CHAPTER 16: THE WAY SHE WANTS TO BE

Alex was still catching his breath when she lifted her head from his thigh, her expression softened by satisfaction, but her eyes carried a flicker of consequences... not regret, just something unsaid.

He brushed her cheek, still amazed at how delicate she looked up close, even after everything.

She bit her lip, hesitating for half a second. "So... are you ready?"

He raised an eyebrow, half-smirking. "Already?"

She leaned forward, placing a slow kiss over his hip. "I don’t know when I’ll get to have this again," she said softly, truth bleeding through the sultry tone. "And right now... this feels like the only place I want to be."

His chest tightened. "Are you sure you’re not too tired?"

She met his gaze, bold this time. "No. I want to do this." She crawled back up his body, settling in his lap, straddling him slowly. "Just... take me again. Don’t stop this time. Don’t hold back."

Her voice cracked slightly, like she was conceding something to herself. "Own me the way I keep pretending I don’t need."

That broke something in him...or maybe set it free.

He gripped her hips, guiding her down as he hardened quickly beneath her. She gasped as he slid inside, not even needing to adjust, she was already wet, already aching. She took him all the way, thighs trembling, jaw slack as the stretch hit her deep.

"Oh God..." she whimpered. "That’s it...right there..."

He met her thrusts from below, slow and deliberate at first, watching her unravel in his lap. She clung to his shoulders, moaning into his mouth when he kissed her again, raw, needy, nothing held back.

"Say it again," he whispered against her lips.

She opened her eyes, wide and glassy. "Please... Just fuck me the way I’ve needed. The way I’ve dreamed about when I shouldn’t."

He growled low in his throat, flipping her effortlessly onto her back.

"No hiding, then," he murmured, spreading her legs apart, watching her twitch beneath his gaze. "You won’t be able to get away from this anymore."

He drove into her with more force, pinning her hips down with his palms as he set a brutal rhythm that made the headboard thud softly behind them.

She cried out, arms clutching at his back. "Yes!....Alex....keep going...I want to feel it everywhere...!"

He angled his thrusts upward, and her body jolted with every push.

"Say it," he rasped again.

"You’re mine," she gasped, then corrected herself, breath catching. "I mean...I’m yours. I’m yours, Alex."

He kissed her hard, fucking her deeper until she shook beneath him, legs locking around his waist. When her moans turned breathless and tight, he slowed, then pulled out gently.

Before she could react, he turned her over, lifting her hips up and setting her knees against the edge of the bed.

He hovered behind her, hands splaying over her ass. "This okay?"

She nodded feverishly, breathless. "Yes...please. I want to feel you...all of you."

He slid into her again, this time from behind, and she gasped, arching into him. His grip was firm, one hand on her hip, the other threading into her hair, pulling gently until she moaned again.

"Fuck..." she panted. "This...this is what I never got before. Not like this. Not someone seeing me."

"I see you," he growled against her ear. "Every fucking part of you."

His thrusts grew harder, sharper, his rhythm matching the frantic tension building in her core. She clutched the sheets, body shuddering, cries growing louder with each plunge.

"Mark me the way you mean it...," she sobbed. "Claim me the way my husband never did."

That sent him spiraling.

"I’m your husband now," he snarled, gripping her hips as he pounded into her. "Say it."

She screamed as pleasure tore through her. "You’re mine...Alex...you’re everything...don’t stop...please...don’t ever stop."

He drove into her until she broke, shaking violently beneath him, sobbing through her climax. The sounds of her release, her surrender, her honesty, it undid him.

He followed, thrusting deep one last time, groaning as he came hard inside her, holding her close as they both shook from the aftershocks.

When it was over, he didn’t let her go. He pulled her into his lap again, both of them still panting, skin slick and warm.

Her head fell onto his shoulder. "This is the only place I feel like myself," she whispered.

He kissed her temple, whispering, "Then stay. As long as you want."

She didn’t reply right away.

But her arms wrapped tighter around him.

And her silence said: I already have.

____

The room was still thick with warmth, their bodies tangled, her cheek resting on his chest. Neither spoke for a long time. The silence wasn’t awkward...it pulsed with everything they’d just shared.

But time wasn’t theirs.

Eventually, Alex shifted gently beneath her. She felt the change before he said a word.

"I should go," he murmured, brushing a hand through her hair.

Victoria stiffened slightly, her fingers tightening against his ribs. She didn’t want to let go...not yet. Not while his scent was still on her skin, not while the sheets still remembered the shape of them.

But she couldn’t keep him here either. That was the deal. That was the danger.

She sat up, pretending calm, watching as he reached for his shirt and watch on the chair nearby. His movements were efficient, practiced, like someone used to leaving quickly. Discreetly.

She hated how familiar it already felt.

Her hand reached out, stopping him before he could tuck it under his sleeve. "When will I see you again?" she asked. The words came out softer than she meant, too real, too naked.

"Whenver we get the chance to." he said, sure and steady.

The business cover. Still necessary. Still the wall between what they wanted and what they had.

She nodded, letting her fingers fall away. Pretending that was enough.

But when the door closed behind him, something in her dropped.

She was falling. Fast. Hard.

And for the first time in her carefully controlled adult life...

she didn’t care about the consequences.