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Not ever.

I wrap my arm around her, start to move fast, rocking in and out of her with enough force to earn a choked sob with every thrust. I roughly squeeze her breast and hip and waist. Anywhere I can reach that will keep her as close as possible to me. Her most intimate muscles clamp around my cock, and both of us lose the kiss, unable to coordinate. We merely pant into each other’s mouths.

She arches her back, and I pinch her nipple.

She meets my plunges, and I hold her leg up.

Both of us climbing higher and higher.

“Come for me, duchess. Come on my cock. Let me feel you.”

She does, her body convulsing, yet I can’t luxuriate in the pulsing of her pussy, because I need to pull out. Barely making it in time before I come on her robe trapped beneath us.

“Oh fuck,” she mumbles, sounding half asleep already.

I can’t argue. I hardly have the energy to toss the robe to the floor and turn off the lights. Taryn doesn’t say a word when I slip back into her bed, naked and wrapped around her, my sweat-slicked chest against her back, my palm on her belly.

And I know, without a doubt, that she is it for me.

The one.Taryn Stone.

She’s gonna hate it when I tell her.

Chapter 20

Taryn

Ihaven’t woken up beside someone since Maddie finally transitioned out of needing to sleep next to me. After that whole nightmare of Craig forgetting about her in McDonald’s, she spent almost a full year in my bed.

Now, with a muscled man arm around my middle, I can’t get out of bed fast enough. I’ve been experiencing night sweats for months, random times when I’ll wake up with soaked pajamas. This time, I’m naked, but no less dripping with sweat.

I leap out of bed, snatch a bunch of tissues to dab at the skin of my neck, armpits, and backs of my knees. Behind me, Dante yawns noisily. “What time is it?”

It’s still dark out through the windows, and I blink over to the digital clock in the corner. “Five fifteen.”

“What are you doing? Come back to bed.”

“I can’t.”

Sheets rustle, but I’m too busy to pay attention as I use more tissues to wipe away the sweat. Then his hands are on my waist. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“What are you doing?”

With all the lights off, we can’t see each other very well, and he feels around for my arms, eventually taking the balled-up tissues from my hand. “What’s this?”

“Tissues. I’m sweating. I?—”

“Come back to bed.”

“I can’t.”

“What are you?—”

I shriek in frustration. “I have night sweats! You had your big man body all over me last night, and I don’t know how you didn’t feel it. I sweat all over the sheets. They’re soaked.”

He turns me to face him, and I can barely make him out in the shadows. “Is that normal? Are you okay?”