She’s mine.

I kiss her through the pain and whisper love to her as I drive into her harder and faster. She clings to me, arching up to meet my thrusts, echoing my whispers. I try to force myself to slow down but I can’t take it anymore and finally let myself go, gripping her outer thigh to pull her tight against me as I explode inside her.

“I love you…” I murmur with my lips against her ear. “Forever and longer.”

Time stands still as we rock against each other, our bodies slippery with sweat, her lips pressed against my chest, kissing that spot over my heart that’s forever marked with her words.

And now, her kiss. Her touch. Her love.

After today, I can never deny the truth again. She completely owns me.

24

Kenzi

Kenzi ~ age eighteen months

Tor ~ age sixteen

I stroll into Asher’s parents’ kitchen and set my guitar off to the side before I join Ash, Ember, and the baby at the table where they’re eating lunch.

“Tor!” Kenzi shrieks from her high chair, pointing at me with an excited smile.

“Holy shit, did she just say your name?” Asher asks.

Ember shakes her head and wipes the baby’s face. “No.” She says. “Your name is not going to be my daughter’s first word. She said door.”

“Pretty sure she said Tor.” I say, grabbing Kenzi’s little chubby hand that’s reaching out for me.

“Tor!” She yells again, kicking her legs and giggling.

Asher leans back in his chair and shakes his head. “She’s definitely saying Tor, hon.”

Ember lifts the baby out of her chair and sits her on her lap. “Great.” She says, glaring at me, but with a playful smile on her face. “That’s because you spoil her, Toren. And your name is easy for her to say.”

Kenzi’s green eyes lock onto mine and I wink at her. Anyone who can make me smile like she does deserves to be spoiled. And I can’t lie, knowing her very first word is my name is the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me.

Kenzi

His kisses are so soft and tender as our breathing slows back to normal that it almost makes me fall apart from emotional overload. He leans up on his arms to stare down at me, gently pushing my hair away from my face. His eyes are darker than I’ve ever seen them, scanning mine like I’m ancient hieroglyphics he’s trying to decipher.

“Are you okay?” He asks after a few long moments.

“Yes.” I’m really not sure if I’m okay or not. I feel lightheaded and my body is humming and quivering beneath his. He’s still inside me, my insides contracting involuntarily around him. Everything happened so fast. I spent the entire night last night mentally coaching myself to get my shit together and act like a woman with him today. To be sexually assertive and confident. But all the erotica books I’ve read and the short soft porn movies I was able to view on the internet hadn’t prepared me for how it would all actually feel to have him on top of me, so huge and muscular, or how long and hard he would feel thrusting inside me, spreading and tearing me open to take him. I didn’t know an orgasm could feel so amazing, or that feeling him shudder and come would make me feel like the entire world just stopped and only we existed, as one continuously joined, unbreakable heart.

And nothing could have prepared me for the torrid expression and emotion I’m seeing in his eyes right now.

“I love you.” There’s a faint vulnerability in his voice, unlike any other time he’s said those words to me. This is no longer friend or you’re-almost-family to me love. No. This is heart-pounding, you-have-the-power-to-gut-me, I-can’t-get-enough-of-you romantic love. I feel it, too.

Reaching up, I push a lock of his hair behind his ear and touch his cheek.

“I love you, too.”

He slowly eases out of me, causing a tiny bit of pain, and moves to sit on the end of the bed with his back to me, running his hands through his long hair. I feel wet and sticky and unsure of what comes next, so I sit up and crawl closer to him, lightly touching his back.

“Tor?”

He nods and turns slightly towards me. “I just need a minute, Angel.” His voice is low and the anguish radiating off of him is palpable.

“Okay…” I reply. I want to hug him and tell him everything is perfect. That I’ve never been happier. That this was meant to be. That I’m so in love with him that I can’t even put it into words. But I know that won’t fix whatever he’s feeling right now, and guilt eats at me. I led him down this path today. I hadn’t expected it to end up here in his bed, though. I thought we’d kiss and make out on the couch, maybe take our shirts off and touch each other. I didn’t know I’d unleash a sexual animal in him that wouldn’t stop until it had its fill. I don’t regret that we made love, but I do regret that what we just did could be tearing him up inside. I want him to be happy, not tormented.