Into the Fading Twilight (Starlight Grove, #2) (96)

Kol stayed exactly where he was, muscles rippling with that restraint. “Yes?”

“Yes. Please. More.”

A flash of gold fire, and then Kol was striding toward me. One hand slid into my hair as the other went around my waist. He twisted us as we fell to the mattress, my body atop his. He hauled us up the bed so he was nestled in the pillows, my newly shortened hair falling around us like a curtain.

“Take what you need,” he growled.

My hands landed on his chest as I lifted myself. “What we both need.”

One hand reached lower, curling around Kol. My fingers tightened ever so slightly, and he let out an almost pained hiss. I relished the power, the feel of him. The way he hardened further in my hand. How he thickened. But more than anything, I savored that I could make him feel.

“You always give me what I need,” Kol growled.

We gave it to each other—a give and take, a steady presence.

I guided him to my entrance, slowly sinking down, feeling all of him. Kol let out a guttural groan as I seated him fully inside me.

“Everything. This is everything,” he whispered.

One of my hands found his, using it for leverage and balance. His other hand found my breast, palming, thumb circling the nipple as I rocked against him.

Tiny barbs of sensation embedded themselves under my skin, pleasure with the barest flickers of pain. And that was life at its core: pleasure and pain. But if you focused on the good, the beauty, you realized it was only deepened because of the hard and the painful.

My body moved more, gliding up and then down, reveling in the feel of all that was Kol. He was careful with me. Thoughtful to keep his hand away from anywhere near my neck, but I wasn’t afraid—and I wanted more.

“Flip us,” I begged between panted breaths.

Kol stilled for only a moment. “You’re sure?”

“Yes. Please. More.”

I spoke the words that were a stroke to his senses, and Kol gave me exactly what I needed. He flipped us but moved his hands to mine. He pinned them above my head, not in a show of force but as a message that we were together. That he would follow wherever I wanted to go. And I knew I would give him the same.

Kol pulled out and then slid back in, the friction everything I’d been needing. My legs hooked around him, digging into the muscular divots in his ass. My body encouraged him as he moved, rising up to meet him, spurring him on.

We met each other in the fading twilight, the way we always had from that very first moment.

“With me,” Kol rasped.

“With you.”

His body arched, driving him deeper inside me as he released. And I could feel it all as my walls tumbled down. Nothing kept us apart now. Everything had been laid bare.

I knew nothing would be the same, but I also knew we’d find something new, something better. Together.





CHAPTER FORTY-THREE


Kol




IWANT DOUBLE STRAWBERRIES AND MAYBE SOME CHOCOLATE chips.” Skylar sent me a look that was a cross between hopeful and sly.

“Why do I feel like you’re turning this breakfast granola bowl into an ice cream sundae?” I leaned against the counter, giving my daughter an over-the-top, eye-narrowing stare.

She let out a giggle. My favorite one, the laugh that said nothing weighed on her shoulders and the world was her oyster. “Because I’m smart.”

“That you are, Little Princess. That you are.”

There was nothing like the normalcy of a kid trying to get away with everything they could to bring comfort after a tumultuous twenty-four hours. My gaze lifted to the ceiling as if on instinct, seeking out Nova. I’d left her sleeping hard when it was time to get Sky up. But she’d needed it.

Grabbing the chocolate chips from the pantry, I sprinkled a few on Skylar’s granola. A chuckle left me as she started dancing in her chair, raising her hands over her head, spoon in hand.

“Granola sundae for breakfast,” she singsonged.

“We’re having sundaes for breakfast, and nobody told me?” Nova asked as she moved into the kitchen.

I did a full head-to-toe sweep, surveying everything about her. She wore jeans and boots, with a figure-hugging tank peeking out from beneath a flannel. My flannel. God, I loved that she kept wearing my clothes.

Skylar’s eyes went wide. “Your hair, Supernova!”

A hint of nerves made its way into Nova’s expression. She did a twirl. “What do you think?”

“I think you look beeeeeeeeeautiful and sassy,” Sky said definitively. “And like you should have a granola sundae with me.”

Nova laughed. “Just what I was going for. And I’m always down for a sundae of any sort.”

I’d told Sky that Nova was going to sleep over because she had taken a fall off her bike and shouldn’t be alone. Sky had simply said, “She should sleep over every night. Everything’s better when she’s here.”

Some parents would take that as a failing, but for the first time in forever, I hadn’t. I’d taken it for what it was: the simple truth. Nova did make everything better.

“How are you feeling?” I asked, moving into her space and stroking a hand down her back.

Nova’s mouth curved as she looked up at me. “Good. Better than I have in a while.”

And I understood that. She’d released some of what she’d been holding inside. It wasn’t some magic bullet, but it helped.