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Her breathing grew faster, her heart racing as he paused over the V between her legs. Then he lowered his head and his tongue swiped her clit.

She cried out, her back arching, her lower belly pulsing.

He swiped her again, this time wrapping his arms around her thighs, keeping them separated.

The blood in her veins heated to lava, his every touch a lick of fire on her skin. She squirmed and moaned under his onslaught, the pressure of his tongue on her clit sending her wild.

But she wanted more of him. Desperately, she grasped at his arms.

He ran kisses up her body before finding her lips again, this kiss slow. Like a gentle exploration of her mouth.

She pushed at his chest until he was on his back. Then she was on top of him, tasting him…nipping his bottom lip as she reached between them. When she slipped her hand inside his briefs, wrapped her fingers around him, the muscles in his chest grew harder beneath her.

She slid her hand over his length, exploring. Touching him base to tip. Every time the air hissed from his teeth, she grew more confident. Learning what he liked.

“Clara…” One growl of her name and suddenly he was spinning them and she was beneath him again. Then a pained expression crossed his face. “I don’t have anything.”

It took her a second to realize what he meant.

She swallowed. “It’s not the right time for me. You’re safe.”

An emotion she couldn’t place crossed his features. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” No pause. No hesitation.

He lowered his mouth and kissed her again, his tongue diving straight in. And she felt him right there between her thighs, at her entrance.

Her heart drummed in her ears, a symphony of chaos and longing…but not nerves. Not with Holden.

He lifted his head, his gaze boring into hers. “You are the most perfect soul I have ever met, Clara.”

“And I’m yours.”

Another darkening of his eyes. “Mine.”

Slowly, he inched inside her, stretching her walls. Filling her. There was a flicker of pain that made her gasp.

He stopped. “Are you okay?”

Her chest rose and fell before she gasped out two words. “Kiss me.”

He studied her eyes, her face, like he saw all of her. Then he lowered his head and caressed her lips with his own. She wrapped a leg around him and encouraged him deeper.

A low rumble sounded from his chest. She wiggled her hips and moaned, needing more of him. Needing everything this man had to give.

His. Clara was his. The words kept rolling through his mind, making every territorial part of him want her more. Crave her.

Her walls hugged his cock like a glove, so damn tight it scared him to move or even breathe. Scared to do anything but remain exactly as he was.

He watched the thousands of expressions play over her face. “Clara…are you sure you’re okay?”

She reached for his head, tangling her fingers through his hair, then drew him down. But before her lips touched his, she whispered, “Take me.”

It was like gas on the fire of his need.

He lifted his hips and gently thrust back in.

She moaned, a deep, throaty sound that drove him to thrust again. He moved in and out of her body slowly, his lips returning to hers over and over so he could drown in the taste of her.

How had he denied himself this woman for so long? Clara was made for him—everything she was belonged to him.

He cupped her breast and ran his thumb back and forth over her nipple, absorbing every sound she made, like music written just for him. He circled the tight bud, and she cried out.

She was so damn responsive.

He lifted her thigh higher, thrusting at a new angle, his breathing now coming out in short puffs, his heart crashing against his ribs.

“Holden…”

The way she sighed his name…it fucking tormented him. Phantom fingers wrapped around his heart, squeezing.

He reached between them and circled her clit with his thumb. Immediately, her body jolted. He did it again, this time running his thumb up and down.

Her chest heaved beneath him, her moans growing louder.

One more swipe and her back arched and she broke.

He dropped his head and swallowed her cries with his kiss, moaning with her, continuing to thrust, feeling the throbbing of her walls against his cock.

He moved faster, every thrust pushing him closer to the cliff’s edge.

When her nails bit into his shoulders and her body continued to clench his cock, he lost himself. He fell and broke—and the very foundation of his world shifted.

His growl was loud, punching through the silence of the room. Two more brutal thrusts, until finally he had nothing left. Until there was no sound in the room except their heavy breathing. No movement, bar their chests.

He just lay there, holding his weight on his elbows, his head tucked into her neck.

When he finally lifted and looked down, it was to see Clara’s eyes half hooded, her cheeks a pretty pink and her chest finally slowing.

“Are you okay?” he whispered, concern now mounting. Concern that he hadn’t been gentle or slow enough for her first time.

The smile that spread across her lips was fucking gorgeous, like when the stars wake up in the dark of the night.

“No,” she whispered.

His heart stopped.

Until she added, “I’m so much better than okay.”

She tugged his head down and planted another kiss on his lips.

Even that made blood rush between his ears.

He dropped beside her and gathered her into him, wanting her as close as possible.

What they’d shared wasn’t just sex. It was more. And it made him feel things, want things, that he’d never allowed himself to feel or want…

And no matter how much he told himself not to be scared, that fucking terrified him.