Page 98 of Collins
She pauses there for a moment. Knees braced on either side of my hips, fingers threading through her hair before sliding down her body. Then she’s cupping herself and finally lowering back down onto me.
My hands come to her hips as she begins to move, rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm. She draws in a sharp breath through her teeth, her gaze dropping to where we’re joined.
“See that, baby?” I say. “See how well we fit together? You were made for me.”
And she was.
“Mmm, Collins.” Her voice is drenched in desire.
Her eyes lift to mine, hands braced against my abs as she bites down on that bottom lip again, rolling her hips with growing intensity. She’s found her rhythm now—grinding, relentless.
“Oh my god, Collins…I’m going to?—”
“That’s it, babe,” I rasp, reaching up, hands tightening on her. “Take what you need.”
Her eyes squeeze shut, head falling back as she moves faster, harder, and completely lost in it. She lets out a deep, throaty, shuddering breath, and I watch her unravel above me, beautifully undone. The sight of it steals what little control I have left.
It’s the most breathtaking thing I’ve ever seen. Whatever restraint I’d been clinging to snaps.
My hands tighten on her hips as I drive up into her, movement turning urgent, unrelenting. I can’t stop, don’t want to. Not when she looks like this, feels like this. My gaze drags over her, taking in every detail, every motion, the way her body moves with mine.
And then I’m gone too, release hitting hard and more powerful than anything I’ve ever felt, like everything I’ve held back finally breaking free all at once.
“Collins,” she breathes, lowering herself limply onto my chest.
My heart is hammering wildly in my chest while I manage to find the strength to run my hands down her back and up, over and over as our breaths begin to even out.
JOHNNIE
We lie there for a while, his hands moving slowly up and down my back. Pure bliss settles over me, warm and reassuring. He presses a kiss to my forehead before getting dressed, telling me to take my time. He knows me so well, senses the quiet shift in me, the need for a moment alone.
Time to say goodbye.
I take one last walk around the place. Anything bad that happened here no longer haunts me. Coming back to the very place I had been avoiding was, little did I know, the final piece of the healing puzzle. I had to revisit the source to fully put myself back together. The realization settles, and with it comes something light, something freeing. I am whole again.
As I drift down the hallway, a sudden chill wraps around me. I instinctively fold my arms over my torso and glance into Nan’s room. Since my return, I’ve cleared it out. It sits empty now, stripped of everything but memories. Still, something catches my eye in the corner, faintly lit by the last stretch of evening light.
The carpet.
It sits slightly raised, its frayed edges brushing against the trim. I step closer and crouch, reaching out to smooth it down. Maybe I caught it on a piece of furniture without realizing. My fingers slip beneath the edge, peeling it back just enough.
My breath catches.
Soft brown leather, worn and familiar, stares back at me. Recognition hits instantly, as certain as the sunrise. My old journal, tucked snugly beneath the rust-colored fibers.
My heart jolts as I pull it free. The spine cracks faintly when I open it, the sound sharp in the quiet. I flip to the last page, the one I have not seen since the night I left.
The silky ribbon lies neatly where I left it.
The words I wrote are the last thing I want to face right now, but my eyes move anyway, drawn to the spot where my pen once hovered. And then I see them. Words that steal my breath and bring a sting to my eye.
I’m so sorry, sweet pea.
Beside the words that did not come from me, a perfectly round smudge blooms, a soft ripple of distortion pressed into the page. My own tear sinks into the paper beside it before I close the journal and back out of the room. I walk down the hall and out the front door.
Back to the love of my life.
CHAPTER 45
