“Shit.” Gunnar’s voice resonates a pain that rivals my own. “Try to relax, Elle.”

Clinging to his shoulders, I do my best to breathe through the burn as he breaks through every barrier, inch by inch. Once he’s fully seated inside me, he stills, giving me time to adjust, his lips brushing a kiss to my temple.

“You good?” he asks.

“Oh yeah, never better,” I lie on a painful breath.

His chuckle is strained as he brings his forehead to rest on mine. “We’ll take this slow, okay?”

I nod, appreciating that, especially when it’s obvious he’s already struggling to hold back. He doesn’t need to say it. I can hear it in the rasp of his voice and feel it in the rigidness of his body.

As promised, he moves with careful precision, gently gliding back and forth, as if my entire body is made of fragile glass.

While the burning sensation ensues, so does an abundance of other emotions, and I make sure to revel in the entirety of this moment. How his gaze penetrates mine as he completes me, body and soul. How he keeps every stroke gentle and considerate, despite his own needs, something he has always done. It makes me eternally grateful to have him as my best friend and only further reaffirms what I should have known all along. That this moment was always meant to be shared with Gunnar. Just like every other defining moment of my life.

“You with me?” he asks, his gaze penetrating and jaw locked in restraint.

“I’m with you,” I whisper, lifting my hand to his face. “I’m always with you and I always will be.”

It’s something I’ve told him countless times before, that I’ll never leave him like his no-good parents did, that we will be best friends until the end of time. Yet, this time it hits differently. It’s reflected in the depths of his eyes, in the emotion stirring beneath the warmth.

I’m rewarded with another soul-touching kiss that has me falling even deeper into the moment with him. As my body adapts more to his, the initial sting recedes, giving me the courage to test the waters. With a cautious lift of my hips, I venture into uncharted territory, and it ignites an electrifying response from both of us.

Gunnar groans, his hot breath ragged and heavy with desire. “Feeling better?”

“Yes. You can go a little deeper.”

That permission earns me a deeper thrust of his hips. I moan and revel in the fullness of him, loving how the boundaries between our merging bodies blur.

Gunnar maintains that pace, the intensity of his restraint growing with every stroke. Beads of sweat glisten on his forehead, his skin coated in a sheen of exertion, adding to the raw, primal energy surrounding us.

My fingers dig into the corded muscles of his shoulders, getting lost in every groove as I try to keep pace. With every push and pull, we exchange a beautiful dance of desire that heightens with every breath.

It has another impending release building within me, sending my pulse racing in tandem with the frantic beat of my heart.

Gunnar senses the shift. “Give it to me, Elle,” he rasps. “I want to feel it all over my cock this time.”

The need in his command stokes my own like a flash fire. “Only if you come with me.”

His eyes dilate with unbridled desire. He picks up momentum, grunting with each savage thrust. The intensity between us builds, drawing us closer to that mind-numbing oblivion. Until there is no stopping it.

We tumble over that precious edge together, our cries of release merging as we surrender to pleasure. Once it’s over, Gunnar drops down on top of me, settling the entirety of his weight upon me. It’s a heaviness I welcome.

My arms come around him, the two of us clinging to one another as we bask in the aftermath of what just took place. An irrevocable shift that has changed the trajectory of our relationship.

A moment that will be embedded in my heart forever.

When we can no longer avoid the inevitable, Gunnar removes himself from my body and drops down next to me. On instinct, we both turn on our sides to face the other, as if drawn by a magnetic force. Our hands link between our naked bodies, neither of us ready to let go of the other.

His gaze locks onto mine as the fading sunlight streams through my bedroom window, casting a warm glow around us.

“You okay?” he asks, his voice laced with gentle concern.

“Yes,” I answer honestly. “You?”

He grunts at the returned question. “Yeah, Elle, I’m more than good.”

I chuckle, appreciating the lighter moment. “So, we’re really doing this, huh? Having a baby together?”

A half smile tugs at his lips. “Yep, no turning back now.”

“Any regrets?” I ask the question lightly, but there is no denying the reassurance I seek.

His expression briefly sobers. “Just one.”

The unexpected answer catches me off guard, sending a jolt through my heart. “What’s that?”

Warm brown eyes hold me captive. “That we didn’t do this sooner.”

His words carve a place into my heart forever, bringing a smile to my face. “Are you going to stay the night?” I ask, knowing that’s usually a stipulation for him.

He brushes a stray tendril of hair away from my face. “Yeah, Elle. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good, because I wanna do it again,” I tell him, giddy with excitement.

A bellow of laughter erupts from his chest before it transforms into a deep groan. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll gladly arrange that.” He captures my lips in a heated kiss that stokes the burning embers of our recent encounter. “Maybe I don’t need a few minutes after all,” he murmurs, rolling over top of me.

Laughing into the kiss, I wrap my arms around his neck, losing myself in a night that promises to be unforgettable. One that will mark the beginning of a beautiful new chapter for Gunnar and me.

Gunnar

One moment can drastically change a person’s life. I’ve had a few of them in my lifetime. Some good, some bad, and some that fall somewhere in between.

My parents ditching me at a gas station when I was only a child was the first one, and it was a major kick in the balls. It taught me how cruel life can be and completely changed how I viewed the world.

When Ryland took me home and became the father I never had, it shifted once more, changing the trajectory of what would have been a dim future.

Then came Ellie, the free-spirited spitfire from down the street who loved to fish, make mud pies, build forts, and shoot off firecrackers, outdoing any boy I had ever known. She was the best friend I never knew I needed, and the day I met her was the best day of my life … until last night.

I knew being with her would change me, but nothing could have prepared me for the impact of it. I’ve never had anyone come apart for me the way she did.

It took everything in me to leave her this morning, but work calls for us both and Bear needs his breakfast.

My gaze shifts to where he rides in the passenger seat, his head sticking out the rolled-down window as he basks in the fresh mountain air after getting the best sleep of his life.

He and I both.