Page 259 of Intense

He yanks me toward him, bending low until his breath is hot on my shoulder, fingers dragging the zipper down the side of my dress.

“You really thought I was going to leave you? Even after I told you I loved you? That’s punishable behavior, love,” he whispers against my bare skin.

“My first reaction was that, yes. It’s what I’m used to people leaving me,” I tell him, voice breaking.

His teeth sink into me and I moan, the annulment sliding from my hand to the sheets.

“Not me, temptress. Never me.”

The papers crumple beneath me as Finn pushes me back up the bed, the sound of them crackling under my spine as he strips the dress down my body. His hands are desperate, tearing at fabric like it’s the thing standing between him and oxygen.

“Finn—” I gasp, arching into him as his mouth latches onto my throat, biting and sucking hard enough to bruise.

“You’re mine,” he growls against my skin, sliding my panties down my thighs and tossing them aside. “No annulment. No escape. You’re mine until they bury me in the fucking ground.”

I rake my nails down his chest, catching on buttons until they scatter across the floor. “Good. Because I’ll be buried right beside you.”

He leans back and unbuckles his belt, freeing his cock. He grips my hips, pinning me down on the petals and papers, his eyes burning into mine like he’s sealing this with fire.

“You want this vow, temptress?” His voice is dangerous. “Then take it.”

He slams into me, the breath ripped from my lungs as pleasure crashes through me. The annulment paper shifts under us, crinkling with every brutal thrust, ink smearing with sweat as we destroy the words meant to break us.

My nails dig into his shoulders, his name torn from my throat. “Finn—oh god, yes?—”

He hisses through his teeth, fucking me harder, deeper, until there’s nothing but the sound of our bodies colliding. He drags his thumb over my clit, watching me unravel with his cock buried inside me.

“That’s it, love. Vow to me. With your body. With your fucking soul.”

Tears sting my eyes as I cling to him, every thrust branding me with his devotion. “I’m yours forever. No papers. No games. Just us.”

He kisses me hard, swallowing my sobbed moan as my climax rips through me, soaking him, shattering me. And still he doesn’t stop. He fucks me through it, holding my gaze like he’s daring me to look away from the truth.

And I’m at one with it. He owns me.

“I love you,” he rasps, forehead pressed to mine. “I fucking love you, Stephanie Quinn. And I’ll say it every day, every time I fuck you, every time you breathe, until you never doubt it again.”

I come again at his words, my body trembling, breaking open under him. And when he finally lets go, when he spills inside me with a guttural roar, I know that every horrible thing that I’ve ever gone through was worth it because it all led me to Finn Quinn.

He collapses against me, both of us shaking, panting, clinging like we’re the last two people alive.

And maybe we are.

Because in this moment, nothing exists but him and me. No annulment. No past. No future without each other.

Just a vow written in blood, sweat, and love.

“It’s my turn to look after you, Finn,” I whisper against his lips.

He smiles softly and doesn’t fight me this time.

Chapter 97

FINN

Two weeks later…

The room falls silent as I lead Stephanie into the meeting chamber at Inferno. My hand is linked with hers, and we take our seats beside Declan and Charlotte. Conan plants himself to Stephanie’s left, Drago is on the other side of Charlotte. At the far end of the table sit Reggie and Rowan—because today concerns them most of all.