmords. I wanted his lips devouring me, his body moving against mine and stoking the flames of our desire even higher. Hotter.

Fuckingscorching.

It was raw, unrestrained, and full of promises neither of us had been brave enough to make before.

I never wanted this moment to end.

We didn’t even need to break apart. Our breaths may have been coming in hot, heavy pants as we breathed each other in, but we no longer needed air to survive. If we chose to, we didn’t ever have to stop.

He kept one hand on my head, firmly securing me in place, but the other began a new trail of electricity as he smoothedhis calloused palm over my back to settle on the curve of my ass. He squeezed and pulled me impossibly closer, grinding his rock-hard length against me and turning my thighs into a slick waterfall.

He ground himself at just the right angle to send pleasure shooting up my spine, and I moaned into his mouth. ‘Fuck, Chance. You feel so good.’

‘Kali…,’ he moaned right back. ‘Oh, Kali.’

‘More,’ I demanded, pushing my hips into his in a desperate bid for more friction.

He didn’t pull away when he asked, ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes. Fuck, yes. I want you, Chance. I want you inside me. Ineedto feel you.’

‘I’ve wanted this for so long,’ he murmured, almost like he was talking to himself. His voice was low, hoarse, and filled with unguarded vulnerability. ‘Tell me this isn’t a dream,’ he whispered against my lips. ‘Tell me this is real, that you’re really here.’