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That smile slides slow across my mouth, sharp as a blade and twice as dangerous. “It was all still inside me,” I murmur, my gaze raking over her, letting her feel how I look at her—like I’ve already stripped her bare in my mind. “Just waiting for you to notice.”

Her breath catches, so slight anyone else might miss it. But I don’t. I catalog every shift in her, every glance, every parting of her lips.

I step closer, deliberate, my fingers ghosting along the back of her wrist until she shivers. I want her trembling before I even touch her properly. I want her aching before I ever put my hands on her skin.

“You’ve been good,” I murmur, voice curling low and dark. “You’ve let the others look after you. Let them patch you up. But you’ve been starving, haven’t you?”

She exhales, sharp, breathless. “Caspian—”

I cut her off with a tilt of my head, my thumb dragging slow and shameless over the inside of her wrist. “You’ve forgotten what I do to you.”

Her breath hitches again.

I step into her space fully now, my body brushing hers deliberately, not rough but insistent, like gravity itself has snapped beneath us. My mouth is at her ear before she can pull away—not that she wants to.

“You want to know what I missed most?” I murmur, my voice a sin in itself. “That sound you make when you come for me. That little whimper at the end when you fall apart.”

Her whole body goes tight at that, her breath stuttering out in a sharp little exhale she can’t swallow down.

I move before she can rethink it, tugging her off the path, away from the road, into the narrow clearing between the trees. I don’t stop walking until I’ve got her pinned with her back against the rough bark of one of those hollowed-out trees, my body caging hers in.

I lean in slow, my mouth ghosting just above hers, my hands braced against the tree on either side of her head. “You want me to be sweet tonight?” I murmur, my voice velvet-dagger soft. “Because I can be. I can fuck you soft, gentle, make you forget who you are.”

Her eyes flicker, but she doesn’t answer.

I let my smile sharpen, wicked. “Or,” I breathe, “I can ruin you.”

Her breath shudders out. “Caspian.”

I drag my mouth along her jaw, slow, deliberate, letting my breath tickle her skin without giving her the weight of me yet. “You don’t want soft tonight,” I murmur against her throat. “You want me to remind you who the fuck you belong to.”

She swallows hard, her pulse fluttering beneath my lips. “Yes.”

My hand slides up her thigh, slow and steady, fingers grazing over the curve of her hip, the dip of her waist, until I’ve got one hand planted possessively at her throat, thumb grazing the hollow beneath her jaw. Not tight. Just there. A promise.

“You’re wet already,” I murmur, dragging my thigh between hers deliberately, grinding slow against her core. “I haven’t even touched you properly.”

Her breath shatters against my mouth. “You’re such a bastard.”

I laugh, low and dark, ducking my head until my lips graze the corner of her mouth. “You love me for it.”

She fists her hands in the front of my shirt, dragging me down until our mouths finally meet—hot and sharp and messy. Shekisses me like she’s starving, like she’s trying to crawl inside my skin, and I let her.

But I don’t let her keep control.

My hand slides beneath the hem of her shirt, fingers trailing over bare skin, lazy and lingering like I’ve got all night. Because I do. Because I’m going to make this last until she’s ruined.

When I slide my fingers lower, beneath the waistband of her pants, she gasps against my mouth. I swallow the sound like a man dying of thirst.

“You’ve missed me like this,” I murmur again, dragging my lips down her throat as my fingers find her slick and ready. “But not as much as I’ve missed you.”

I press two fingers inside her, slow and deep, curling just right. She arches against me, her breath catching sharp, her body already begging.

I keep my mouth at her throat, lips brushing the shell of her ear. “You’re going to come for me,” I murmur, voice filthy and soft. “Here. On my fingers first.”

She’s already halfway there, her breath fracturing against my skin, her hips rolling into my hand like she can’t help herself.

And gods, I love her like this—reckless, needy, all hers.