CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Dani
He was nothing like Elliot. Elliot had been… a boy. Lincoln was all muscle, a man who had filled out in places I didn't even know guys filled out. I was desperate for him, not because I wanted to make things go away, but because I felt alive with him. I felt like me.
The me I used to know.
The one that smiled, the one that laughed, the one that talked. He had seen the mute, but he'd also seen the girl before the muteness, the one I'd missed so much it brought tears to my eyes.
But most of all, he embraced them both.
Something that nobody had done until now.
It was freeing, giving myself to someone so completely.
"Dani," Linc whispered, his mouth meeting mine in another searing kiss that had my body trembling. Sensations rocked through me as he flipped me onto my back, bracing himself over me, the muscles in his neck twitching as his arms flexed, his body weight being held up so he wouldn't crush me.
Lincoln Greene. Was. Gorgeous. Stormy grey eyes locked with mine. His lips twitched into a seductive smile.
And then I felt him.
All of him.
And suddenly decided it wouldn't work. I was insane, right? This would not work. At all. Nope. Not happening.
He must have noticed my panic because he pulled away and kissed me again, making me forget everything, including my own name.
With a whisper of devotion, his body moved against mine. With one quick thrust he tugged me against him, filling me, claiming me with such completeness that I gasped aloud.
He went still. "Are you okay?" The concern in his eyes was my undoing, breaking my heart that he was so opposite of Elliot and any other guy I'd ever known.
With a nod, I reached up to kiss him, causing a blindingly good sensation to build within me as he pulled me closer to him and slowly moved with purposeful strokes, as if taking his time.
Savor.
He'd said savor.
And I think I was finally understanding what the word meant.
I closed my eyes.
"Nope." He chuckled wickedly. "Open."
"Huh?" Disoriented, only able to concentrate on the feeling building inside of me, I shook my head and squinted at him. "What?"
"Keep them open," he commanded softly. "And on me. Watch me watch you so you know when this is over, that you'll have nothing to regret, because the look I'm giving you now is the same one I'm going to give you after, and the day after that, and the day after that."
Tears pooled in my eyes as our mouths fused together in a hungry kiss. My body shuddered uncontrollably as he thrust one last time, leaving me boneless, weak.
Chest heaving, he kept our positions tangled like a pretzel and locked his gaze on mine again. "Are you okay?"
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
"Good," he smirked, "because we still have a few hours."
"What?" I nearly shrieked, "You mean—"
"You're mine," he said simply. "And I'm yours. That's what I mean. If you thought this was a one-time thing? Or that I'd leave and forget your name? You have another thing coming. I don't say words just to hear myself talk, and I don't make fake promises."
My face broke out into a grin that hurt my cheeks. "You're kind of great, you know that, right?"
"Not nearly as great…" He kissed me with exquisite tenderness. "… as you."