No argument there.

I lifted her from the couch, my cock still only partially freed from my shorts, and carried her bridal-style into the bedroom. I tossed Raine on the end of the bed, grabbed at the yoga pants still covering her legs, and ripped them off of her. I grasped her ankles as I crawled onto the bed and then maneuvered them over my shoulders as I looked up at her.

All else was forgotten for the sake of the moment, the need for her, the lust. The raw desire to watch her come undone due to my actions overwhelmed all thoughts of the turmoil ahead of us.

Her mouth opened slightly, and her eyes darkened as I moved in. I pressed my open mouth to the inside of her right thigh as I slid my hand up the left one. I didn’t go too close—not yet. I loved to watch her squirm.

And squirm she did.

“Please…Bastian…”

“Please what?” I teased as I kissed up her thigh, getting closer and closer without ever hitting the mark. I kissed up over her pubic bone and then over to the other side. “You want something?”

“Ughhh…”

I snickered, kissed the very edge of where her leg met her core, and then hummed against her skin.

“You want a kiss, baby?” I purred. “You want to feel my tongue all over your clit? ‘Cause I’ll give it to you.”

“Yes…please!”

“You want it here?” I pressed my lips off to one side and then the other. “Or maybe here?”

I missed the mark every time, and she started trying to twist her hips to where she wanted my mouth, but I held her in place.

“No you don’t,” I scolded playfully. “I don’t think you’re ready yet.”

“I am…I am…”

“Not yet…”

Using the back of my fingernail, I scraped the skin of the inside of her thigh, right up to the very peak. I followed the motion with open-mouthed kisses as she continued to twist below me. I could smell how much she wanted it, and my cock throbbed where it lay trapped between me and the mattress, begging for attention, but I wasn’t going to give into that just yet.

Her first.

Always.

Finally, when she really didn’t seem able to stand any more, I slipped my tongue right against her hole and licked from bottom to top. She lurched, almost sat straight up, and then dropped back to the bed.

I couldn’t help but smile.

I circled her clit with my tongue as I brought my hand around into position. Tracing lightly, I explored her with my fingers as I used my tongue against her apex. She shuddered, and I felt her hands against my head, trying to pull me forward for more friction.

This time, I relented.

“You are going to come so hard, people on the beach are gonna hear you,” I promised.

I could see her chest rise and fall with her breaths, but she didn’t say anything in response. Her eyes said it all—dark, hooded, and full of desire.

I slid a finger inside of her, pulled back, and then inserted two. Moving them in and out of her slowly, I went to work with my tongue. I circled, licked, and hummed against her clit as I used my fingers to curl up and press inside her body.

Raine’s thighs pressed against the side of my head, and she dug her fingers into my scalp in the most fantastic way as I pressed harder with my tongue. My lips closed around her, and I sucked hard as she started screaming my name.

Beautiful fucking music.

Releasing her legs from my shoulders, I reached down and pushed my shorts and boxers the rest of the way off as I crawled up over her. Finally free of my clothes, I kissed up the center of her body and between her tits until I reached her neck. I sucked gently at her skin as I positioned myself and thrust forward.

My cock found its sanctuary, and the sensation rocketed through my entire body. I felt as if I had been hit with a sledgehammer. It wasn’t the physical feeling of joining with her that struck me, but the sudden, intense realization of where my true focus resided.

Inside of her.

Find the focal point and tie yourself to it.

I’d always thought of Landon’s words as meaning something inside of myself, and maybe at one point it had been, but that had shifted. Like everything else in my life, it all changed when Raine became a part of it. She made me a person who could be loved and forgiven. She made me the kind of man I might have been if I hadn’t been so fucked up early on in life. She took me for who I was—flaws and all—and made me better with nothing more than her acceptance of me.

She was life.

There was nothing –absolutely nothing—I wouldn’t do to keep her safe. I’d kill anyone, destroy any organization, and fight a fucking mountain if that’s what it would take to keep her with me, safe and happy. I’d never touch another drink again. I’d be nice to her friends, and I’d give her the fucking world if that’s what she wanted.

Her body encompassed my cock, and her very being encompassed my soul. I cried out, not in pain or even in orgasm, but from an epiphany. It was an ecstasy beyond any true comprehension, but it was more real to me than any feeling I had ever experienced.

Beyond love, beyond life.

I moved slowly in the beginning with a gentle rocking as her hands found my back and gripped my skin. She looked up at me, and inside her eyes, I found everything I would ever need. She ran her hand up to the back of my head and pulled me to her, capturing my mouth and kissing me deeply.

Sliding in and out of her, faster and faster, the bed shifted under the motion and the headboard slammed into the wall. The rhythmic thumping only caused me to thrust harder, reveling in the sound as it mixed with her cries.

“Oh…God…Bastian!” Raine brought her legs up around my ass, clenching me to her and pulling me further in. Her head was pressed back against the pillow, and she squeezed her eyes shut as incomprehensible sounds flowed from her mouth.

She was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen, and the vision spurred me on.

The headboard slammed into the wall over and over again, drowning out Raine’s cries. I didn’t let up even as I felt her release, and she dropped against the mattress. I kept at it, and sweat started running between my shoulder blades.

My back arched as I shoved into her and held there, unloading inside of her and crying out at the ceiling. I felt her legs tighten around my hips as she held our bodies together for a final few second before I collapsed on top of her.

Best workout all week.

My body gave one last shudder as I lay on top of her, breathing heavily and trying to keep my heart from bursting through my chest. Raine was shaking, and for a moment I thought it was because of another orgasm, but then I realized she was crying.

“Raine?” I pushed up with my arms until I could look down at her. Tears ran down her face, and she brought up her hand to wipe them away before she reached up and pulled me against her, tucking her forehead against my body.

“I don’t know how to deal with this!” Raine sobbed against my chest. “What are we going to do?”

I wrapped my arms around her and rolled so I wasn’t crushing her. I got her up on top of me and stroked her hair away from her face.

“Shhh,” I said. “It’s all right, baby. I’m going to make it all right. I swear I will.”

“You don’t know that!” she cried. “You can’t know that! You could die…oh my God, Bastian, they could kill you!”

I closed my eyes and squeezed her tighter.

“Not gonna happen,” I said. “I don’t want to do it. You know I don’t, but I can, and I will. I’ll win this tournament. No one’s going to take me down.”

I hoped I sounded convincing.

“You don’t know that,” she said again. “Bastian, you can’t promise that!”

I untwisted my arms from around her and took her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me.

“I can,” I told her as I stared into her deep, brown eyes. “I can fucking promise you that! I’m going to do this, and I’m going to fucking win. I never lose, Raine—never. I did it for the fucking money before. Do you really think I won’t win when it’s you and my kid on the line? No one will fucking touch me. No one. I’ll wipe them out in the first day, you hear me?”

Tears fell to her cheeks again, but she nodded.

“You understand me?” I asked.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Bastian…”

“Shhh.” I released her face and embraced her again. I kissed the top of her head as I held her, and she clung to my shoulders. Her audible cries stopped, but I could still feel her tears on my skin.

“If anything happens to you,” she said, “if you get hurt, or…or…”

“I’m going to be fine,” I repeated.

“Not if something happens to you,” she argued. “I’d die.”

“Nothing will happen to me,” I said. “Not you, either.”

She let out a long breath, and the air tickled my skin. I felt her relax against me, and I tilted my head to kiss her gently on the side of her face.

“I’ve got you,” I whispered against her cheek.

Eventually her breathing evened out, and I knew she had fallen asleep on me, emotionally exhausted. I closed my eyes and tried to figure out how I was going to make good on my promise to her. I had meant every word of it, but I also knew this would be like no other tournament I had fought before. It wasn’t money or my reputation on the line—it was Raine and my son. She was my world, and now, so was my son. I wanted him to be a part of it, too.

Alex.

I had to win. There was no question about it. I couldn’t even entertain the possibility of another outcome. To win, I was going to have to know exactly what I was up against. I had to know each and every one of my opponents, what they were capable of, their weaknesses, and exactly what I needed to do to defeat every last one of them.