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Finn held Rose as the aftershocks of pleasure rippled through her, her breath stuttering against his skin. He pressed soothing kisses to her temple, his own control was disintegrating by the second.

This beautiful, brilliant, maddening woman—she was so unlike anything he thought he wanted. And yet, nothing in his life had ever felt as right as holding Rose in his arms.

Was it reckless to want more than this fleeting moment? To imagine a life with her. Not just now, but always?

She shifted against him, turning in his embrace, her lips parting as she licked them absently. Her eyes, hazy and unfocused from the pleasure he’d wrung from her, held a vulnerability he hadn’t seen before.

Her fingers skated up his arm, featherlight, tracing the ink winding over his skin.

“I love this,” she murmured. “I didn’t realize there was so much… hidden away.”

His mouth quirked. “There’s more to me than meets the eye.” The words carried the weight he’d never shared. But for the first time in years, he wanted to try .

“I’m seeing that now.” The honesty in her gaze punched him low in the gut, making his heart skip like a faulty engine.

She pressed her lips to the crook of his elbow, tracing the swirled ink with the tip of her tongue. The wet heat of her mouth shot straight to his cock as she worked her way up his biceps, alternating between soft kisses and gentle nips that made his muscles jump. When she reached his shoulder, he could barely breathe.

“Rose...”

His restraint balanced on a razor’s edge. One more touch and he’d fall. Fuck . His heart had already gone over.

Fisting her hair, he wound the silken strands around his fingers. The scent of her shampoo filled his nose as he pulled gently, anchoring her against him until his knuckles pressed against her temple.

Her eyelids fluttered closed, head tipping back in glorious submission, baring the elegant line of her throat. Her pulse pounded against his palm. “Finn. Please.”

Her every movement, every quiet sound, destroyed the last of his control. “Contraception…” He pressed his forehead to hers.

She traced his jaw, her eyes heavy-lidded. “I…I have an implant.”

Finn released a strangled breath. “I’m clean. There’s been no one...” For so long.

Rose swept her thumb across his lower lip, then guided his mouth to hers. “Then we’re good.”

They held still for one heartbeat, before crashing together again.

Desperate need propelled him forward as he lifted her onto the narrow ledge of the circular bath. The cool tile beneath his palms contrasted with the heat of her skin as he nudged her thighs apart, claiming the space between them.

She cupped one hand around his neck, trusting him with her weight, her body yielding to his touch. He buried his face in the curve of her shoulder, drowning in her scent. His fingers found her slick heat once more, and she clenched around him, her nails biting into his hips in sweet crescents of pain.

Her gasp broke apart as he dragged his thumb over her clit, her body arching into his.

He locked his jaw against a groan. This wasn’t about his pleasure. He needed to watch her fall apart again. He needed to know she was his —even if only for now.

He curved his hands under her hips, positioning her at the ledge’s edge. The thick head of his cock pressed against her silken folds. His lungs seized as he sank into her in one slow, powerful thrust, her body stretching around him.

“Finn.” His name on her lips was a breathy gasp.

He stilled, giving her time, his muscles shaking from self-discipline. Her teeth found his earlobe, the sharp sting of pain pulling a ragged sound from his throat.

This. Nothing had ever felt like this. Like every part of him had been waiting, only to fit here. Deep inside this amazing, maddening woman who’d crashed through every defense he’d built. He withdrew and drove forward again, savoring the raw sob he tore from her throat.

Pleasure blazed down his spine, forcing him to slow, to absorb the exquisite feel of her wrapped tight and hot around him. His heart thundered against his ribs, equal parts terror and wild joy at how right this felt.

More. God, he needed more of her, all of her.

Her body gripped him tighter as he drove her higher, each thrust erasing everything but this moment. The complications of the last few days, the uncertain future, all of it dissolved until there was nothing left but Rose. Her heat. Her softness. The way her body responded to his touch, as if they had been made for each other.

His movements turned hard and possessive, gentleness beyond his reach. She’d destroyed his restraint, leaving him hungry.

She pressed her hands to his chest, the simple touch searing his skin as he shifted her position, sinking even deeper. Her nails raked down his back as she met him thrust for thrust, her breasts crushed against him, not even air between them. Just skin and heat and need.

A choked sound of pleasure escaped her as she ground against him, legs locking tight at his back, holding him close like she never wanted to let go. The sight undid him. Her body stretched around his cock, head thrown back in wild abandon. The fierce contrast to the composed scientist he’d met only days ago.

Every version of her, from brilliant professional to this passionate woman in his arms, called to something deep in his soul, awakening parts of him he’d believed dead forever.

God help him, he was falling hard for all of her.

His heart roared in his ears as he claimed her mouth in a hungry kiss. She bit his lower lip, breathing his name into his mouth like a secret. “Finn.”

On his next thrust, her cry of release shattered the air as she clenched around him. The moment stripped him bare. Every wall, every defense crumbled. His heart, his mind, everything he was lay open for her to read. To own. There could never be anyone else after this.

Two more desperate thrusts and he lost himself, his orgasm blazing through him like a supernova as he spilled his heat inside her.

He sagged, waiting for coherent thought to return, for the world to stop spinning on its axis. When he could move again, he gathered her into his arms and sank into the warm water, turning them in a lazy circle. The two of them locked as a tiny satellite in a universe gone mad.

“Mmm... I could get used to this,” she mumbled against his shoulder, arms draped around his neck.

“The hot sex?”

Her giggle vibrated against his skin, the simple joy of it making his heart clench. “No. Baths.”

He nipped her ear. “Ah. Good job I have a hard skin.”

She wriggled against him, arching a brow with wicked intent. “Hard something.”

A deep laugh expanded in his chest as he lifted her, bundling her in a towel. “Menace.” He carried her to the bed and tucked her under sheets scented with a hint of soapy laundry detergent, of cotton dried in the sun’s warmth.

Exhaustion dragged at his limbs, the events of the past few days finally catching up with him. But he wasn’t ready to sleep. Not yet. Not when having her here felt like some kind of dream.

He curled around her, molding his body to hers like a shield against the world. She nestled closer as he pressed a kiss to her damp hair, fitting herself into the spaces he hadn’t known were empty.

The walls he’d built after prison had been his armor, his survival. Keeping everyone at arm’s length had become second nature, as automatic as breathing.

But this woman? She’d slipped past every defense. Demolished his carefully constructed control until he was stripped bare, brought to his knees by the simple truth of her.

An unexpected tendril of panic unfurled in his chest at how effortlessly she’d breached those walls, at how completely she’d undone him.

Finn let it wash through him and when he exhaled, it wasn’t fear that settled inside him.

It was hope.