*Lauren*
The secret weighed on me like a stone in my stomach, but as Lucas's lips met mine, the weight seemed to dissolve, if only for a moment. I could feel the truth bubbling up inside me, threatening to spill over with each heartbeat, but I pushed it down, burying it under the taste of him, the feel of him.
"Lauren," he murmured against my lips, and the sound of my name on his tongue was enough to scatter my troubled thoughts like leaves in the wind.
"Lucas," I whispered back, reaching up to thread my fingers through his dark, tousled hair, pulling him closer. His hands, warm and reassuring, cradled my face, tilting it up to meet his deepening kiss. There was an urgency there, but not like before—not wild or desperate. It was something steadier, more consuming.
This wasn’t frantic or frenzied, it was loving and sweet and I couldn’t get enough of it. There was time for talk of babies and the future tomorrow. Tonight? I just wanted to lose myself in the man I loved.
