Page 165 of Divine Temptations

I couldn’t speak, could barely think beyond the sensation of him moving inside me. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced—every nerve alight, every part of me focused on the place where our bodies met. I clung to him, my body arching to meet his.

“Your body is holy,” Lucien slowed his pace. “This is beautiful. You are beautiful.” He rammed his cock all the wayin, and my eyes snapped closed, fireworks exploding behind my eyelids.

Lucien’s rhythm quickened. It didn’t feel like lust driving him—it was something deeper. His breath caught against my throat, and I felt a tremor in him, the battle between restraint and the raw truth of what he was feeling.

The room blurred around us, the soft light bending into gold arcs on the wall. The creak of the bed faded under the sound of our breathing, and each movement sent a shiver racing through me.

“Jimmy,” Lucien panted, and I’d swear it sounded like a prayer and a promise at once. The world narrowed to the press of his body, the warmth of his skin, the fragile miracle of being seen and wanted exactly as I was. I clung to him, my heart hammering, knowing that whatever we’d just set on fire, I never wanted it to go out.

“Lucien, I’m—I’m going to—”

“Come for me, Jimmy,” he ground out, his movements growing erratic. “Let go.”

My orgasm hit me like a wave, and my vision whited out, every muscle in my body tensing and releasing as I spilled between us.

“Oh, fuck,” Lucien muttered, and his was pistoning in and out of me so fast. Then, with one final, hard thrust, he came inside me, his entire body shaking while a deep, low moan shook his chest.

We lay there, entwined and gasping for air, as the intensity of the moment ebbed away. Lucien carefully withdrew from me, disposing of the condom before collapsing onto the bed beside me. He pulled me close, our sweat-slicked bodies fitting perfectly together.

“Are you alright?” he asked after several long moments, his voice laced with concern.

I nodded, a contented sigh escaping my lips. “More than alright,” I echoed my earlier words, a lazy smile curving my lips. “I’m right where I want to be.”

Lucien pressed a kiss to my forehead, his arms tightening around me. “You’re amazing, Jimmy,” he whispered. “And I’m so glad you’re here with me.”

As we lay tangled in the quiet, something inside me finally unclenched. The past didn’t vanish, but it felt lighter—like I could breathe without bracing for judgment. For once, I wasn’t pretending or praying to be someone else.

Lucien’s heartbeat thudded steadily against my shoulder, and in that rhythm, I found a kind of peace I’d never known.

“Lucien,” I murmured, then pressed my lips against his neck, right under his ear.

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

His grip on me tightened. “For what?”

“For being you.”

Epilogue

Jimmy Two Years Later

The morning sunlight spilled through the kitchen window like liquid honey, turning the steam rising from our coffee cups into gold. Lucien sat across from me at the little bistro table we’d picked up at a yard sale our first summer together—its paint still chipped, still perfect. One lock of his mussed hair fell over his forehead as he read the news on his tablet, and he was half-dressed in a faded Temple T-shirt that had survived a hundred washes.

Our breakfast plates sat between us—scrambled eggs, toast, and the kind of peace I never thought I’d earn. I’d just taken a sip of coffee when my phone buzzed on the table. I reached for it, thumb hovering over the screen. Sheila Singh .

I smiled instinctively. “It’s Sheila,” I said, and Lucien looked up, eyebrows raised.

“Sheila of the Cracker Barrel awakening?” he teased.

“The very one.” I grinned and opened the message.

The grin slipped almost immediately.

“What is it?” Lucien asked, setting down his tablet.

I stared at the screen, reading the message twice to be sure I wasn’t imagining it.