Page 96 of Hart's Redemption

“Do you remember the night of the rave, when you got back from the hunt?”

He tugged his leg lightly, and I tightened my grip on the appendage. “Are we really talking right now?”

I set about liberating his other leg. “A little. Do you remember when you came back to the hotel?”

An edge of wariness joined the overwhelming scent of desire coming off him. “Yes.”

“What were you thinking about when you came in?”

He hesitated only a moment. “I was thinking that you probably never wanted to see me again after what you witnessed me do. That I was a monster and, bond or no bond, I couldn’t really blame you for not wanting anything to do with me, and that much as it would hurt me to let you go, I would.”

I placed a kiss on his still pant-encased thigh. “Do you want to know what I was thinking?”

He swallowed and didn’t answer.

“I was thinking that I’d never been more turned on in my life. That scared me a little, but I also knew it wasn’t the bond.” I paused to let that sink in. “Josh, I need you to know that even if we had never bonded, I still would have fallen for you.” I kissed my way up his side, taking my time on my way to his full mouth. “You’re incredible. Smart, cunning, confident, sexy as hell, and one of the most compassionate people I’ve ever met.”

“That’s not…”

“It is true. The bond just gave me a chance to see it. You’re not a monster, and one of these days I’ll get you to believe that.” I curled my fingers into the waist of his pants. “In the meantime, I will literally never tire of peeling you out of these things.” I slowly worked the skin-tight material off of him to a backdrop of shallow breaths.

He bowed off the bed when I at last wrapped my mouth around his length, his fingers instantly curling in my hair. “Baby.” The sharp cry went straight to my aching cock.

I pushed him further up the bed and grabbed what I needed from the nightstand. My mouth conquered his, tangling our tongues, while I worked him over. He dropped his head to themattress and let out a moan that echoed back at us as I finally sank deep into the only home that would ever matter to me. He wrapped those incredible legs of his around me and pulled me as close as I could get.

My groan slipped free at the sheer possessiveness of it. I gripped one of his thighs hard enough to bruise while I sought his with my other hand in order to lace our fingers together. His hold on me tightened as I rolled into him.

“I love you, Joshua Hart. I wanted to tell you that night after the hunt, and I should have told you every night after.” I snapped my hips harder, and the fingers of his free hand dug into my scalp. “I fell in love with your prickly demeanor, your sharp wit, your snarky comebacks, the way you hold yourself no matter how impossible the situation. But I knew I was done for that night at Sweet Surrender when you smiled at me.”

“Elijah,” he gasped.

“I’m yours for as long as we both shall live.”

He shuddered beneath me. “You’re mine.” He released my hand in order to cup my face with both of his as he claimed me with a kiss that sank deep into my soul and set the bond on fire. “All mine.”

Chapter 29

Josh

Notacentimeterofthe hotel room was spared our love-making. I wouldn’t have even stopped for food if Elijah hadn’t insisted I eat something. For the first time in my life, I had real hope, not some distant empty dream, but a genuine longing for a future with the man at my side and all ‌the wonderful things it could bring us.

Even children.

Elijah trailed his fingers lightly over my side and hip, pulling me out of my blissed-out bubble of contentment and deeper into his embrace. I turned into him and burrowed my face in the soft down of his chest and the incredible summery scent that livedthere. I inhaled deeply, letting the smell of sunshine and open forest fill my lungs, then sank into him on the exhale.

“I love you,” I mumbled into his warm skin.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so relaxed.”

“What can I say? Even werewolf stamina has its limits.”

He chuckled like I’d hoped he would and the bond pulsed fiercely in my chest. The sound of Elijah’s laughter was most definitely something worth living for. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed. I let out a wheeze of strained air, and he laughed again.

All that’s left now is to clear things up with his pack, and we’ll finally be free to enjoy our lives together.

After what I’d endured the last year, finding common ground with the Klamath Pack and their Alpha suddenly seemed like the most doable thing in the world. I wrapped an arm around Elijah. Anything was possible with him by my side. Whatever retribution Conrad Mallin demanded, I’d pay it. Surely the five million acres of land I’d amassed would soften the sentence, and if the pack needed more, then I’d get it. Whatever it took, as long as it made Elijah happy.

I maneuvered to look into his warm, cognac eyes. “Can we go home now?”