Blake (Blue Halo Book 3)

Willow took a deep breath as Logan pulled up outside Blake’s home. She hadn’t responded to his last text. Mostly because she hadn’t been entirely sure what she was going to do. Not until Grace has asked her where she wanted to be dropped off…as if she’d known.

Grace and Logan started unbuckling their seat belts, but Willow was already halfway out of the car. “It’s okay, you don’t need to come in.”

Grace looked back. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

She needed the short walk to the front door to work out what she was going to say. To get her jumbled thoughts into some kind of order. “Thank you for the ride.”

Closing the door, she headed up the path. An intoxicating mix of fear and longing and excitement rushed through her like wildfire.

The walk was entirely too short, because when she reached the door, she still had no idea what she was going to say. Heck, she had no idea what she was doing at all. She’d come here based on…what? A desperate yearning? A plea from her heart?

Taking a breath, she lifted her hand to knock, but before her fist touched the wood, it opened. And there he was, all six feet four of him. Looking tall and fierce and so achingly hers.

His gaze bore into her own, tangling with her soul.

She was vaguely aware of the sound of an engine as Logan and Grace drove away. She barely noticed it. In her mind, it was just her and him. He’d always had a way of driving away everything else.

For a second, she didn’t move.

This was one of those moments. The ones that defined your direction. That could change everything with a single word. A single touch.

That wasn’t to say that this moment hadn’t been inevitable since the day he’d returned. Because it had. He’d stamped himself onto her heart a long time ago. A stamp that could never be erased.

“Willow.”

His voice…so familiar that her heart physically hurt. Longing stole her breath.

She was done fighting it.

Stepping forward, Willow flung her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Strong arms swept around her waist, lifting her against his body. The door closed, the lock clicking. Then her back was pressed against the wood.

When the man touched her, kissed her, it was like the missing parts of her soul returned.

The unwavering invasion of Blake’s tongue in her mouth had her groaning deep in her throat. She kissed him like she was desperate. Like she didn’t dare stop in case her lips never found their way back to him.

Her eyes never cracked open. Not as the air moved around her, not as his hand roamed her body.

When the air stilled, his hand moved to her clothes, and together they worked to remove her jacket, her top, her bra. Each piece of clothing hit the carpet with quiet thuds, including his shirt.

When her bare breasts pressed to his chest, his low, guttural growl splintered the quiet. Then his head dipped, his lips wrapping around her pebbled nipple, sipping, sucking.

For a moment, her body stilled, fire burning through her veins, desire and yearning stealing her breath. She bit her bottom lip hard to keep from shouting. To stop a feverish cry from tearing through the house.

With his free hand, Blake found her other nipple. His fingers closed around it, plucking.

Her back arched, pressure building in her lower abdomen. Her breaths were now whooshing in and out of her chest hard and fast.

“God, I’ve missed these.” His words were rasped against her nipple, the brush of his breath causing a tremor to run down her spine.

Her back hit the mattress. Blake hovered over her, his hand and mouth returning to her breasts, playing. Torturing.

Willow writhed and groaned, her body unable to remain still.

After endless minutes, he shifted up, mouth returning to hers.

With desperate fingers, she reached between them, unclasping his jeans before reaching inside his briefs. He went completely still above her, muscles tensing and expanding. Then her fingers closed around his length.

She’d almost forgotten how thick he was. How long.

Blake’s head dipped, the veins in his neck bulging like he was in physical pain.

She moved her hand gently. Touching and stroking, re-familiarizing herself with him. Slowly, her movements became surer, fingers tightening, hand shifting from the base of his length, all the way up, rolling her thumb over his tip.

Molten lava pooled in her belly as Blake’s shortened breaths rippled over her face. She’d always loved touching him. Bringing such a big, powerful man to his knees.

She’d barely begun exploring when suddenly, his hand came around her wrist, pulling her hand away. There was a feverish, wild look in his eyes.

“You need to stop.”

She wanted to object. To tug her hand away and return to him. But then his head lowered, nipping at her neck, her breast. He grazed every inch of her body with his mouth until he reached the buckle of her jeans. A second later, the last remnants of material that covered her were pushed down her legs, leaving her bare and exposed.

She sucked in a quick breath when his mouth hovered over the apex between her legs. His arms encircled her thighs, widening her. Cool air brushed against her clit, causing a tremor to rock her spine.

Her breath stopped in her chest, anticipation tingling over her skin.

Then his head dipped, his mouth locking around her clit and suckling.

White-hot desire ripped through her like a flame fueled by alcohol. The air thickened until she could barely breathe. Or maybe that was her chest seizing.

The power of what he did to her was so intense, it had her legs attempting to snap together, her back arching off the bed. Blake kept her still, holding her in place.

His tongue swiped and swirled around her clit, pushing her higher.

Oh, Lord. She remembered this. The endless nights of torture. The way he knew exactly what to do to push her right to the edge of that cliff.

Her inner walls began to tighten, her muscles tensing.

“Blake…” Her voice almost sounded foreign to her. It was too raw. Too desperate.

One more swirl, and then his head lifted. Slowly, he shifted back up her body until he hovered over her again. He didn’t kiss her; instead, his intense gray eyes watched her, claimed her, held her captive. Watched her so closely that she felt stripped of every shield she’d ever put up.

“If we do this…that’s it. You’re mine again, Willow.” He grazed the side of her face with his fingers, his stormy eyes never losing her. “I can’t get you back, only to lose you a second time.”

Her breathing went shallow, small bumps exploding over her skin. “I’ve always been yours, Blake.”

And he’d always been hers. Two souls meant to find each other. Never to forget.

Something primal flashed over his features. His lips took hers again, hard and unyielding. When he started to pull away, her fingers tightened on his arms.

“I need to get—”

“I’m on the pill.”

Had been since Mila. And she’d never been more grateful than at this very moment. She wanted to feel him inside her. All of him. Without any barriers. They’d had barriers for long enough.

His eyes darkened. He leaned to the side, tugging off his jeans and briefs. Then he returned to her, nestling between her thighs, his hardness right there at her entrance.

For a moment, it was all she could do to keep her breaths moving. How long had it been since she’d felt him inside her? Since she’d felt like he was a part of her?

So long that her entire body ached with need.

His hand went to her cheek again, his gaze holding her captive. Then, slowly, he pressed inside. The delicious stretch of her walls around him had her lungs seizing.

When he was completely inside her, they were chest to chest.

This was it. The place where she was most at peace. Where she’d always been most at peace.

“I thought about you every day,” he whispered. “From the moment we met, it’s always been you.”

Her heart kicked, another part of her soul realigning with his, reminding her who it belonged to. “It’s the same for me. All of it.”

Blake’s muscles were so damn tense he thought they’d snap. It took every scrap of self-restraint he possessed to keep himself where he was.

Being inside her again, inside the woman who had built a home within his heart so many years ago and lived there ever since, was both heaven and hell.

Slowly, he raised his hips, then drove back in. Willow’s brows tugged together, her eyes shuttering, head tipping back.

Mine.

He did it again. This time, Willow’s fingers dug into his arms.

Fuck, but she was beautiful. Beautiful and sexy and all he’d ever wanted or needed.

He thrust again and again, knowing that for as long as he lived, he would never tire of this woman.

“Faster.” Her word was a quiet whisper, only just touching his ears.

His breath hitched, his thrusts picking up pace. She was hot and tight around him, encasing him so firmly it bordered on pain. Her hard nipples pressed into his chest, her soft whimpers the same sounds that had haunted his dreams while he’d been away from her. Sounds that his heart had memorized, clung to, craving to hear again.

His hips moved faster still, her nails clawing down his shoulders, over his chest.

“Blake…”

Fuck, but his name on her lips drove him crazy. No one else had ever said it like that. She was his one and only. She owned every part of him.

Another thread of restraint snapped. He thrust harder. Faster. The crease between her brows deepened as the moans from her chest grew louder, drifting through the quiet.

Goddammit, he was close, only holding on by a single thread.

He dipped his head to her neck, nibbling and sucking on her heated, salty skin.

Her feet pressed into his backside, urging him deeper.

Sliding a hand between their bodies, he touched her clit, feeling the intense jolt course through her limbs. He swiped his thumb. Once. Twice. Then he moved in a hard circular motion, knowing what it would do.

Suddenly, her back bowed, lips separating. He claimed those lips, swallowing the cry that broke from her chest. He kept pumping, but at the feel of her inner walls pulsing around him, his body tensed and rippled, a deep growl releasing from his throat as the world exploded.

His breaths were deep as he slowed, then eventually stilled. Silence descended on the room, her heavy breaths the only things breaking the quiet.

When he finally lifted his head, his heart squeezed, because for the first time in a long time, she looked at him without hesitation. Without uncertainty or restraint. And in her eyes, he saw everything he’d been waiting for. Love. Desire. A peace so honest he could almost believe the last few years hadn’t come to pass.

Finally, he said the words that had been silenced, tangled in his heart and soul for too long. “I love you, Willow.”

The emotion in her eyes deepened, covered by the slightest sheen of wetness. “I love you, too, Blake. I don’t know how not to love you.”

His breath trembled from his chest. This was what he’d been waiting for. For his heart to feel whole again. The wrongs in the world to right.

Leaning down, he pressed his lips to hers, peace rolling over them both.