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‘Tell me again,’ he said. ‘Tell me I’m yours.’

‘You’re mine. You’re mine, Aiden.’ And she was his, even if she couldn’t say it yet. Her skin grew slick with sweat as she rode towards her climax at an alarmingly fast pace.

‘I’m yours,’ he whispered, over and over, helping her where he could. ‘I’m yours.’

And then he was letting go of her hip to dip his hand between them, rolling his fingers over her clit until she was quivering. Her stomach swelled with heat as he ventured to the place where their bodies met and back again. Her ruts became unbridled, his cock hitting deeper with each one.

He must have been close, too, because he urged her onto her back without pulling out, still gripping her arse enough to bruise as he thrust into her. She tilted her hips against him, chasing those last few threads with searing fire in her belly as she watched his face contort with pleasure.

‘Come for me, sweetheart,’ he begged. ‘I need you to come before me.’

She whined out as a bliss she’d never known before ravaged her, and then he was yelling with her, the two of them closer than ever before as their bodies rose and fell in tandem. He fucked her until her walls stopped shaking, until her thighs went slack with exhaustion and she could barely hold on, and then he collapsed against her,his forehead burning into her chest and his breaths fanning across her breasts.

‘Fuck, Juni,’ he muttered. ‘I…’

His tongue formed anLsound, and her mouth suddenly went dry. For a moment, she was sure he was going to say the word she was most afraid of.

But he never finished his sentence, rolling his weight off her to catch his breath.

Still, the sentiment echoed in the spaces between them, enough to terrify her.

Because she knew.

And she did, too.

34

Meeting scheduled with funding director at 9 a.m. Wednesday to consider reinstating her bursary. Tell your girlfriend not to be late.

Relief seeped through Aiden when he read the text message from his dad. He’d never been more grateful for him, even after the slew of verbal insults he’d been given that weekend and the dread of another summer spent with him. Abandoning the boiling kettle, he pushed off the kitchen counter and padded barefoot down the hallway to share the news, only sparing a moment to wonder how Juniper might take it.

It didn’t matter. He’d gotten her a chance to stay, and he couldn’t wait to finally shove that weight off her chest and help her breathe again.

‘Juni?’ As he slipped into the bedroom, he found her in nothing more than his towel, the morning light of a new week streaming through the half-open curtains and bouncing off her damp skin. His stomach lurched, and his cock, too – she’d told him he was beautiful, but no words felt like enough to describe her, especially bare-faced and barely covered.

She smiled, fingers sliding across his rumpled duvet as she fell back. ‘I’m trying to get ready. I really, really am. I’m just’ – a yawn – ‘tired and hungry and I still haven’t figured out what to do about this contest, and have I mentioned I’m tired?’

He smiled, convinced he could listen to her babble all day, especially when she was sprawled on his mattress, thighs kicking off the edge. ‘Maybe you don’t need to worry about the contest anymore.’

He inched forward, glad when she sat up again to straighten out her towel. It tried to come apart over her chest, causing her to pinch it together. ‘What d’you mean?’

‘Don’t be mad, okay?’

She frowned as though she was already preparing herself to be just that. ‘I’ll be mad if I want to be mad. What are you going to tell me, Aiden?’

‘I got you an interview with RACA’s funding director. They’re considering reinstating your bursary.’

‘How do you know about my bursary?’ Her voice was low. Dangerous. ‘I never told you I had one, let alone that I lost it.’

He steeled himself against it, heart pounding. ‘Luc let it slip, and I forced it out of them. But it doesn’t matter, Juni, because this could make everything okay. You wouldn’t have to work yourself to exhaustion anymore. You could take fewer shifts, forget about the contest entirely. You’re going to be okay, now.’

Juniper’s face crumpled in confusion. She shook her head, pushing herself off the bed and putting space between them, damp hair curling around the nape of her neck like the snakes she’d sculpted for Medusa.

‘How long have you known?’ she demanded.

‘I don’t know. Since last week. Does it matter?’

‘It matters that you’ve gone behind my back!’