Page 124 of Try Hard

“I stand by it.”

I nodded. She really did. She’d already given me so much, and she really would give me anything I needed. “Well, hopefully you’ll like this thing.”

“If it involves you, I already love it.”

Her breath caught as I undid the final button on my shirt and just paused. I did want her to have a clear head as we discussed this.

“Are you okay?” she asked when I didn’t move, completely snapped out of the seductive fog.

How had the world ever made anyone so perfect?

I smiled, noticing again how easily that came around her. I wasn’t sure I’d ever smiled as much in my life as I had with her. “I still want to keep to most of what we said, and I don’t want to be touched to get off.”

“Right. Of course. I promise I won’t do that to you.”

“I know.” My heart soared. “But… foreplay, I suppose? I want you to touch me in other places.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have to do that. IpromiseI’m good. I don’t want to do anything that doesn’t make you feel completely and utterly happy.”

“Eve,” I breathed, stepping closer to her again. “Iknow. And I want this. I promise.”

She held her hands out to the sides, a safe distance from me. “You’re really sure?”

“Absolutely. Not a doubt in my mind.”

She nodded slowly, eyes wide. “Anything you want.”

“I want to give you what you want too.”

“You already are. You’ve already given me everything.”

I slipped my shirt off, letting it drop to the ground. “Can I kiss you now?”

“Absolutely,” she said, fast and enthusiastic, and even she developed a little blush at her eagerness. I wasn’t sad at seeing any of it.

Her lips were soft, delicate against mine, but they sent delighted shocks of electricity through my body, making me feel more alive than I ever had. Just her and me and the most perfect kiss I could have imagined.

I took her hands, still held at a safe distance, and moved them to my sides. She gasped beautifully into the kiss when she touched my bare skin, her thumbs immediately caressing like she’d been dreaming of it every day for the last twenty years. And it waseverything.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Eve

Nobody had ever kissed as exquisitely as Ophelia did. It wasn’t even close. She was sublime.

My fingers danced over her soft skin, marvelling at how delicate it was. Metaphorically, she had a thick skin. She’d been through hell and made it out the other side, strong and incredible. But to touch her was to feel silky soft skin wrapped immaculately over muscle, bone, and flawless curves—everything that made up the physicality of her. And it was still just one tiny piece of who she was. Of course, that piece was every bit as incredible and important as every other part, but the focus people put on it—incorrectly making assertions that were rooted in nothing real—minimised the exquisite pleasure that was Ophelia Pendrick in her entirety.

I loved her like this. Not because she was half naked and letting me touch her, but because how secure she felt radiated off her. It made me realise how much, and for how long, she’d been made to feel less than, unappreciated, criticised, controlled. Sure, I came with some weirdly public baggage thatwas weighing in on those pain points, but I was going to do every single thing in my power to get rid of as much of that as I could. And, there, in my room, with her kissing me like it was the best thing to ever happen to her, I felt like I was doing an okay job of it.

Her hands slid under my t-shirt—soft and warm and unbelievably welcome. I couldn’t help but gasp against her incomparable lips.

My whole life, I’d been tactile. She and I together were incredibly touchy. But the difference when it was like this… knowing what she’d been through, how much this meant to her, the privilege that was touching her and being touched by her was monumental.

We walked back towards the chair without breaking apart. My fingers traced up and down her ribcage, pausing each time I hit the band of her bra. It was good quality, but, in comparison to her skin, felt rough to the touch, unimportant.

When the backs of my legs hit the chair, I sat readily, unsure whether she’d join me. She barely even hesitated, straddling my knees to sit in my lap. Feeling the weight of her against me was sexy, beautiful, absolutely mind-blowing. There was nothing in the world I’d trade even a second with her for.

I snaked my hands round her back, one of them tracing the unparalleled path of her spine, ducking beneath her hair, all the way to the nape of her neck. If I never accomplished anything else in life, loving her would be enough. For every remaining day of my life, I would willingly worship the ground she walked on, every breath, every thought, every moment of Ophelia Pendrick. What a gift to be given so much of her.