Page 92 of Where the Roses Bloom

I lifted my arms without a word, the cotton slipping over my skin as Rhett lifted my sweater over my head. His gaze didn’t drop, didn’t waver—not even to look at my body. He stayed close, getting closer, breath ghosting over my lips.

“You’re a fuckin’ miracle, Willow,” he breathed.

His tongue dragged along the seam of my lips and I opened to him, Rhett taking my mouth in a deep, devastating kiss. He lowered me down to the bed, hand sliding over my breast, fingers tightening possessively.

“Tell me if you need me to stop,” he rasped. “If anything feels different.”

“It does, but not in a bad way,” I rushed out. “Just…touch me, please.”

Rhett groaned, his hand hovering just above my stomach, peppering kisses down my throat. “You’re really…I can’t believe this is happening. It’s fast. It’s perfect. I’m not gonna let anything hurt you, baby.”

I arched as he kissed a trail down over my breasts, catching my nipple between his teeth, tugging gently. Rhett held my hips in his hands and kissed lower, lower, taking my shorts with him…

His mouth covered my pussy and my hands tangled in his hair, pulling hard. He rumbled in satisfaction from between my legs, licking, sucking, teasing.

“You like that, darlin’?”

My head tipped back against the pillows as Rhett’s mouth moved, every flick of his tongue threatening to drag a moan from my throat. I could feel the happiness rolling off him, and I almost wondered if we would exorcise the house withthis alone—with the joy of what we shared, of what was growing between us.

“Rhett,” I gasped.

“I’m here, baby,” he growled. “I’m right here…”

He gripped my hips tighter, keeping me open for him, his beard rasping against my thighs as he worked me with slow, aching precision.

“I’m…I’m gonna…” I moaned.

“Let go for me, rosebud,” he urged. “Come on.”

I pressed a fist to my mouth to muffle a scream of pleasure, trembling all over as he kissed me through my orgasm—but Rhett didn’t let me go. Not until I was limp and shuddering beneath him…and then he rose up, crawling over me, bracketing his hands at my shoulders. I wasn’t even sure exactly when he’d gotten undressed, but I was glad he had…because I didn’t think I could wait a second longer to have him inside me.

Rhett hovered over me, eyes wild, voice low and wrecked. “You don’t even know what you do to me.”

His hand skimmed down my side, then back up to cradle my jaw. He pressed his forehead to mine, intense, devoted. “You’re carryin’ my baby,” he whispered. “And all I can think about is getting closer. Like there’s not a deep enough way to love you.”

He kissed me hard, his voice fraying on a groan. “I need you, Willow. Not just to fuck—I need tohold youwhile I’m inside you. I need to feel you wrapped around me and know Iput lifethere. That you trusted me with this. That you still do.”

One of his hands found my thigh, coaxing my leg up around his waist. He rolled his hips against me, slow and heavy, the drag of his cock making me gasp.

“You feel that?” he rasped against my mouth. “That’s howmuch I want you. How much I’m achin’ to fill you again, even with our baby already growin’ inside you.”

I whimpered, and his hand caught mine, fingers lacing tight.

“I’m gonna be good,” he said. “Keep it quiet. But I’m not gonna rush. You’re not just the love of my life anymore. You’re the mother of my child. You’reeverythingto me.”

He paused, breathless, eyes locked on mine, like he needed to say this part right.

“And I’m gonna make love to you like we can banish our demonstonight.”

Then he thrust inside me to the hilt.

My legs came up around his waist as he rolled his hips, my fingernails digging divots into his back. My body arched to meet him, every nerve ending lit like wildfire under my skin. He stayed still for a moment, buried deep, forehead pressed to mine.

“You okay?” he whispered, voice hoarse.

“Perfect,” I breathed. “Please don’t stop.”

He moved then—slow and steady, like he had all the time in the world to show me what I meant to him. What we were building together. Each stroke was a promise, each breath a thread pulling us tighter.