The MC President's Forsaken Wife (Zara and Knox) novel Chapter 193

Chapter 103-1

Chum

Outside the floor-to-ceiling glass of the penthouse, the ocean is a blur of distant purple storm, muted and far away thirty floors below.

Locke stays buried deep inside me, his weight resting heavy and warm over my back, his chest heaving against my spine. Every pulse of his hear reverberates straight through my ribs, matching the frantic, unsteady rhythm of my own.

In this moment, there’s only Locke, only me, only us. The three words we uttered for the first time less than thirty minutes ago are still hanging in the air between us like a physical charge, raw and terrifying in their honesty.

I love you.

We haven’t just crossed an emotional line tonight; we’ve completely burned the bridge behind us.

“Zara,” he says, his voice rough, gravelly, and stripped completely bare of his usual authority. It’s a sound meant only for me, spoken into the dark skin of my shoulder. “My beautiful Zara.”

He slowly shifts his weight back, easing himself all the way out of me with agonizing slowness. A soft, involuntary whimper catches in my throat at the sudden hollow loss of his heat.

But before cold air can settle between us, Locke’s hands find my waist.

With effortless strength, he lifts me, turning me around so I’m sitting upright on the edge of the heavy table.

I reach up immediately, wrapping my arms around his neck, my fingers burying into the thick hair at the nape of his neck. I pull him close, resting my forehead against his, breathing in the scent that has become my only sanctuary: leather, warm skin, and cedar.

His eyes are slate, intense, and wide as he looks down at me. The ambient light from the skyline catches the faint, jagged scar on his chin, but the usual guarded steel in his gaze has vanished completely. In its place is a vulnerability so profound it makes my chest ache.

“Say it again,” he tells me. “Please. Just… say it again.”

“Say what?”

“You know.”

A soft, tearful laugh bubbles up from my throat, spilling over into the quiet room. I tighten my grip around his shoulders, leaning in until my lips brush lightly against his jaw, feeling the heavy pulse beating beneath his warm skin.

“I love you,” I say, letting every drop of truth carry through the words. “I love you. So damn much.”

He lets out a harsh, ragged exhale, closing his eyes as if the words are a physical impact he’s absorbing straight into his chest. His hands move to my jaw, framing my face with a gentle, reverent pressure that stands in stark contrast to his massive, tattooed frame.

When he opens his eyes, they’re shining with a quiet, fierce devotion.

12

Clam

Chapter 103

I’ve loved you since before I had the right to,” he whispers, his fingers brushing away a tear I didn’t even realize had slipped down my cheek. “Before I even had any right to say your name, Zara.”

My heart aches with sweet, blinding intensity. I lean up, capturing his mouth with mine in a slow, deep

kiss.

There’s no rush to this kiss, no frantic desperation like before. It’s slow, thorough, and thick with a promise that runs deeper than blood oaths. His tongue slides against mine, tasting of sweet chamomile, pulling me in until there is no space left between us.

His palms slide down my neck, over my collarbones, and down the length of my spine, tracing every vertebra as if he is memorizing the map of my body all over again.

When he breaks the kiss, his breathing is heavy, his lips resting against the tip of my nose before sliding down to press a warm, lingering kiss against my lower lip.

“I used to think survival was the only thing that mattered,” Locke says. “Getting through the night, and keeping the boys alive. Balancing the books, and running the business. I thought that was all I was built for.”

He pauses, his hands resting on my hips, his fingers digging gently into the flesh there, holding me grounded on the polished wood.

“And then you,” he continues softly, his voice dropping an octave, rich and thick with emotion. “You came into my life and showed me what it actually means to be alive. You’re my home, Zara. You’re the only piece of clean sky I have in all this fucking darkness.”

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