His hands moved slowly, deliberate as he pushed the fabric from my shoulders. The moment the last piece of clothing fell away, and his gaze swept over me with an intensity that made my pulse skip.
Then his arms were around me. He lifted me easily, and my legs wrapped around his waist without thinking. My back pressed against the door behind me as his mouth returned to mine, deeper now, more demanding.
My body responded before I could think. Every nerve woke beneath his touch.
His hand moved between us, fingers moving in slow circles that sent sparks racing through me. I gasped into his mouth, my head falling back against the door as sensation rippled outward.
“Luke—” My voice barely worked.
He didn’t stop. His touch grew more deliberate, more focused, until my body began to tremble against his. Pleasure coiled tight in my stomach, building with every movement of his hand.
When he slipped his fingers inside me, the sensation shattered whatever control I had left. My body arched against him, desperate for more.
Pressure built quickly, impossibly bright, until the world burst into fragments of light behind my eyes, and I cried out against his shoulder.
Luke groaned against my neck, the sound low and rough as he held me through the aftershocks.
But he wasn’t finished. The head of his cock brushed against me, teasing, the contact sending another wave of heat through my already oversensitive body.
Then he pushed inside. The sudden fullness tore a cry from my throat as pleasure surged through me again, stronger this time, stealing every coherent thought from my mind. He built the rhythm, steady and unrelenting, until I couldn’t tell where one breath ended and the next began.
Luke exhaled slowly. He held me close as the moment crashed over both of us, my body still trembling against his.
For a second, neither of us moved. Then he carried me toward the bed.
When he pulled free, the loss made me whimper softly, the emptiness unexpected after the intensity of the moment.
Luke lowered me onto the mattress and followed immediately, his body covering mine as he pushed back inside.
Relief spread through me instantly. He was exactly where he belonged. My arms wrapped around his shoulders as he began to move, slow at first, the rhythm steady and grounding. His mouth found the curve of my neck, leaving warm kisses along my skin as I arched beneath him.
The tension that had lived inside me for months finally unraveled. My fingers traced the muscles along his back, feeling the strength beneath his skin as he moved.
“Luke…” The sound of his name on my lips seemed to undo him.
His hips rolled harder, deeper, the movement sending sparks racing through me again. When his mouth brushed my ear and he whispered my name, my body shattered around him once more.
He followed a moment later, his breath rough against my shoulder as he buried himself deep.
Afterward, he gathered me close, rolling onto his side and pulling me with him. His arm wrapped securely around my waist, holding me against his chest.
My body slowly relaxed in the warmth of his embrace, exhaustion settling in. At some point, my eyes drifted closed. And when I woke later, Luke was still there. Exactly where I needed him to be.
Wrapped together beneath the blankets in the dim light, I lay with my head against his chest. His arm rested securely around my shoulders.
For the first time in years, the past didn’t feel like something chasing me. The storm had passed. The future waited ahead of us.
Luke’s fingers curled around mine as sleep began to pull me under. The ocean continued its endless rhythm beyond the glass, and one final realization fell quietly into place.
We’d survived the past.
Now we were finally building something beyond it.
EPILOGUE
LUKE
The house smelled faintly of paint when I pushed the front door open. It wasn’t unpleasant. Just a thin, clean scent drifting through the hallway that meant Mila had spent the afternoon working again.