I pump my fingers in and out of her messily as I suck deeper at her clit, her thighs pressed against my ears so tight that it is almost uncomfortable, but that sure as hell isn’t going to stop me. She starts to tremble when she’s close, her hands clawing anywhere they can reach, be it the sheets or the pillows or my shoulders and back again, and when she finally lets go, shaking against my tongue as she makes a breathless sound of contentment—it’s almost enough to make me come right along with her. Almost.

She’s already tugging at my shoulders even before she’s fully come down from it, my fingers still moving inside her to prolong her pleasure as my mouth collides with hers. I know she has to be able to taste herself on my tongue, and I can’t say why that warms me further, but it does. I can feel her hands insistently shoving at the sweatpants I’m still wearing, to try and roll them off me, and it takes only seconds for me to take over the task, to kick them away so that there is nothing but our skin and her warmth and the hot ache of my cock as it slots against her.

“Never thought I’d have this again,” I rasp against her mouth.

She tilts her hips so that I slide over her wet folds. “Hurry, Noah.”

She wraps her arms around my neck as my arm curls beneath her, holding her tight as I press against her entrance to slowly slip inside. I watch her expression as I give her inch after inch, enjoying the slight part of her mouth, the hooded quality of her lids, the way she’s looking at me like I’m giving her everything she needs.

She kisses me when I’m fully inside her, her tongue tangling with mine and her teeth nibbling at my lower lip, nodding softly as if wordlessly telling me to move. Not that I need any motivation. Her nipples are hard against my chest as I move into her, tickling my skin as I savor the wet slide of my cock as it fills her. I press my hand near her head on the mattress to brace myself, making sure to keep my hold around her waist so that I can hold her close as I roll my hips into hers.

I can feel that urgency building inside; there’s a steady thrumming of mine mine mine pulsing under my skin that comes from a place I’m just beginning to understand. One that only she can touch. It makes me feel wilder, more desperate—it makes me feel like I’ll never get enough of her.

“Fuck,” I grind out. “I never want to stop doing this.”

Mackenzie laughs breathlessly, pulling me down so she can kiss my jaw. “That’s tempting.”

“I could keep you here,” I hum, letting my head loll so I can scrape my teeth over her shoulder. “Keep you full of my knot forever.”

Her breath catches when my lips brush the warm, throbbing gland at the base of her throat, flicking my tongue against it. “Noah.”

I have nonsensical urges to press my teeth here, to mark her for the rest of her days so that everyone will always know that she belongs to me, that I belong to her—but a small, nagging part of my brain that is still clinging to a scrap of sanity knows it isn’t time for that. Not yet. I kiss her there once more for good measure, hard enough to leave a mark, at the very least.

Someday.

“Can you come for me like this?” I push deeper, deep enough to have her moaning in my ear, and that only makes me feel wilder. “You’re so wet.” My lips skirt down her jawline, my breath washing against the skin there. “Is that for me?”

“Y-yes, Noah—ah—Keep doing that.”

“This?” I snap my hips, grunting when I feel my cock starting to swell as hot pressure begins to build. “This what you want?”

“Yes. I’m—I’m so—”

“Come with me,” I breathe. “I want to feel you come on my knot. Can you do that?”

“Oh. Oh.”

Her teeth sink into my shoulder, her cries muffled against my skin as she falls apart, and I grit my teeth when my knot starts to swell, stretching her to what feels like impossible measures until I can no longer move inside her. We’re both breathless after, my body trembling as I gush deep inside to fill her, and her hands smoothing across my shoulders feel like a searing heat in the aftermath of it all.

I can’t believe there was a moment where I almost chose to live without this, without her—everything about my intentions before tonight feeling utterly stupid now. Her eyes are glazed and her smile is languid when I pull up to look at her, and my lips curl to match hers as she reaches to push damp hair away from my forehead.

“As far as groveling goes,” she says after a ragged breath. “It’s a start.”

“I’m prepared to spend an incredibly long time making it up to you,” I tell her seriously. “Multiple times a day, if I have to.”

She chuffs out a laugh. “Wow. Talk about sacrifice.”

“Sometimes they’re worth being made.”

She’s still smiling as she kisses me, and when I fall down to meet her, there is a slight tug at my knot that makes me wince, my breath catching.

“You’d better never do that again,” she says suddenly, and when I pull my head back, I can see worry in her eyes. “Don’t ever lie to me like that.”

That guilt surges through me again for having put it there. “Never.” My hand slides up her spine to cradle her head, ensuring she can look nowhere but my eyes and hoping she sees the sincerity there. “I’m not leaving you, Mackenzie. Never again. I was an idiot to think I could in the first place.” My forehead rests against hers. “I know you don’t believe in fate, but . . .” My lips press gently at the corner of her mouth, whispering, “I think I might.”

“I might be”—I hear her swallow—“coming around to the idea.”

I raise up, grinning. “Yeah?”

“Maybe,” she amends. “Just a little.”

“I can live with that.”

She looks serious again. “We’re going to the board tomorrow.”

“We are?”

“Yes. We’re going to make sure that son of a bitch doesn’t get away with any of this. I want him to fry, Noah.”

“Look at you,” I chuckle, combing my fingers through her hair. “Here I thought I was protecting you, but you’re the one protecting me.”

“Someone’s got to,” she deadpans. “I mean, you’re so fragile, after all.”

My lips twitch. “Am I.”

“Face it, Dr. Taylor,” she teases. “You need me to look after you.”

I’m not laughing now, my smile barely there and my eyes studying every inch of her face. “Yeah,” I tell her quietly. “Yeah, I think I do.”

Tomorrow will be a nightmare, and there’s no way of knowing what it will hold—but right now . . . right now, there is nothing but Mackenzie’s warmth and her soft sounds and her softer body that fits perfectly against mine. All of it makes one thing glaringly obvious, something that I should have figured out a lot sooner.

I am never letting this woman get away from me again.

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27

“So, you’re saying . . . you are not mated?”

Noah and I share a glance, and he nods at me with encouragement.

“No,” I answer, holding the gaze of the elderly board member. “We aren’t.”

Another man pipes up from across the table. “So you lied on the disclosure forms?”

“You didn’t exactly give me a lot of options,” Noah says irritably.

“Now, Dr. Taylor,” a graying woman cuts in. “There was never any talk of any disciplinary measures in regard to your designation, I need to make that clear. This facade was entirely unnecessary. And unethical, I feel.”

“No,” I retaliate angrily. “What’s unethical is the atmosphere of this facility. We all know the unsaid repercussions for someone like Noah. Never mind the fact that he’s the most qualified physician who any of you have ever employed, probably.”