Page 63 of Give Me a Reason

I came for you, Anne.

Frederick came all the way to England for her. She could hardly believe it. She wasn’t sure what to think. All she knew was that he was here, and her heart soared no matter how hard she tried to temper her expectations.

He sat at the other side of the room with his eyes closed, looking calm and at peace. He looked too big for her tower room, strong even in repose. And it took every ounce of her willpower not to run across the room and throw herself at him.

But his letter was such a precious thing.

She couldn’t wait another minute to read it—the words from his heart.

She fumbled with the envelope as she withdrew the letter with shaking hands.

Her breathing sounded loud in her ears, and she blinked to clear her teary eyes.

After several deep breaths, Anne unfolded the letter.

Dear Anne,

My heart has belonged to no one but you. You are my past, present, and future—my dream come to life. I’m helplessly, completely, irreversibly yours.

Yours and yours alone.

Please tell me I’m not too late. Tell me my pride, anger, and resentment haven’t kept me away from you for too long. I don’t know what I did to deserve a second chance, but I’ll take it. Just tell me I haven’t blown it.

I was so afraid of having my heart broken again that I lied to myself that my love for you ended ten years ago. But my heart is stronger than I am, and my love never faltered. In my heart, I never stopped loving you, Anne.

Please tell me there is hope left for us.

I love you with everything I am, with everything I’ll ever be. I don’t deserve someone as perfect as you, but your happiness will be the reason I breathe, if only you’ll have me. Let me stay by your side, and I’ll become someone who deserves you because you have always made me better.

I love you, Anne. I always will.

But if you don’t feel the same way, please tell me now. I’m torn between hope and agony. I need to know. If you tell me there’s no hope left for us, I’ll let you go. I’ll do my best. And I’ll try to find peace, knowing that I fought for you with everything in me.

Forever yours,

Frederick

Anne sucked in a gasping breath, her head tipping back from the force of it. Then she wept. All her heartache, all her regret, all her pain burst out of her in torrents.

Ten years wasted. Ten years heartsick and lonely and broken .

But she also sobbed with… Joy was too small a word to describe how his words made her feel. He loved her.

At last.

Frederick was by her side so quickly that it seemed as if he’d flown to her. Because anything was possible. If they could be together, anything was possible. Crouching in front of her, he cupped her face like he was afraid of breaking her, and his warm, brown eyes grew wet with his own tears.

“Anne, what is it? Is it my letter?” Anguish rippled off him as his gaze searched her tearstained face for answers. “I’m so sorry. Please stop crying. I’ll do anything. Anything. I’ll…” His voice cracked, but he continued in a rasp, “I’ll leave if that’s what you need. Just tell me what to do.”

“Frederick.” She cried as though she were breaking in half.

“Yes, Anne?” He smoothed her hair off her damp forehead. “What do you need? Tell me.”

“ You. I’ve only ever needed you.” The words tore out of her, raw and true. “I love you, Frederick.”

He turned to stone, then came back to life with a shuddering breath. “You love me?”

She nodded, the storm inside her quieting at last. “So much.”

“When?” A single tear fell from his eyes.

“Always.” Anne reached out and wiped it away. He grabbed her hand and planted a fervent kiss on her palm. “I never stopped loving you.”

He pressed his forehead against hers. “I’m scared that I’m dreaming.”

“If you are, then we’re having the same dream.” Anne wrapped her arms around his neck. “And we’ll wake up together.”

“To a life where we’re together?” He gathered her against him.

“Yes,” she whispered into the crook of his neck. “We’ll always be together.”

“Thank God.” He scooped her off her chair and rose to his feet. “Because I don’t plan on ever letting you go.”

“Good.” She brushed her lips against his cheek and felt a muscle jump in his jaw.

“Anne.” He lowered her onto the bed and lay down beside her. Rising onto an elbow, he leaned over and traced the lines of her face. “I need to kiss you.”

“I need that, too.” She placed her hand on his chest. He was shaking, and her heart cracked a little. “Kiss me, Frederick.”

He brushed his lips across hers and exhaled tremulously against them. They held still for a moment, allowing the barely-there touch to ground them. He was real. This was real. They were together, and the topsy-turvy world—a world that hadn’t made sense in a decade—finally righted itself.

Anne returned his featherlight kiss and felt her insides turn molten.

She traced her tongue across the seam of his mouth, and a groan rumbled in his chest. She deepened the kiss, needing to take more of him and needing to give more of herself.

She wanted to blur the line between where she ended and where he started.

She pushed him onto his back and kissed him with growing desperation.

“Frederick,” she whispered.

With no further prompting, he lifted her by the waist and settled her on top of him so her legs straddled his hips. He was already so hard, and she pressed her hot, wet core against him. His fingers dug into her hips, and he urged her to rock against his rigid length.

Frederick surged up and crushed his lips against hers in a possessive kiss.

God, she wanted to be claimed by him, to be bound to him.

She fisted one hand in his hair and tugged his head to the side to kiss him more fully—binding him to her, claiming him as hers.

Her tongue plunged into his mouth, took, and plundered. She wanted him. All of him.

Anne pulled back a few inches to tug her top and bra off and kissed him again, clawing at the buttons of his shirt.

Frederick shrugged his shirt over his shoulders and threw it to the side without once taking his mouth off hers.

He planted his hands on her back, fingers spread wide, and pressed her flush against him.

Her hips bucked as the sensitive peaks of her breasts rubbed against the smooth heat of his chest, skin against skin.

Sliding his hand over her ass, he gripped the bottom of her thigh and toppled her onto her back.

With frantic fingers, he tore at her jeans and tugged them off, along with her soaked panties.

Before she could catch her breath, he buried his face between her legs like a man starved and slid his tongue between her seam.

She cried out, arching her hips off the bed.

He glanced up at her and draped her legs over his shoulders one at a time.

“Is this okay?” He kissed the inside of her thigh, spreading her folds with his thumbs. “Can I taste you?”

“Please.” She moaned, and he rewarded her with a rough swipe of his tongue.

Anne buried all her fingers in his hair and held him to her.

Her climax was already swirling in her belly, fluttering in her core.

His touch became featherlight, his lips and his breath brushing against her mound.

She whimpered and tugged his hair hard enough to hurt.

His response was a low, dark chuckle that vibrated against her.

He pushed two fingers inside her, deep and hard, but his hand stilled.

“Frederick, please.” She thrashed her head from side to side.

“Show me what you want,” he rasped. And she rode his hand, holding his face against her. “There’s my good girl.”

Working his hand between her legs, he sucked her clit into his mouth.

She screamed until her voice became hoarse as wave after wave of her orgasm crashed through her.

He was relentless, extending every jerk and shiver of her climax with his tongue and fingers until her pleasure bordered on pain.

Her eyes rolled back in her head as she came a second time.

This time, he eased her down until she was a limp rag doll on the bed.

“You okay?” Frederick loomed over her, a tender hand brushing her hair out of her face. “Do you want to stop?”

Laughter wheezed out of her winded lungs. “Not on your life.”

Chuckling, he kissed her forehead. “I don’t want to wear you out too much.”

“Liar.” She smiled lazily. “You would like nothing more than to wear me out.”

“Yes. Yes, I would.” He dragged his lips down the side of her face and dropped kisses on her neck. Impossible as it seemed, desire buzzed through her veins again. “I want to be inside you, Anne. I need…” His voice broke. “I need to know you’re mine.”

Anne nodded with a tremulous smile, fresh tears seeping out of the corners of her eyes. She pushed him on to his back and unbuckled his belt. Then she slid his jeans and boxer briefs past his hips and down his legs. He kicked them off the rest of the way.

“Damn it.” He cringed, pushing up to his elbows. “My condom. It’s in my wallet.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m on birth control, and I don’t want anything between us. Okay?”

Frederick swallowed as he watched her crawl over his body on all fours. “Okay.”

Anne rose to her knees, her entrance lined up with his cock. She took him in her hand and squeezed. She smiled when he hissed, jerking his hips into her fist. Holding him still, she lowered herself onto him until she took all of him inside her, until he filled her.

His fingers squeezed her ass, urging her to move. And she gladly obeyed. She rocked against him, the delicious friction drawing a ragged moan out of them both. Frederick arched his hips off the bed, surging deeper into her. She gasped and rode him faster, harder.

His brows were furrowed in concentration, and a vein in his forehead bulged from his restraint. But he let her control the pace. When her breaths came in pants and her movements became erratic, he pressed his thumb against her clit, circling it with deep pressure.

“Come for me, sweetheart,” he coaxed in a dark, velvety voice. “I got you.”

“Frederick,” she cried, clenching around him.

He sat up and kissed her hard, stealing his name off her lips. He flipped their positions, pushing her onto her back, and plunged into her with one swift thrust. Planting his hands on either side of her head, he drove in and out of her until sweat dripped down his chest and forehead.

When it seemed as though their delirious dance would go on forever, his rhythm became rough and graceless. He pounded in and out of her in desperate jerks, their skin slapping against each other. His lips pulled back in a snarl, he angled her hip with one hand so she could take him deeper.

“Frederick.” Anne dug her fingernails into his shoulders and bucked her hips to meet him thrust for thrust. “Come with me. Frederick, come with me.”

He buried himself inside her with a hoarse shout, and her back arched off the bed. They fell apart together, holding each other tightly, and it was the most perfect thing Anne had ever experienced.

When it was over, he collapsed over her, panting for air.

God. The weight of him on top of her, and the feel of him inside her, made her feel so complete that she didn’t mind not being able to breathe.

But with a muttered curse, Frederick flipped them onto their sides, remembering she needed air.

She sighed with relief when he didn’t pull out of her just yet.

“Let’s stay like this for a little longer.” She burrowed against his chest.

He tightened his arms around her. “Let’s stay like this forever.”

“That sounds perfect.” She sighed.

“ You’re perfect.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I love you, Anne.”

“I love you, Frederick.”

Anne drifted off to sleep with a blissful smile on her face. If being just Anne meant she was perfect for Frederick, then she wouldn’t have it any other way. But she knew she would never be just anything to him. She would be his everything, now and always, as he would be hers.