Page 52 of Only Fools Rush

LEONA

Iclicked the door to our room shut. “Cas.”

It had been a day since we made our plan and discussed the LA trip. Cas had spent the entire day tight with tension, barely saying a word since the meeting. He had even ignored Ryuji’s normal barbs during dinner, choosing to glare at his plate like it insulted his mother. Then he’d tried to excuse himself to hide out in here by himself, but I’d immediately known what was happening and pushed away from the table to follow him.

We were alone now. We needed to get this out before he blew up at the Shadows or he had a meltdown when I left.

“Cas,” I repeated as he ran his hands through his hair and paced the room. “Talk to me.”

A breath of air whooshed from his chest. “I can’t, Leona. I tried, but I can’t let you go.”

My heart broke at the look on his face. Desperation. It was gnawing at him from the inside out. He paced in front of the bed, nervous energy practically bursting from every pore on his body.

He was terrified, and I couldn’t blame him. We’d been through hell and back. And now I was asking him to let me leave for days. It had to be eating him up—and it was to me, too. Thethought of being on an entirely different coast, leaving him here in the same city asMax, was tearing me apart.

But as much as it broke my heart to see him unraveling, we both still knew this was the best way to move forward with our plan.

Debating it wouldn’t matter. Discussing it wouldn’t make a difference.

And he didn’t need logic. Neither of us did.

I opened my arms wide without another word.

He stomped across the room, snaking his arms around my waist while I wrapped mine around his neck. He buried his face into my neck, and I squeezed him back like my life depended on it.

He needed my love.

“Cas,” I murmured as I cupped his cheeks and guided his lips to mine. The kiss was fierce and claiming. His lipsburned.His whole body lit me on fire.

His shoulder was still fucked, and he still wasn’t putting full weight on his knee, but I didn’t think I could wait to be with him any longer. My body and soul cried out for him. Itneededhim.

There was too much between us right now to stop, too much to communicate andfeel. Still on my tiptoes, I pushed his body backward until the backs of his knees hit the bed and he collapsed, pulling me down on top of him. He touched every piece of skin he could get his hands on.

“Leona.” His voice was full of reverence and awe as I straddled him. I could already feel the hard length of him pressing against my inner thighs. My core ached for him.

We’d been barreling toward this moment for far too long.

I whimpered into his mouth while his hands sunk underneath the fabric of my shirt and trailed upward. With a simple flick of his fingertips, he had my bra unhooked, and I wiggled the straps over my shoulders to toss it behind me. Hedidn’t waste a second to plaster his hands back to my chest, exploring every bare inch of my breasts. His hips jerked up under me with a groan.

Skin. I needed to feel his skin. The heat of his body and mine, the fire spreading between us. Consuming us. It was the only way to work through this tension, to let him know how much he meant to me and that everything was going to be fine.

“Is your body okay for this?” I asked, yanking up his shirt. Every night when we went to sleep in this bed, I dreamed of this, but I was terrified I’d hurt him and make it even harder for him to regain his old strength. “You’re not too injured, still?”

“You let me worry about my body, all right, princess,” he growled, pulling it off, and then leaning up to capture my mouth in another searing kiss. “Is this what you want? Me?”

The night he confessed he loved me, he also confessed he didn’t believe he’d be enough for me. It felt like a small part of him was asking if he was now. My heart swelled. He waseverythingto me.

“I want this more than anything. I wantyoumore than anything, Cas.” I grabbed his chin between my thumb and forefinger. His growing scruff made him look drop-dead gorgeous. “You are mine and I am yours. We are two halves of the same soul. Don’teverforget it.”

His eyes darkened, and I watched, rapt, as his tongue ran across his bottom lip. His hands cupped my ass, pulling my hips tight against his cock.

“Cas,”I groaned.

We needed to get these clothes off. Immediately.

With his hands still firmly on my ass, he flipped us to put himself on top. My stomach swooped as his fingers hooked into the waistband of my pants and yanked them off, panties and all. In another blink, I tossed my shirt somewhere against the wall near the bathroom.

“Do you know how long I’ve waited for you?” he whispered, gaze hotter than lava as his eyes roamed over my naked body. Tentatively, like he was afraid to even touch me—or maybe tooreverent—his fingertips brushed against the bare skin of my stomach. “How many times I’ve dreamt of sinking inside your tight heat and making you screammyname?”