I blindly lead us to the workbench and settle her onto my lap. She pulls away from our kiss, her lips swollen from my kisses.
“Are you sure?” I ask again. I know I broke her trust, but fuck, I don’t want to break her heart too.
Syvannah nods, then grips my shaft and plunges onto me. I gasp as her tight, hot heat wraps around me. Syvannah moans my name as she moves her hips up and down, gyrating on top of me.
“Fuck.” I groan, pressing my mouth to her neck.
“Ethan,” Syvannah moans my name, and I know she’s close. I can feel it in the swell of her chest, in the breathy words that leave her lips. I can feel it in her body as it turns rigid. She shifts her hips back and forth. My palms grip her, halting her momentum.
I stare into her golden eyes and lose myself in the woman above me. I move inside of her until we’re both balanced on the edge. “You wreck me in the best possible way.”
“I hate that I love you,” Syvannah whispers.
“I love you, Baby girl.” I breathe, the words escaping before I can catch them.
“Jesus, Syv…” I brace my forearm beside her head as her warmth clamps around me. “You’re perfect.”
I thrust into her, deep, steady, losing myself in every gasp she gives me.
She clings to me, thighs locked around my waist, pulling me closer, deeper.
Her lips crash to mine in a frantic kiss.
“Harder,” she begs.
I give her harder. I give her everything. Her cries echo off metal and concrete, muffled when I swallow them with my mouth. Syvannah breaks first, body trembling, nails clawing down my back as she comes undone around me. I follow a heartbeat later, groaning her name into her neck as I spill inside her.
For a moment, nothing exists but the shaking breaths we share. I pull back just enough to look at her.
She touches my cheek, voice soft. “I still trust you… even if I’m scared.”
My eyes burn. “I’ll earn the rest.”
The world is quiet. Gentle. Almost peaceful.
When we’re finally still, Syvanna’s head rests against my shoulder, our bodies slick with sweat, the air around us humming with leftover electricity. I can feel her heartbeat against my chest. Fast, uneven, but alive.
She exhales shakily. “This doesn’t fix anything.”
“No,” I murmur into her hair. “But it means we’re still trying.”
Her fingers find the scar over my ribs, tracing it like punctuation on a story we’re still writing. I kiss the crown of her head, and for the first time in a long time, the world feels quiet.
We stay tangled together, breathing the same air, sharing the same thoughts, until the night breaks apart again.
A scream cuts through the night. Syvannah jerks upright. My pulse stops. Another scream. Closer this time.
Then the thick smoke hits. I’m on my feet before I can think, yanking on my jeans. Syvannah’s already moving, fear etched in her face.
Heat slams into us as smoke curls under the door. I grab Syvannah’s hand and help her with her clothes. Flames roar along the back wall.
“Move!” I shout, grabbing Syvannah’s wrist and dragging her toward the exit.
The garage wall explodes behind us in a burst of fire. Syvannah screams. I throw my body over hers as burning metal rains down.
The world becomes smoke and heat and panic. Just before everything goes black with firelight, I know one thing with absolute clarity.
Someone set this blaze. And they wanted us inside when it caught.