Page 198 of Say My Name

“I remember.”

“My answer is yes.”

My heart beats hard against my ribs.

She turns our joined hands in her lap. “If you’re still asking.”

I cup her face.

“I’m still asking.”

Elena kisses me.

Her mouth is warm and immediate, a release of pressure I didn’t know I was holding. I pull her onto my lap, and she settles over me, her weight a solid, grounding anchor. Her hands tangle in my hair, pulling me closer.

I kiss her with months of restraint, of wanting, and my cock goes hard against her thigh as her breath ghosts across my mouth.

She rocks over me once.

“Fuck.”

“I missed that,” she whispers.

“Me swearing?”

“You wanting me.”

I hold her face between my hands. “I never stopped.”

Her next kiss is slower. When her fingers reach for the buttons of my shirt, I catch her wrist.

“There’s no agreement left to blame this on,” I say.

“I know.”

“No schedule. No plan. There’s no pressure for tonight.”

“I want to.”

I loosen my grip. “Tell me what you want.”

“You.” The answer is immediate. “I want you, Dominic. I want the whole irritating, notebook-carrying, control-freak man.”

The whole man.

Not a function. Not a solution. The words dislodge an insecurity I didn’t know I was still carrying.

My voice is thick. “Careful. That almost sounded romantic.”

“I’m working up to it.” She moves over my cock again. “I want to go home with you. I want our baby. I want to wake up beside you and figure out how we combine our lives without either of us disappearing inside the other.”

My throat tightens.

“And right now, I want you in bed.”

I release her wrist. “Then take me there.”

She climbs off my lap and leads me down the short hallway.