Page 109 of Severed Heart

When I pull away, leaving both of her perfect tits soaked with my kiss, I stare down at her with every bit of pent-up desire I’ve been shielding for far too fucking long. Her silver-gray stare remains latched to mine, feeding the lightning buzz now ricocheting between us.

Free hand roaming, I greedily cover every inch of her exposed skin. Running my fingers along her throat, palming her shoulders, her breasts, her torso, and her stomach.

“Do you feel beautiful, Delphine?” I whisper as she arches into my every touch, responding eagerly to every single movement, body drawn just as tight as her pussy is around my fingers. Lips swollen from our kiss, she watches me lick my own for remnants of her taste.

Dying to sink to my knees for more, I’m too entranced by her response to give up a second of it. Slowing my fingers, I again palm the brick next to her, leaning in as she writhes under my touch.

“Look at me, baby,” I murmur with every ounce of the love I feel. “Look into your soldier’s eyes, listen to his voice, and you’ll see just how beautiful you are to him. You’ll understand what touching you like this does to him,” I order as her body hums against mine with need for release. “You’ll realize to him you areanything butpoison.”

Her eyes eagerly soak in my expression as I slow my touch as she chases it with her body. In and out, I stroke her intimately with my fingers as I beg her to see what’s in my eyes, my heart.

“Can you sense what’s happening inside me? How good this feels for me because of how beautiful you are inside and out?Answer me,” I order, rimming her again, tracing her soaked entrance before extending my finger as far as it can go. I’m rewarded with an entire body shiver. “Tell me, can you see how beautiful you are when you look at me?”

“Oui,” she croaks. “I see, Tyler,” she rasps out, her eyes watering as I hesitantly withdraw my fingers. She mewls in protest as I slowly lean in, brushing her lips lightly as I unbutton my jeans. Her eyes drop as I take one of her idle hands and cover my heart while taking her other and guiding it into my boxers to wrap it around my cock.

“Yours,” I declare. “This”—I cover the hand on my heart—“is yours, and this”—I squeeze the hand now holding my cock and thrust it a few times into her firm grip—“also belongs to you.”

Her silver eyes shine brighter before she releases her fearful tears while I do all I can to quiet them, banish them.

“Utterly and entirelyyours,” I whisper in offering as she stares up at me, her lips parted, her return expression granting me my answer before I ask the question. “Tell me, beautiful,” I ask her, as tears spill over her cheeks, “is love lying to you right now?”

Her answer comes out in a croak. “Non.”

Our pull magnetic, I dip just as she lifts, and our lips meet in a soul-rending kiss. We take our time exploring, discovering, and feeding, our tongues dueling in a perfect mix until we’re gasping, and our hands are eagerly mapping the other. When I pull back, I don’t stray far, our foreheads touching. Chests still heaving, I lower her top and refasten her shorts while feeling her watchful eyes on my profile. Meeting them, I rebuke the guilt I see starting to threaten.

“All you should feel, or that I hope you feel right now, issafe,” I murmur, “worshippedandbeautiful. I want to give that to you and so much fucking more.” I press my forehead gently into hers. “What’s happening here, what’s happening between us, started pure and remains pure.” I stroke her cheek with my thumb. “It happened gradually and naturally. Neither of us forced this. Just ... wait for me. I can’t be here for you while I’m gone, but I’ll come right back to you.”

She refutes my words. “I’m not your problem, Soldier.”

“No, what you are, is my fuckingreason,” I declare, pulling back slightly to command her eyes. “My reason tofightand my reason to come home. You are home. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

“You say these things, but you don’t know what your life will become.”

“I know what I want it to be,” I utter. “And I’m standing here telling you that whatever happens outside ofuswill revolve around thetwo of us, not the other way around if you let this,us, happen.”

She shakes her head adamantly. “You’re going to become something you cannot deny or push aside for something as silly as a woman. Tyler, your future is so big—”

“You’re not just any woman, never have been or will be for me, and I know fucking well what promises I can and will keep, especially when it comes to you. Don’t presume to tell me how to think anymore. You’ve done enough of that. Not when it comes tothis, anyway. This is where I prove to you that a man can be worth waiting for. I know a part of you believes me. Trust that part because I know you trust me.”

Dipping, I press one more kiss to her lips and look her right in the eyes with a soul-deep declaration. “Yoursoldier.Loyallyandfaithfullyyours.”

She softens against me, even as she gives an incredulous slight shake of her head. “Tyler—”

Kissing her one last time to quiet what I can of her fears, I pull away and fasten my jeans, slowly inching backward to the fence as my entire being lights with fury that I’m no longer touching her. But I can’t have her the way I want to tonight. I’ve come on too strong already, and I want to let the idea settle. I want it to be her decision if we get more physical. Our eyes remain locked like magnets, even as I land on the other side of the fence. I revel in the fact that she’s staring after me in the way I’ve been praying for while considering my words, consideringus. So, when she opens her mouth to speak, I beat her to it.

“It’s already done,” I declare vehemently. “It’s done, Delphine.”

Tearing my eyes from her, I turn and stalk home, my chest alight with that truth.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

TYLER

BASS RATTLES THEbay doors courtesy of Mobb Deep, “Amerikaz Nightmare,” as Dom secures a clip into his Glock. Pride thrums through me, that the act and ease in which he does it now is first nature as he addresses my anxiety. “Don’t think about it.”

“Like that’s fucking possible,” I counter, eyeing the discarded cap and gown lying on the couch behind him in the bay. Dom had rid himself of them not long after crossing the stage today, as did Sean. As he took those steps toward his diploma, I felt his pause before he scanned the crowd. Physicallyfelthis hope in that moment that Tobias was somewhere amongst the families in the small stadium. Delphine, the only blood relative that did show up for Dom, had kept her distance, sitting on the other side of the entirety of the Roberts crew.

Distance I let her maintain once everyone scattered outside the high school to take pictures. Though she looked beautiful, she was nervous enough, and it was visible. But it was her disappointment when Dom barely acknowledged her presence that broke my fucking heart.