Serena felt all of it.
Every nerve ending responded to him with a recognition that bypassed her brain and went straight to her marrow. Her body arched into his hands before her mind could authorize the movement. Her fingers found the freckle on his shoulder, traced it, and the tracing carried the intimate certainty of a woman who had mapped this body in another version and remembered where every landmark was.
Every kiss landed like a brand. She made a sound on the hollow of her throat, half sob, half plea. When his teeth found the spot under her ear her whole body jerked and a broken "Ronan" slipped out before she could catch it.
He settled between her thighs with the steady, deliberate weight of a man whose patience was structural.
The first press of him against her was not entry. It was a threat and a promise. He dragged himself along her, once, twice, lining up with a control so tight the muscle in his jaw jumped.
She felt how hard he was holding back.
