Chapter 53

Kingston

I kissed her.

Not gentle. Not careful.

It was everything I’d held back. Everything I’d denied myself. I poured it all into her lips: my agony, my hunger, my love.

She gasped against my mouth, her hands finding my chest, then curling into my shirt.

She kissed me back with a force that nearly buckled my knees.

It wasn’t enough.

I lifted her, her legs instinctively wrapping around my waist as I pressed her hard into the wall. She moaned softly at the pressure I applied, and I swallowed the sound like it was oxygen. My hands roamed her legs, her waist, gripping her like I was afraid she might disappear.

We stumbled deeper into her apartment, not breaking the kiss once. She pulled at my jacket, and I tugged at her blouse, both of us shedding our clothes and the past with every frantic motion.

Soon, we were in various states of undress, baring ourselves to each other once again. But this time it was different. This time it was raw with need, a desperation that drove us to the point of nearly devouring each other.

We both knew this might be our last chance.

We didn’t make it to the bed right away. We started at the wall, stumbled to the couch, and nearly collapsed to the floor. I’d have her anywhere, it didn’t matter.

Both of us needed to feel. To burn.

I tangled my fingers in her hair. Skin met skin.

“Kingston,” she pleaded against my lips.

“I know, baby,” I said. “I feel it too.”

And when we finally made it to the bedroom, both of us were nearly shaking with need. I had explored her with my hands, learning every inch of her, but it wasn’t enough. I wondered if it would ever be enough.

She held me to her as I lay her down on the bed, gasping with pleasure and desperation. It was like music to my ears.

She squirmed to bring me closer to her, like she wanted every part of our bodies to be touching. I felt the exact same way.

When we came together, it was like lightning in my veins. I wasn’t Alpha King or a company’s CEO in that moment. I wasn’t anything but hers.

Her gasps were sacred. Her touch, a tether. Every hitch in her moans and breath was better than any noise I had ever heard.

Every movement between us said what words never could.

I love you.

I’ve always loved you.

I will never stop.

“It’s so good,” she moaned, and I nearly came apart right there.

“I know, baby,” I said, driving us harder and closer.

I swear, bringing her to the edge and letting her shatter beneath me was the best thing I had ever done.

After, we collapsed into tangled sheets, slick with sweat and breathless. She lay curled against me, her hair wild and tickling my chest, her heartbeat still racing.

I looked down at her, stunned.

Not because of what we’d done, but because of what it meant.

I had just crossed a line I couldn’t uncross.

And I didn’t regret a damn second of it.

While the previous times we had slept together had been amazing, this one had felt like something more. It was an acknowledgement on both sides: we would always bend and break for each other.

Cora’s fingers traced a lazy line along my stomach, her touch featherlight, her breath evening out slowly. I couldn’t help the way my arm tightened around her, pulling her closer, anchoring her against me like I needed her there to keep breathing.

We were silent for a long time, both of us seeming equally stunned by the power of what we had just shared. I had hoped for her to see my side of things, but I hadn’t imagined the evening would end like this, connected so intimately, reconciling so efficiently.

“I didn’t plan for this,” she whispered. Her breath tickled the skin of my chest as it skated along me.

“I did,” I said hoarsely. “Or at least I hoped. Every night. Every dream. I just didn’t let myself believe it could happen again.”

She tilted her head back to look at me, something unreadable in her gaze. “This doesn’t change what’s out there.”

I nodded slowly. “I know. But it changes everything in here.”

I touched her chest gently, her heart.

She went still. “Kingston… I need to be honest with you,” she said, unable to meet my eyes. “I don’t want you to think badly of me, so I need to come clean.”

I stiffened. “What is it?”

“My engagement… to Ethan…”

The sound of his name, from her lips in this bed we shared, was almost enough to make me growl. “I don’t want to talk about him.”

“No, listen,” she said. “It’s… It’s fake, Kingston.”

“Fake?” I blinked at her stupidly.

“We faked it because I thought… Well, I thought it would be enough to end things with you and me. Permanently. But clearly that isn’t the case.”

“Why would you want that?” What we had just done felt very contradictory.

“I need to find my mate,” she said. “And so it seemed easier at the time to drive a wedge between us. It made sense for a moment, at least, but I immediately regretted it the second you left.”

She sighed. “I wanted to tell you the truth. You deserve it, and you didn’t deserve to be lied to like that. I asked Ethan to play the part of my fiancé to seem like I was off limits, but that was unfair of me. I felt awful about it, really.”

I was quiet, taking it all in.

“And then I was going on blind dates to try to see if I could find my mate, and…” She looked down, blushing. “And to try to see if I could get over you.”

“That’s why that guy showed up at the office yelling,” I realized. He had been a blind date gone wrong. My anger toward him was renewed.

She nodded mutely. I could feel her embarrassment radiating from her like heat.

“I’ve been desperate to find my mate out there. It’s the only way to become fully realized and reawaken my wolf. I needed to search, but it’s like I keep coming back to you,” she admitted. “Every time I resist, I end up right back here, with you.”

“It’s always you for me, too,” I said quietly.

“But it can’t be,” she said. “If it were right and real, then we would be mated. I want to believe there’s a chance, but if I ever want to get my wolf back, I need to be realistic.”

“Listen, I love you,” I said, my voice breaking with the force of it. “I’ve loved you from the second I saw you, and I’ll keep loving you even if you walk away from me right now. You can’t get rid of me so easily.”

Tears gathered in her eyes. “You’ve certainly proved that. But you don’t get to say that just because you’re scared to lose me.”

“I’m not scared anymore.” I leaned down, kissed the corner of her mouth. “I’m choosing you. Not as an Alpha. Not as your boss. Just as a man who’d rather burn than live a day without you.”

Her lips trembled.

Then she kissed me again, softly this time, but it held the same fire as before. Like she was choosing, too.

For the first time in months, I felt peace.

Messy, imperfect, terrifying peace. Because love like this wasn’t neat. It wasn’t easy.

It was carved from scars and silence and the desperate hope that someone might see through your armor and still stay.

And tonight, she stayed.

As she drifted off in my arms, I stared at the ceiling, knowing—or at least hoping—that everything had changed.