The North Star | COMPLETED ✔️

Chapter 43~ Make Me Forget

They'd tarnish everything.

Bard paused and met my gaze, and his eyes once again sharpened. He read me like the lines of a poem, and with a painfully slow speed, he finished lifting the material away. He didn't look down. His eyes stayed locked with mine. "You're beautiful, Jessie."

My throat constricted. My heart clenched. It was too much.

He dropped the shirt to the side of him. "You're beautiful."

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, but I held them back.

He pulled back, eyes still soft and glued to mine, movements slow and careful, warm and reassuring.

My muscles tensed, and I held my breath.

He kissed me again, soft and fleeting, then leaned back and clutched my shoulder. I let him turn me, squeezed my eyes shut, buried my face into the quilt. I didn't want to see it, his reaction, the disgust. It would break me.

Bard was quiet for a long moment, and I could imagine it. I'd been an idiot. He was amazing, the most gorgeous man I'd ever laid eyes on. He could have anyone, beautiful women, women like Amber.

This was a mistake.

I started to move, to run, to cover myself and go lick my wounds, but Bard laid a hand against my back and gently pushed me back down.

"You're beautiful." He leaned over me and pressed his lips to my shoulder blade, then my spine. No hesitation. No pause. He kissed each inch of ravaged skin as if he could heal the damage done there.

I couldn't hold it back anymore. I fell. A sob broke free, and the moment it did, Bard gathered me up and turned me back to face him.

He held me tight and peppered his lips across my cheeks, removing each tear that managed to escape. "You make me want to rewrite it," he said, reminding me of the conversation we'd had so long before. "Let me make you forget."

Another sob lodged into my throat, but I swallowed it, buried it deep with the others.

"I want to forget."

Bard studied me a moment, his eyes trailing my face, memorizing. When his lips met mine again, it was different. Sweeter. Full of emotion. He possessed me. Took me away from my own thoughts and dominated my focus.

In that moment, I knew. He was it, and even if I crashed and burned, even if I lived to regret it, it didn't matter. I didn't care. He was worth the risk. Slowly, I reached back, unclipped my bra and threw it to the side.

Bard sucked in a breath and kissed me harder. His hand lifted up and cupped the newly exposed flesh, and the muscles in his shoulders coiled. He hummed low in his throat, and it sounded so soulful, like a song that made me want to sigh.

I fumbled with the button on my jeans until Bard reached down between us and did it for me. He broke away, eyes trailing my body as he maneuvered them down my hips. He swallowed hard. "I've never felt as blessed as I do right now."

I didn't shy away. I waited, letting him see me, pushing aside every self conscious thought that tried to enter my mind.

He sat back and palmed my ribs, then ran his hands slowly down, all the way to my ankles and up again. He cupped my calves, gripped my hips.

My blood pressure rose, heart thundered. Each touch stole my breath, awakened my senses, so intense, so much more.

He drove me to insanity. Took his time, too much of it. I reached up and gripped his waistband, fumbled with the button, and his body jerked as he watched me struggle. When I finally got it undone, Bard kicked the denim the rest of the way off and leaned forward.

My chest heaved in time with his. Smooth skin and toned muscle stretched against mine like the world's most perfect blanket. It wrapped me in security and warmed the cold that'd soaked my bones for too long.

"I've never wanted anything more than I want this." He settled himself between my legs and caressed my cheek, then pressed his lips to mine with an impossible tenderness.

It moved me, this man, his kiss, all of it.

I was found.

The kiss deepened, taking with it any doubt. There was no room for it. It was just me and him. Without breaking the contact, Bard slid his hand between us and caressed the most sensitive part of me.

A soft moan escaped my throat and earned a rough sound in return from him.

"That sound you make..." He exhaled a breath and moved his hand to make me moan again.
"I'm never gonna let you go, Tequila." He dipped lower, and a fire built inside of me. Each move of his hand stoked the flames until they threatened to burn me alive. "You're it for me." He kissed me hard, then broke away to my jaw, my neck. "I know how to take care of what's mine."

Another moan. The pressure mounted . So soon, so quick, just like that. Like everything else when it came to Bard, this was so much more.

He moved to my breast, wrapped that perfect mouth around my nipple, then his teeth as he bit down gently. My whole body arched.

"Bard." It was a breath, barely intelligible. I couldn't think. He'd taken my brain and focused it solely on him. I was putty. A trembling mess, squirming to get closer to him, begging to be molded.

Bard rumbled and repositioned himself. I could feel him, right there, so close, and my body was screaming for him to continue.

His lips met mine as his arm wrapped behind my lower back and lifted.

Everything, my life, the club, Drake, prison, the bar, meeting Zeke, the job, it was all leading up to this. To meeting this man. To Bard.

This is where I'm meant to be.

Karma wasn't a bitch.

Karma just had a fucked up way of guiding me.

And in that moment, when Bard's hips moved forward and joined me to him in a way that touched that part of me that'd long died...

I forgave her.

The love was truly real! ❤️😂🤗🤗😂Early upload!! 🤗🤗❤️❤️ Hope you enjoyed! Next upload Sunday, unless... 😉 ❤️❤️