Always (Spiral of Bliss #5) - Nina Lane Page 0,113

his sweaty chest. “Just like that. Oh, fuck me…harder…”

There’s another flash of hesitation in him, but he slides into me again, back and forth, every thrust seeming to bring him deeper inside me. And despite all that we have been through—or perhaps because of it—we both move easily into the familiar, hot rhythm that has always sent us both falling over the edge into exquisite bliss.

My body doesn’t respond with the usual, slow spool of need, but I don’t care—watching Dean moving over me, his muscles tensing with urgency, the sensation of his thick cock pumping in and out of me…all of that is enough right now, enough to make me feel like myself again, like us, whole and complete.

“Come on me,” I whisper, gripping his forearms as I sense his need driving higher and higher. “I want to watch you. I want to see you do it.”

With a groan, he pulls out of me and grabs his cock, pulling off the condom before sliding his hand up and down the thick length. I push to my elbows, my breath scorching my lungs as I watch him bring himself to orgasm. The instant it happens, my whole body quivers with pleasure—he gives a hoarse shout, his body jerking forward as he comes over my belly, drops of semen scattering like pearls.

An upwelling of satisfaction floods me at the knowledge that he can still find intense pleasure in our erotic interludes. I pull him toward me, crushing my mouth to his as the final sensations ebb from his body.

He eases to the side, his chest heaving as he pulls me against him and slides his hand between my legs.

“Oh, Dean, I don’t think I can…”

He presses his lips to my cheek, his fingers working with gentle precision over my clit and down to my opening. And though I doubt my ability to reach an orgasm, even with his expert manipulations, I let myself lie back and simply enjoy his touch. He brings his other arm around me to fondle my breasts and pinch my stiff nipples.

“Dean…”

“Relax,” he whispers, trailing his lips over my neck to my bare shoulder. “I’ve got you.”

He continues caressing me—slow and easy, as if he has all the time in the world. I close my eyes and think that no surgery, no medicine, nothing, is as healing as my husband’s touch.

And then, astonishingly, flickers of heat begin to flare over my nerves and tighten my core. He circles his forefinger around my clit. Sensation spreads outward, like a pebble dropped into a pool of cool, clear water. I open my eyes and turn to look at him in surprise.

“Dean, I’m…”

“I know. I love you.”

He increases the pressure just a little, but it’s enough for me to strain toward the release that had seemed so elusive. I push my hips upward as he twists my nipple between his fingers, and then the wave builds and builds, until…

“Oh! Oh my god, Dean.”

I find his other hand and grip his fingers. He murmurs low and deep in my ear as the tension in my body breaks and spills pleasure into my veins. My breath catches on a gasp. Shudders course through me as he continues touching me, easing every last sensation from my body.

I draw in a gulp of air, stunned that I can still experience such bliss. On an intensity level, it pales in comparison to the earth-shattering orgasms I used to have, but still it feels like a rainbow breaking inside me, flooding me with color and light.

I turn, curling myself against Dean’s chest as everything inside me softens. He wraps his arms around me and brings a hand up to cradle the back of my head, securing me in the protective circle of him.

And in that moment, I know the truth that is as pure and holy as a prayer. The truth that began as a seed in a university registrar’s office and has since flourished and bloomed into the now of Liv and Dean.

Nothing, nothing—no disease, no misfortune, no evil—will ever have power over us. We are so much stronger than any monster.

PART V

Chapter 39

Olivia

May 10

The air drifting into the car smells like salt and earth. Wheat-colored hills undulate toward the rocky coastline of the Pacific, bisected by the black ribbon of the road. In the backseat, Bella and Nicholas are listening to audio books with their headphones, the silence punctuated by occasional complaints of boredom.

“We’re almost there,” I assure Nicholas, when he whines about being