“I’m close.” Her voice is breathless, and I increase the pressure of my tongue. I can feel the strain in her body as her legs clench around my head. I suck, flick harder, and then repeat it until a loud cry releases from her body.
I keep going, drawing out every ounce of pleasure I can.
The tightness in her body releases, and I make my way back up, pulling my pants down as I watch her lust-heavy eyelids flutter open.
“That definitely didn’t happen on prom night.”
“No, I wasn’t very sure how to do that. Not until at least the fourth time.” I laugh and lean down to kiss her. Sydney’s hands fall to my boxer-briefs, and she pushes them down over my hips.
Then there is nothing between us, just like I want it to be.
“I liked us when we were inexperienced.”
“You did?”
She nods and brushes the hair off my forehead. “We learned together. We grew as a couple, and it was beautiful.”
“You’re still beautiful.”
She shakes her head and moves her hand down my chest. “I don’t mean that way. Although, I’m glad you still think I’m pretty. I mean it in the way that we found each other.”
“And is now that way?” I ask, hating the question the minute it leaves my lips.
“Now, it’s ... different. We’re both different.”
I wish it weren’t the truth, but it is. We’ve both been through things in the last eight years that we can’t pretend never happened. I can’t undo the past, but I can give her what we both want—a future.
“Maybe we are, but I need you more than anything. You make me someone else—someone better.”
Sydney lifts up so our lips touch. “Make love to me.”
“Do we need ...” I look over for a condom, but Sydney pulls my face back to hers.
“Not tonight.”
“You’re sure?”
Her eyes flash with something and then she nods. “It’s fine. I promise.”
Good because I don’t want anything between us. I feel the heat of her as I push inside, her body enveloping me, pulling me deep.
I’ve never felt such pleasure before. Maybe it’s because of everything that happened today, but this time feels like heaven.
Sydney’s eyes stay on mine as I bury myself to the hilt. My entire body feels as though it’s being turned inside out.
I don’t move, needing to hold on to the sensation for as long as I can.
She clenches around me, and I groan, unable to hold back any longer. I slide in and out, both of us panting with exertion. It’s so good. I can’t tell where I begin and she ends. It’s just us—two people who fit together perfectly.
I love her. I need her more than I can ever explain.
The idea of letting her go again is incomprehensible, and I’ll do anything to keep her.
“Declan.” She moans my name as her fingers dig into my back. “I can’t hold on.”
“Let go, Bean. Let go, I have you—always.”
Her head falls back, neck arching and nails scraping down my arms. I slip my hand between our bodies and rub her clit. Sydney’s breathing grows faster.
“Look at me, Syd.”
When she does, there is so much love in her gaze that it has my lungs struggling to find air. She gives it freely, and I take it like the greedy bastard I am. Whenever I felt low, she filled me up, and I didn’t realize how much I needed it until now.
Her eyes shut as another orgasm takes over her, and I follow right behind.
Panting and sated, I roll over to the side, pulling her into my arms, not caring about anything else. I need to hold her, breathe in her lavender and vanilla scent that feels like home.
As we both come down, her hand rests on my chest, and I press my lips to her forehead.
When I look back at her, a tear falls down her cheek. Worry fills me. Fuck. I hurt her … or maybe she already regrets this. “Syd?”
“I’m sorry,” she says quickly.
“Why are you crying? Did I do something? Did I hurt you?”
She sits up, pulling my dress shirt on. “No, no, it’s just that ... I’m sorry I didn’t say this before.”
“Say what?”
Another tear falls, and she wraps the shirt tighter. “I’m pregnant.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sydney
I wait, and he stares at me. “Already? We just ... and how ...”
I wipe away the tear that rests on my cheek. “Not from just now … from the last time. When we were at the pond.”
“You’re ... months pregnant?”
Guilt hits me, and I nod. “Four months. Well, closer to five now.”
“But you’re not even—”
“Showing?” I finish for him. “I know, but I am starting to show, I have a small bump here.” I move my hand to where it looks like I’m bloated.
Declan stares and his mouth opens and closes a few times. “That’s … the baby?”
“Yes.”
When I asked the doctor a few weeks ago, she said it was very normal not to show until the middle of the second trimester if you’re skinny and have never had a baby before.
Declan rubs his hand down his face and then blinks a few times. “Were you ever going to tell me?”
“Of course I was.”
“When?”
The anger is clear in his voice. “Today. Tomorrow. I don’t know. I wanted things to be settled for me.”
“Settled?”
My lip trembles, and I fight back the fear that builds with each second. I didn’t think things would go this way. I thought, we’d have sex and then he’d push me away. After I was broken and alone, I would tell him and we could part ways.
But then he held me.
He loved me.
He gave me more than I could’ve ever wanted, and I couldn’t hold it in.
He kissed my stomach, and I thought, right then, I would sob.
When we were both done and he pulled me close, I
