Breathe You - C.R. Jane Page 0,53

demand is clear, with his chest and abs flexing as he moves. Fingers dig into the pad of flesh above my ass to pull me onto his erection, driving in with controlled strokes, over and over, again and again. So slow. So full. So fucking good. “Do you feel how perfect we are, my love? How perfect I fit inside you?”

He glides in until he hits my core and we’re flush, proving his point, pressing against me to swivel his goddamn perfect hips. I whimper. “Please.” Please take me, pound out my fears, make me forget that this may be the last time I experience this.

I want to scream it, but instead, I whimper again. Carter’s eyes never leave mine. “Tell me, baby. I want to hear you say how perfect this is, how perfect we are.”

I moan and let my body speak for me with a rush of pleasure, the slick wetness easing every stroke, each thrust deeper than the last, as if by sheer force, he can make us one. “Carter.” I grab his wrists, using him as leverage to grind my clit, to rub against him when he’s buried so far inside me, I can’t feel the separation of his body and mine. “Oh, fuck,” I cry again as the tension stretches me thin.

“Now, Valentina. Give yourself to me.” Yes, I will and I do. Clenching around his cock, I arch from the sand as the pressure hits a peak, and I snap, bucking against him, coming so hard I use his body to take me past thinking and into blissful darkness. His groan and the pressure of his fingers digging into my flesh wrench me back to awareness.

He falls over me, arms taut, muscles rippling as sweat beads on his brow, and he enters me with long, deep strokes. Eyes caught on mine, he pumps his hips again and again, seeking his own release and tempting me with another.

“Valentina.” He breathes my name and sinks onto my chest, wrapping me in his heat. Cradling me, he presses his lips against my neck as his movements become quick and sharp.

“I’m giving myself to you,” I think he whispers, and I’d like to think it’s true, because his breath is ragged on my skin.

Then I’m consumed by the roar of his release beneath my ear and into my heart, beating at the same frantic pace as the pulse between my legs. He surges into me, once, twice, jerking with each offering. I lick his shoulder, relishing his sweet saltiness, before whispering what he needs to hear.

“Yes, Carter. We’re perfect. We’ve always been perfect.”

We lie entwined until our bodies cool. Tears burn against my lids. I struggle to hold them in as he kisses and sucks on my neck.

Reality intrudes one second at a time, and finally, he lifts to his elbows, eyes narrowing as he watches me. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

“What are you talking about?” I choke out.

“Something’s wrong. I see it in your eyes. Your body betrays you. You’ve trusted me with your heart, why can’t you trust me with your soul?” he asks.

“No.” I shake my head with too much vehemence. I can’t lose him tonight, not after what we just shared.

He winces. “There’s nothing you could say that would change how I feel about you, what we all feel about you.”

Now it’s my turn to wince, because I know he’s wrong. When I started this lie, I was relying on memories of the passion and love that we’d shared to guide me in my decision. My memories were merely a shadow of what our real love is like, the difference between black and white and perfect Technicolor.

Despair. Desire. I feel them both as I look at him lying there beside me, sprawled out like an insolent king.

His brow settles into three lines, clearly outlined under the glittering stars and a moon so large that I feel like I could reach out and touch it if I tried.

“I can’t tell you yet.” Tears burst from my eyes. The first heave hurts, the second is unbearable as the reality of my situation barrels forward to slaughter a future I’ve tried so hard to pretend could come true.

“No, baby, please don’t.” He grabs my arms and hauls me against him.

But his caress and the murmured words meant to soothe make me cry harder, and then I let it come. I fully let myself understand what it means to be dying. I’ve closed the