Page 71 of Fighting For You

"I'm here."

He walked me backward toward the bedroom. We crossed the threshold and I pushed him down onto the edge of the bed. He sat, looking up at me, and I reached behind my back and unzipped my dress. It slipped off my shoulders and fell to the floor.

His hands found my hips. His thumbs traced slow circles against my skin. I stepped between his legs and he pulled me onto him, my knees settling on either side of his thighs.

I sank down onto him slowly. His hands tightened on my hips, and the sound he made was quiet and involuntary. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my forehead to his.

We moved together. Slow at first, his hands holding me steady while I rocked against him. His mouth found my neck. My shoulder. The space between my collarbones. Every place he kissed felt like he was trying to memorize me.

I pulled his face up and kissed him while I moved. His hands slid from my hips to my lower back, pressing me closer, deeper. My breath broke against his mouth. He swallowed it and gave me his.

The pace changed. I moved faster and he matched me, his grip tightening, his breathing rough against my skin. My fingers dug into his shoulders. Everything narrowed to the heat between us, his body under mine, the pressure building low in my stomach until it was all I could feel.

I came apart first, my body arching into his, his arms holding me through it. He followed a moment later, pulling me down against him with both hands, his face buried in my neck, his breath hot and uneven against my skin.

We stayed like that. His arms wrapped around me, my legs still around him, both of us breathing hard. His heart was pounding against my chest.

His hands moved up my back. He pulled me closer, his forehead resting against my collarbone.

"Move in with me."

He lifted his head and cupped my face in his hands.

"Move in with me, Nora."

Everything in me went still.

"Okay," I said.

He kissed me. Slow, warm, his hands still on my back. I pressed my forehead to his and closed my eyes.

"I love you, Nora."

I opened my eyes. He was right there, his face inches from mine, and he meant every word.

"I love you too."

Outside the window, the city hummed. Traffic and sirens and the sound of a place that was always moving. Inside, it was just us.

CHAPTER 17

Reckless

KNOX

Nora moved in that same week.

She hugged Lori at the door and gave her keys back to Barb. Barb hugged her on the porch. "The room's yours if you ever need it."

"Thank you, Barb. For everything."

She didn't have a lot of things. Everything she'd accumulated in the months since the fire fit into two suitcases. I carried both of them out while she walked beside me with the labradorite from Oatman cradled against her chest.

I loaded the suitcases into the truck bed and opened her door. She climbed in with the labradorite still in her lap.

I got in behind the wheel and pulled a key from my pocket before I turned the engine on. She looked at it, then at me.

"I've never had a roommate before." I held it out to her. "Definitely never had one this pretty."