Page 96 of Hold Me Tight

Tears blur my vision as emotion surges through me. With a nod, I draw him closer, my fingers twisting in his hair.

“Don’t stop,” I gasp. “Please, don’t stop.”

“Just let go, baby,” he says against my neck. “I’ve got you.”

And I do.

I surrender to him.

And to us.

To this moment that feels like everything.

My orgasm tears through me. The intensity is both raw and consuming. My body bows beneath him, my cry caught somewhere between a sob and a gasp.

It’s not just a release.

It’s more of a breaking.

A becoming.

A reclaiming of something I’d lost over the years.

He follows moments later, groaning against my skin, his body tensing before he thrusts deeper, shuddering as he lets go inside me.

Afterward, he doesn’t pull away or roll to the side. He stays with me, forehead pressed against mine, our bodies connected, like we’re breathing from the same set of lungs.

“You feel like home.” He kisses my cheek and then my jaw before his lips find the corner of my mouth.

And when he pulls back to look at me, his eyes are steady and clear. They’re full of something I didn’t know I needed.

“You’re mine now,” he says into the darkness. “And I’m yours. For as long as you’ll have me.”

I curl into him, my body warm and loose from the aftershocks of pleasure.

And in that moment, I let myself believe it.

34

River

I wake to find Callie tucked into my side, one hand resting across my chest, her breath warm and even against my skin. Her hair’s a wild mess across the pillow, and her lips are parted in sleep. One bare leg is draped over mine.

And damn if the sight of her doesn’t knock the air from me.

I could stay like this forever. Wrapped up in the quiet, in her, in the feeling that everything I’ve ever wanted is finally within reach.

A faint sound from down the hall pulls me back to reality.

Nora.

I ease carefully from beneath Callie’s arm, trying not to jostle her. She shifts but doesn’t wake. Unable to help myself, I press a kiss to her forehead before reaching for the sweats I dropped on the chair.

The hallway is dim as I beeline for the door to Nora’s room and peek inside. She’s in the center of what can only be described as a stuffed animal battlefield. Plush creatures are strewn in every direction, fallen like tiny soldiers who never stood a chance.

Her face lights up when she sees me. “Rivvy!”

My heart flips as I cross the room in two strides and scoop her up. She giggles, flinging her arms around my neck.