Page 347 of Rogue Riders Duet

“I figured out that love means wanting the best for the person you love, no matter what it looks like. And I’ve seen enough to know that they are the best for you, just like I hope I still am too. So yeah. I’m okay with it.” His smile turns teasing. “Also, if my watching them fuck you wasn’t enough to show you that I’m fine with it⁠—”

I slap a hand over his mouth and let out a laugh, cheeks heating. “Shut up.”

He grins against my palm, and his eyes sparkle with the kind of light that’s been missing for too long. I let my hand fall away, and for a moment, neither of us says anything.

The air stills, and the light in his eyes changes, humor softening into something else. “Please give me a chance and love me again. One last time.”

My breath catches, and for once, there’s nothing between us. No guilt, no jokes, no need to deflect, so I tell him my truth.

“I never stopped. Once I fell for you ten years ago, Finn Greer, I never stopped loving you.”

I can practically watch how relief floods his body before he kisses me slowly, so slowly. My mouth. My cheek. The bridge of my nose. My eyelids.

His lips are warm as they find mine again, his hands steady as they cradle my jaw. Weeks of almosts, what-ifs, and aching hope finally find solid ground.

He’s exceedingly soft with me, so different from when we were in the gondola. Nothing is rushed or frantic.

This feels like worship.

“I missed you,” he says on a breath, brushing another kiss to the corner of my mouth. “God, Al… I missed you so much.” I tangle my fingers in his shirt, pulling him closer. He doesn’t resist, just keeps kissing my face like he’s trying to memorize every part of it. “I hate myself for not loving you the way you deserved before. I’m gonna love the shit out of you now. You can feel safe being happy with me, I promise.”

I let out a shaky breath that almost turns into a laugh, but he presses his lips to me again, sure and exploring, before pulling back.

“I told my parents about us, so I’m sorry for whatever my mom whispered in your ear earlier.” He kisses the corner of my jaw, then the hollow beneath my ear.

The fingers of my good hand glide into his hair, and I cling to him like maybe I can melt into him, fuse myself to the safe space that has always been him if I try hard enough. “You told them?”

“I did because I’m not ashamed of my love for you, and because I was never more sure about something.” Another kiss on my lips. “You wreck me, Alaina Crews, but I’d let you do it a thousand times if it means I get to love you.”

The second the words are out of his mouth, I surge forward and kiss him. I press my lips harder to his this time, to prove that I mean it too. He meets me there, kissing me back just as hard, and I push my chest down onto his.

I need to feel every inch of him, to press my body as close to his as it can be.

He exhales heavily before gripping the back of my neck while his other hand slides down to grab at my thigh like he can’t stand the distance between us anymore either.

As the kiss deepens, I brace my knees on either side of him and rock against him. Just one slow grind, but it makes his whole body arch.

“Fuck,” he groans against my mouth, and his fingers tighten on my thighs, anchoring me to him.

I do it again, slower, dragging myself across the growing bulge beneath his sweats, and he gasps into the kiss, his hands flexing, digging into my skin.

“Al…” he chokes out, voice strained.

“Yeah?” I whisper, dragging my lips across his jaw, sucking softly beneath his ear.

“You’re driving me insane.”

“Good.”

It feels like payback.

His hips push up into mine, and then we’re grinding together, fully clothed, but it doesn’t matter. I feel everything. The heat of him through the thin fabric, the way he hardens even more with every roll of my hips, pressing against me just right. How I’m soaking through his boxers, needing more, needing him.

I imagined this way too many times as a teen, and it’s already better than every fantasy. My pussy throbs, swollen with the pleasure of feeling him.

His head tips back against the couch as we rub against each other, and I kiss along his throat and swivel my hips.

Or I try to.