He pushed her forward on the bed and rolled her over onto her back. Harper bent her knees and planted her feet on the edge of the mattress to give him full access.
“You drive me crazy.” He knelt on the floor and pulled her hips towards him.
When he pressed his mouth to her underwear, Harper gasped and levered her hips up.
“I love how responsive you are.” Luke pulled the cotton to the side and ran a trail of kisses from her knee up the inside of her thigh.
She felt his breath on her and shivered. Using his tongue, Luke gently probed between the lips of her sex.
“Oh my God,” she whispered.
His tongue stroked up to her sensitive nub and her legs quivered. Harper’s hands fisted at her sides. His magic tongue licked its way to her opening and pressed into her. She arched against his mouth. “Lucas!”
He replaced his tongue with his fingers and drove into her while his mouth moved back to her folds. He teased and probed while his fingers slammed into her again and again. His tongue settled into a steady, driving rhythm that took her to the edge.
Harper fought the build. She tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but his hand forced her hips to be still.
The need hollowed her out. There was nothing left inside her except the craving to be filled. Luke’s fingers drove into her again and she immediately closed around them. His tongue spread her folds and stroked her swollen bud. She shattered against him, tightening on his fingers and arching against his mouth as the orgasm blossomed into a controlled explosion.
Luke groaned against her, his desire ramping higher. He reached down to stroke his cock against her opening. “Baby, I need to be inside you.” His voice was rough.
“Let me ride you,” she whispered.
He climbed onto the bed and lay on his back, still stroking himself. Harper worked his underwear down his legs and off. Luke helped her discard her own before lifting her to straddle his straining erection.
She paused with her wet entrance encircling the head of his shaft.
“I love you, Luke,” she whispered, watching his eyes go glassy as she slowly lowered herself down onto him. Inch by inch, she welcomed him into her very core. Completely filled, she leaned forward, her breasts dangling just above his hard mouth.
He took the peak of one breast in his mouth and Harper began to ride with slow, deep strokes.
Luke clamped his hands on her hips to control the rhythm. His thick shaft stretched her to a point that was almost pain. His hips levered up and he hit bottom inside her.
Harper moaned against the soft tugs of his mouth on her breast. The pulls were echoed in the muscles that delicately clamped down on his straining cock.
She reared up and rode him, slowly, deliberately. Their gazes locked as Harper set the rhythm for release.
“Yes,” he drew out the word on a long exhale. “God, yes.”
Every thrust, every stroke was an expression of love.
He thrust with his hips once more and he erupted on a shout. She followed him into oblivion.
Harper was drowning in the darkness between them, but had no desire to save herself. This was a relationship that could wreck a soul. And it was over.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The gray light from the window told Harper she still had time before the alarm, but falling back to sleep was not an option. The day she had dreaded was here. Never again would she wake up to find herself cradled in Luke’s arms.
So many things ended today. She wasn’t ready to let go, but it wasn’t her choice.
She studied him in his sleep as she had their first morning together. She let her fingers trace the phoenix over his heart, silently willing him to be safe while memorizing every plain, every line of his body.
How was she supposed to go back to a regular life after this?
Luke’s eyes opened, sleepy hazel stared back at her.
Harper sighed and cupped her hand to his face.
Luke kissed her palm. “Are you ready?”
“Nope.”
“We’re still good, right?”
Harper smiled. “Yeah, we’re good. I’m just going to miss you for the next ten years or so.”
He pulled her in to him and tucked her head under his jaw. Luke pressed a sweet kiss to the top of her head and held her to him until his alarm sounded.
***
They met Luke’s family at the base. The parking lot was packed with family members saying their good-byes. Harper tried not to stare at the bus in front of them. The bus that would take Luke Garrison forever from her life.
There wasn’t time to waste. The schedule had to be kept.
Luke, dressed in fatigues, stowed his pack on the bus and returned to them. Harper watched him walk down the line, hugging and shaking hands. Claire dragged him in for a long hug. “Come home safe,” she ordered.