I gave her what she wanted.

My tongue pressed flat against her clit and rubbed, steady, relentless, while two fingers slid inside her and curled upward toward that spot that made her scream.

"HAAAHH!" Her back arched so hard I thought she might pull a muscle. "LUKAS! NNGH, NNH, AAAHHH!"

She came against my mouth like a storm breaking. I felt every wave of it through the bond, her pleasure crashing into me in pulses that made my own arousal spike to almost painful levels. I didn’t stop. I worked her through it, gentling my tongue as she came down, easing her back to earth one kiss at a time.

When her breathing finally stabilized, she looked down at me with eyes that were half-gone and fully wrecked.

"That was, hahh, that was unfair."

"Life’s unfair." I crawled back up her body and kissed her, letting her taste herself on my lips. "Get used to it."

"You’re impossible."

"You chose me."

"I did." Her hands found my belt, working at the buckle with renewed determination. "Now let me, nngh, let me return the favor."

"Later." I caught her wrists and pinned them again. "I’m not done worshipping you yet."

"Lukas."

"Sloane."

"I need you inside me." The words came out raw, honest, stripped of all her usual bravado. "I need you. Please. I’ve been thinking about this all day, about the election and you winning and what I was going to do to celebrate, and then you showed up smelling like her and I thought I was going to lose my mind, and I need you to make me forget about all of it. I need you to be inside me. I need you to fill me up. I need you to make me feel like I’m the only one who matters even if I know I’m not, just for tonight, please, Lukas, please."

Something cracked in my chest again.

The Heroine Bond Resonance hummed. Sloane’s emotions flooded through me, unfiltered, raw, desperate in a way that had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with the fundamental terror of loving someone who couldn’t be contained.

"You matter." I released her wrists and cupped her face with both hands. "You will always matter. Whatever happens with anyone else, you will always come first. Nothing changes that."

"Promise."

"I promise."

She kissed me. Hard. Desperate. Claiming.

"Then fuck me, Lukas Belmont. Fuck me until I forget my own name."

I reached for my discarded pants and found the wallet in the back pocket. The condom I’d stashed there weeks ago, because nine years of living with Diane Fitzgerald taught you to always be prepared, came out with a crinkle of foil that sounded obscenely loud in the quiet room.

"You brought, hahh, you brought protection."

"I’m a boy scout." I tore the wrapper open with my teeth. "Always prepared."

"You were never a boy scout."

"I was the spiritual equivalent." I rolled the condom on, hissing at the contact against my oversensitive skin. "Ready?"

"I’ve been ready for nine years." She spread her legs wider, reaching down to guide me toward her entrance. "Stop making me wait."

I pressed forward.

"NNGH!" We made the sound together, her high and desperate, mine low and guttural. She was so tight, impossibly tight, wet and hot and gripping me like she never wanted to let go. "Haaahh, Sloane, fuck."

"More." Her legs wrapped around my waist, pulling me deeper. "I want more. I want all of it."

I gave her all of it.

The first thrust bottomed out inside her and she screamed. Not in pain, the bond told me that much, but in overwhelming sensation, in the feeling of finally, finally being filled after wanting it for so long. Her nails raked down my back hard enough to draw blood and the sting only made me want to drive deeper.

"Lukas." She was chanting my name like a prayer. "Lukas, Lukas, haaahh, Lukas."

"I’m here." I pulled back and thrust again, harder, and her whole body shook. "I’ve got you."

"Faster, nngh, please faster."

I obliged.

The rhythm we found was relentless. I slammed into her with force that made the headboard crack against the wall, and she met every thrust with her hips, the two of us moving together in a sync that felt almost supernatural. The Combat Symbiosis from our Heroine Bond Resonance translated into this somehow, our bodies instinctively knowing how to move together, how to angle for maximum impact, how to push each other toward the edge without tipping over too soon.

"So, haaahh, so good." Sloane’s voice was wrecked beyond recognition. "You feel so good inside me. I can feel you, nngh, I can feel you everywhere."

"You’re incredible." I bent down and captured her mouth, swallowing her moans as I continued to drive into her. "Perfect. Fucking perfect."

The bond pulsed between us. Her pleasure fed into mine. Mine amplified hers. We were caught in a loop that spiraled higher and higher with every thrust, every gasp, every desperate sound.

"I’m, haaahh, I’m going to." Her walls clenched around me, impossibly tighter. "Lukas, I’m going to, nngh!"

"Do it." I ground my hips against hers, giving her the friction she needed. "Come for me, Sloane. Come on my cock."

"HAAAHH!" She shattered.

I felt it everywhere. Through the bond. Through her body clamping down on me. Through the way her nails tore fresh lines down my back and her heels dug into my ass, pulling me deeper as she rode out the wave. The sight of her falling apart beneath me, pink hair wild against the pillow, blue eyes rolling back, mouth open in a soundless scream, was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

"Fuck." My own orgasm built at the base of my spine, inevitable, unstoppable. "Sloane, I’m, nngh."

"Inside." She gripped my shoulders, holding me in place. "Come inside. I want to feel it."

"Condom, hahh, the condom."

"I don’t care. Come inside me. Fill me up."