Hell, this wasn’t just pleasure. It was pure fucking rapture.

The deep draws of her mouth had shards of incredible heat raking across the too-sensitive flesh, while her wicked little tongue flicked and tasted the throbbing head she held captive.

Thick lashes closed over her green eyes as he buried his fingers in the thick, black length of her hair. Creamy cheeks hollowed as she suckled him like a favored treat, moaning around the width of the throbbing head and lashing at it with her hungry little tongue.

“Ah, fuck.” The words were dragged past his lips as she began stroking the tortured shaft with warm, silken fingers. “Piper, sweetheart, I’m going to end up coming in your mouth instead of that hot little pussy.”

She moaned around the head, a hot little sound of hunger and need that had his stomach tightening as he fought to hold back his release. He wasn’t ready to come. Not yet. Fuck, he just wanted to feel this a little longer. Just wanted to luxuriate in the pure ecstasy of each suckling motion of her mouth, each lick of her tongue and stroke of her fingers.

Staring into her face, seeing her pleasure and arousal, was more than he could stand. He could feel his balls tightening. The head of his cock flexed and clenched in her hungry mouth, and before he could push back the driving spikes of tortured pleasure, a spurt of release washed over her tongue.

It was like giving her a taste of rapture rather than a taste of his seed.

Desperate moans fell from her lips. Her fingers milked the hard shaft as her lips and tongue searched for more of the rich, male taste, clearly eager—no, craving—more.

Pulling back took every ounce of control that he possessed.

Watching the slow release of his cock from the hot moisture of her mouth was like tearing out a piece of his soul.

But there was so much more pleasure to be found.

Coming to her, he covered her lips with his, his tongue slipping past her lips and dancing against hers as he moved between her thighs. With one hand he quickly rolled the latex condom over his cock, then twisted against the hold of her thighs and found the slick entrance he was searching for.

It was pure heat raining down on the head of his cock as he tucked it against the clenched opening of her heated cunt.

Soft as luxury, as hot and tight as pure sin itself, the clenched tissue milked at the head of his cock, tightening with each shallow thrust, then spasming with delicate greed as he thrust heavily inside her.

Control.

God help him, just a little control, because he wanted nothing more than to sink inside her and hold himself there forever.

“I love you, Piper.” The words were torn from his lips, pulled from his soul, and whispered against her lips as he thrust inside her, hard and deep, burying himself to the hilt in the milking grip of her pussy. “Sweet God, I love you.”

Piper felt her breath catch.

Holding tight to the strength of Jed’s shoulders as she fought to adapt to the width of the iron-hard cock throbbing inside her, she hadn’t expected the declaration. Nor had she expected the emotion that filled it.

Forcing her eyes open, meeting his gaze, and seeing the love in his eyes had her own gaze dampening.

“I love you, Jed,” she whispered, her breath hitching, her heart catching at the depth she knew that her love filled her.

There wasn’t a cell in her body that wasn’t filled with the ever-deepening love she felt for him.

Tears blurred her vision and wet her cheeks, and as his lips lowered to hers once again, the tears infused their kiss.

Piper caught her breath as his hips shifted, his cock retreating from the tightened depths of her pussy. His kisses fed the hunger raging inside her. Each fierce, deep thrust of his cock sent searing pleasure racing through every nerve ending.

Her clit, swollen and throbbing, ached for relief as each thrust of his hips pressed his pelvis into it, and each heavy penetration inside her tender cunt pushed her closer to release.

She was on the verge of begging.

Oh, God, it was like being immersed in pure pleasure.

Flames burned inside her, whipped over her flesh. They tore through her pussy, wrapped around her clit, and with each stroke inside her pushed her closer—

“Jed, please,” she begged, her neck arching, knees lifting to grip his hips tighter, to push closer with each stroke inside her. “Oh, God, please. Fuck me harder. . . .”

A harsh groan rasped from his throat.

One hand gripped her hip as he buried his face at her neck, stinging kisses pressing against her flesh as the pace increased. Rapid-fire thrusts impaled the tender, sensitive flesh. The heat built inside her, raced through her womb, struck at her clit and in the depths of her pussy. Blinding, white-hot, and intense, the orgasm exploded inside her, flinging her from the edge of reality and tossing her into a chaotic storm of pure sensation that seemed never-ending.

Like a supernova, it expanded and burned, searing everything in its path as Jed buried himself deep inside her, stilled, then, with a heavy growl against her neck, gave in to his own release.

What she felt in that moment shouldn’t have surprised her: The feeling that suddenly she and Jed inhabited the same soul, the same body, the same storm of emotion and pleasure, shouldn’t have been a shock. But she had a feeling it was something she would never get used to. It was something she would never tire of experiencing.

It was a bonding, she realized as tears spilled from her eyes once again. A bonding she would never be free of. One she never wanted to be free of.

“I love you, Piper.” His voice was a mix of hope and desperation as he held tight to her. “Beyond my last breath, I love you.”

Beyond his last breath, and beyond forever itself . . .

They loved.

EPILOGUE

It was that deepest part of the night.

That time when sound carried its best and revealed the secrets others would prefer remain hidden.

For Lyrica, it was that time of night that haunted her the most. The time that seeped into her soul, filled her with chaos, and left her staring into the darkness and hearing the secrets she had no desire to know.

It was that time when she ached for what she now knew she could never have, yet was forced to acknowledge that settling for less wasn’t going to happen.

It was that time of night when, no matter the locks on the doors, or how tightly the windows were closed, still he found a way to her. . . .

“Pretty Lyrica,” he whispered from the darkness. “Did you really think I’d let you hide . . . ?”

“Please—don’t.” She shook her head, helpless as she felt his weight on the bed, watched his shadow come over her as he slowly drew the sheets back from her naked, aching body. “Please . . .”

“You’re mine . . .”