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Bryn never let him get past those words. Never let him explain that day, unsure if it would change her stance, if she’d be a fool and fall back into his bed so it could happen all over again.

Her trust was such a fragile thing, and he had broken it that day.

“I am sorry everything went so wrong,” she responded, sitting on his bed. Taking a seat next to her, he took her smaller hand in his much larger one.

“Me too. Everything is even worse now, but even if we are not romantically together, I still care for you, Brynnie.”

Closing her eyes, she laid her head on his shoulder, breathing him in. Even his recent cigar didn’t hinder all that was Declan. The hint of tobacco only added to his rich male scent.

It was comforting, and right now, she really needed that, even if there were consequences later, which with Declan was very possible.

Looking up at Declan, his whiskey-colored eyes met her own. His holding so much love for her, her throat felt tight, but not with love in return, fear.

Fear that he would saythewords, that it was all a mistake and what they had was real. She didn’t dare chance opening her heart up to him again.

“Bryn, I still lo—”

Panic flooded her, and she cut him off with a kiss. A simple press of her lips to his to stop the exact words she did not want to hear. Letting herself have a moment to remember the feel of his lips, chapped from the sun and sand, against hers since she knew it would be the last time.

Gathering her strength, she pulled away only to find herself staring into his wide eyes, which were shocked at her behavior.

She’d come to comfort him but threw herself at him instead. A complete turnaround to when they were together before, and he was always the one making the first move. Her fear of touch kept her from doing so.

The way his jaw tightened, his open hand moving along her lower back until it curled around her hip, pulling her closer, she thought perhaps words were not in fact what was needed. Perhaps, just this once, she could use her body as a comfort, both of them familiar with each other in that way.

Bryn was never great with words anyway.

Declan framed her face with his hands as he brought her mouth back to his, pushing the kiss farther, his tongue running along the seam of her lips until she opened for him.

Like a man starved, he took her mouth, his tongue emulating what she grew hungry for him to do to her body with his own.

Something in her broke, and all the pain and anger she had reverted to in order to protect herself, the armor she’d created, was gone.

Some version of her that was older than the town, some ancient feminine feral part of her took over, pushing Bryn backward in her own mind.

As she moved herself around to where she sat on his lap, a small grunt of surprise left his lips as she tugged at his hair and deepened the kiss further. His large hands engulfed her waist, and she couldn’t help herself any longer as she bit his lip, the coppery taste of blood barely registering in her mind.

Something in Bryn knew the blood should bother her, yet she rubbed her center against him as he groaned into her mouth before pulling his lips from hers, his panting breaths sending the smell of tobacco into the air around her.

“You sure you want this, Brynnie?” he asked, his voice thick with lust as he moved to lay gentle kisses along her neck, a growl leaving her at how delicate he was being with her, treating her like glass that could break.

Without a word, she pulled away, her fingers moving to the top button of her shirt, his eyes watching her hands intently as she undid the buttons one by one. Something primal in her loved the fact that nothing could take his focus from her unveiling inch after inch of skin. The absolute power she felt flooded her system.

His hands covered hers as he began kissing her neck, down her now-exposed chest, and continued lower with each undone button. Her head fell back, reveling in the feeling of his lips on her skin again.

“Say it, love,” he murmured between kisses as he slowly moved farther down her neck and chest, pulling her shirt down her arms and throwing it to the floor.His hands moved quickly to unhook her bra as he moved to take her lips once more.

“I want you, Declan,” she breathed as she took him in hand through his jeans, a sigh leaving him as he kissed her, his hands working her skirt.

Moving her hands up from where he was hard against her, she grabbed his shirt, tugging it off to expose his wide chest, and ran her nails over his work-hewn muscles.

A mountain indeed, she thought.

Grabbing the back of his neck to bring him closer again, she ground her hips against his, feeling the friction of how much he wanted her. A throaty moan left her as her core tightened in anticipation.

Pushing him away from her, her eyes laid a challenge out without saying a word.

Declan unbuttoned his jeans, pushing them to the floor and leaving himself completely exposed.