He took a moment to appreciate the pretty lace bra, or maybe what was in it, then easily unhooked it, taking a much longer moment to admire her bare breasts. His gaze seared her, and then he touched her skin, and that burned hotter. He dipped his head to plant a kiss on her breast, nearly taking all her breath away.
“And the protection?” He lifted his head to look into her eyes. “Because, Evie, I want to make love to you with or without…consequences. I want you. Before anything or anyone else, I want you.”
“So, are you saying this is not about a baby?”
“It can be, but…” He stilled his hand, giving her a serious, smoky look. “First and foremost, it’s about us.”
“Declan.” She stroked his cheek, feeling the stubble from a long shift and the face of a man who couldn’t be better, on any level. “I never dared to dream this could happen. Well, that’s not true. I dreamed it a lot. Awake and asleep dreams.”
His eyes shuttered at her words. “Same.”
“And in my dreams, we were always in love.” She couldn’t stop now. She had to tell him the truth. He had to know before they made love. “Not trying to make a baby and not trying to make up for lost time. But you and me…in love.” She sighed against him, kissing him with her lips parted and eyes open. “I wanted that more than I wanted sex.”
He looked at her for a long time, his heart hammering so hard she could feel it.
“Then let’s start this the right way,” he whispered.
She stared back, silent.
He curled his arms under her, elevating her a little bit as he looked into her eyes. “I love you, Dr. Evangeline Hewitt. I loved you then, and I love you now. I might have stopped living for twenty years, but I didn’t stop loving.”
“Oh.” She exhaled the word on a whispery sigh, feeling like she could float on the happiness of that. “You love me.”
“I knew it in the mountains that morning when I woke up,” he whispered. “I knew I loved you and that we’d always…” His throat grew thick, and she quieted him with a kiss.
“I knew it, too,” she murmured against his mouth. “Always you, only you.”
They got lost in another kiss, while everything in the world faded away.
“So, last time. Protection?” he asked when they parted.
“I have all the protection I need right here in my arms.”
“Then let me love you, E.”
Declan was as tender and gentle as he’d been the night she’d given him her virginity. Every touch, every stroke, every delicate exploration was done with the sole purpose of making sure Evie felt safe and pleasured.
Of course they laughed and whispered, like they had on that blanket under the stars. And he slid the rest of her clothes off with the same crazy-slow care he’d used on her jeans that first time, pressing his lips to her as if every new inch of exposed skin was a glorious discovery that he had to taste and inhale and explore.
He let her finish undressing him, then eased them both under the covers with the same confidence he’d rolled out that sleeping bag and cocooned with her inside it.
He left her breathless with kisses, taking his time to let her whole body wind up and grow needy and tense as they rolled and rocked and touched and teased.
“I’m having déjà vu,” she whispered into his mouth.
“If you make a pun now…”
She laughed, turning them over so she was on top for a moment. “I’m serious. I keep thinking of that night in the mountains.” She planted a few kisses on his chest, letting the hair there tickle her lips. “Only you have more muscles now.”
“And I bet I can last longer than two minutes.”
“That was only the first time.” She looked up and smiled as she slid farther down his body. “Plus, it was the best two minutes of my life.” She closed her hand over him and drew her tongue along his abs. “Until tonight.”
He groaned as she stroked him, then pulled her up and turned her on her back, kissing her until she could barely breathe, holding her with those big strong hands. “It was worth the wait,” he said. “Worth every minute of twenty years for right now.”
She wrapped her legs around his hips, so ready to feel him inside her. “Declan.”
“Evie.”
“Now?”
He touched her lightly, making her hips rise, feeling how ready she was. “Now.”
He held her gaze, then lowered to kiss her, connecting their mouths as their bodies did the same, a sweet trick that made her whole being quiver with pleasure.
He moved slowly at first, making her writhe and moan, then they found a perfect rhythm that seemed to match her heartbeat, increasing every second, pleasure lapping at her body, tightening her limbs, but making her feel utterly boneless and lost.
She forgot about the world, the past, the icy years. There was only right now, this very minute, this blissful, intense, perfect connection of two people who had never known anything but love for each other.
New and remembered sensations zinged over her body, hot sparks when he caressed her skin, dreamy waves of pleasure rolling inside her, and tight knots of need that threatened to unravel with each stroke.
He seemed to somehow hold her poised between the most beautiful elevation and a crashing out-of-control spiral that made her giddy and dizzy and free.
And just like that, he kissed her again, held still for two or three heartbeats, and her body gave in. She clung to him, pressing her lips against his powerful shoulder, squeezing her eyes shut as she quaked with satisfaction. She’d barely caught the next breath when he took the same ride, murmuring her name over
