Hello beautiful, lovely, wonderful, kind readers, thank you so much for your patience.
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"We would be together and have our books and at night be warm in bed together with the windows open and the stars bright."
― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
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It was hard to describe a feeling quite as nice as being tipsy on a summer afternoon.
Nora swirled her glass out of habit before taking a leisurely sip, the flat sweet cola and rum running a warm trail down the back of her throat.
The only thing that would make this better is ice.
Nora twisted her cup into the sand enough to keep it upright and rested back on the old bed sheet she had splayed across the beach earlier that morning. The hot slivers of sunlight that cut between the tree branches above infused her with a warmth that revitalized her, and she smiled as a gentle breeze tugged tendrils of her hair across her face.
"Don't they know, it's the end of the world?"
She laughed under her breath and turned the volume dial of the radio up, catching the last refrain of The End of the World by Skeeter Davis.
Nora had done nothing of any use since she had woken up from the radiation poisoning two days prior, and wasn't sure whether or not to feel bad about that fact.
Was it a crime to spend the entire day lounging around on the beach, drinking the worst rum and Nuka-Colas in the country, if not the world?
The guilt of being idle nipped at her but she tried to remind herself that she was on vacation, and irreproachable, slovenly indulgence was perfectly acceptable.
On the other hand, Strong seemed hell-bent on being productive.
The past two mornings she had awoken to his side of the bed empty and long-cold, and after searching, found him outside ripping tree branches apart to add to the woodpile. When he wasn't collecting exorbitant amounts of firewood, he was scavenging pieces of broken car and twisted metal from around the edges of the property. Only today did she realize he was assembling the scrap into a security fence that ran the perimeter of the beachside house.
Nora tried to rationalize it as Strong just being bored and overprotective, but there was a hard, unflinching determination in his eyes that unsettled her.
She drained the last bit of her drink and sat up against the tree that had done an excellent job thus far of providing enough overhead shade to prevent her from burning to a crisp the last couple of days. Her eyes trailed across the page of her book, but her heart wasn't in it, and she found herself distracted by Strong hauling salvage in the distance.
...
Strong added a sheet of metal to the pile he had been collecting and stepped back to assess all of the weak spots remaining in the barricade that now surrounded the house. He had been working since first light, and blinked the sweat out of his eyes as he felt the beginnings of exhaustion creep over him. The hot sun overhead bounced a glare off of the sand that blinded him and brought with it a simmering frustration that felt an annoyance or two from combusting into rage.
A dark, unpleasant thing had been brewing inside of him for some time now.
Something sharp that sometimes made him feel light-headed, and sometimes as if his stomach was dropping down beneath his feet. It was a type of fear that was foreign to him but grew more apparent the longer he spent with Nora, and found that he only felt alive when she was by his side.
Every time she had gotten hurt, that dark, sharp feeling grew worse, and some nights he broke out in a cold sweat thinking of it.
When she had gone limp in his arms at the top of that lighthouse, when her breathing grew shallow and her heartbeat began to slow, something inside of him had broken. A fine wire had snapped, triggering an explosion that blew through him and burned up all of the air from his lungs until he was breathless with panic.
He couldn't take another incident like that.
Strong thought back to when she had spoken about her past with the ghoul at The Slog, about living in a time from before the bombs dropped, of her being frozen and waking up to the world as it was now. He didn't quite understand the details, but he knew there was something about her that made her unsuited to this world. She was different from the other humans, too trusting and too soft, too breakable.
He supposed the other humans were just as breakable, but he didn't care about them.
Once he had this barricade enforced and a bit more firewood collected, she would have everything she needed to be safe. There were enough mirelurk and radstag nearby that he could hunt to keep them fed, and he'd gather all the human scrap and junk she needed to make the machine that cleaned the water enough to be drinkable.
It was a small settlement, easy to protect.
They would stay here, where he could patrol the perimeter and kill all those foolish enough to come near, and he would know she was alive and out of danger.
She may not like this plan at first, she may even hate him for keeping her here, but he had to do it, he couldn't-
"Strong!" Nora called out to him with a smile, beckoning him over with a wave.
He unclenched his fist and took a deep breath, feeling some of the tension in his shoulders loosen as he made his way over to her. He meant to see what she needed as quickly as possible so he could get back to work, but found himself lost at the long display of her legs in the shorts that she wore.
"I think you should take a break, it's really hot today and you've been working in the sun all morning," she shielded her eyes and looked up at him with concern.
"It's nothing, must get back to work," he turned to walk away but she leaned forward and grabbed his leg armor.
"Wait, please? Sit next to me for a little while at least," she scooted over and made room for him on the bed sheet, looking up at him with a pout he couldn't bring himself to say no to. Strong grumbled under his breath, more so for his pride, and sat down beside her.
A glint of mischief flashed in her eyes and she climbed over his lap, straddling his waist.
"Oops sorry, I've got you pinned. You're trapped in the shade now until I say so," she grinned at him as her cheeks flushed pink, holding his shoulders for leverage.
Strong couldn't help but scoff under his breath.
He knew after all of his time spent with her that she was teasing him, a concept that had been strange to him at first, but which he found himself amused by now.
The hard line between his brows smoothed and Nora cheered herself on the small victory, leaning forward to kiss his cheek.
"We're on vacation, you're supposed to relax and be lazy." She trailed kisses down to his ear, "I'm worried about how hard you've been working. I think you've made this little house safe enough, Strong. We'll only be here a day or two longer."
Nora felt his shoulders stiffen under her hands, and after a moment more of no response from him, she began to pull away.
Before she could lean back enough to see his face, he lifted his arms and held her against him, stroking his fingers through her hair.
"Tell Strong about the time before, your time."
Nora frowned, and it took her a second to realize he meant the time of her life from before the bombs dropped. Strong had never brought up her past after she had spoken about it with James, so she assumed he hadn't been listening.
She rested her cheek against his chest and took a deep breath, tasting the sea salt in the air.
"Well, it was a peaceful time for the most part, at least for the civilians. I used to love coming to the beach when I had time off school." She looked over the side of his chest and watched the waves crash into the shore. "My mother took my brothers and me often during the summertime, and the sand as far as your eye could see was covered in umbrellas and picnic baskets, with children laughing and playing in the water. There used to be a cart with a little bell that a man would push down the boardwalk, and we'd all go running to buy ice cream."
Nora pushed herself up from his chest and Strong released his hold on her, her expression wistful and tinged with the sadness nostalgia could arouse.
"I miss ice cream, I wish you could have tried it. I guess it would be like a cold version of a Fancy Lad Snack Cake, that's the best way I can think to describe it."
Strong looked around and tried to imagine the area filled with carefree humans and their little ones, sitting out in the open for enjoyment. Wasting time, eating sweets.
"No danger?"
"Aside from a nasty sunburn? No, we were very lucky at the time, and we didn't even know it."
Strong studied her face as he thought over what she said, his eyes falling to her lips. He felt he understood her a little better then, and it reaffirmed his resolve to keep her here.
This is where she belongs, someplace safe like her old world.
He leaned forward and kissed her, and a soft moan escaped her when he wound his fingers through her hair and held her to him. She opened her lips and he tasted her mouth, and Strong groaned at the sweetness of her. He felt a drive to consume her and Nora gasped at his passion, jolting as the fabric of her shorts provided little protection from the hard metal of his lower armor.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and moaned as his fingers trailed down to the stiff peak of her nipple, brushing it over the thin cotton of her tank top.
Nora was shocked at the suddenness of her arousal, gasping as heat pooled between her thighs.
It's been a while since we've done anything more than kiss, she thought, and in the blink of an eye, she was back at the abandoned Medford Memorial Hospital, tied down to that rusted pipe.
No, damn it, not this memory now!
The rough rope digging into her wrists as those vile men held her down, held her down and-
Fear, this can't be happening.
Fear, why couldn't she kick them off?
That man had shoved his finger into her and it had hurt, and it didn't matter that it had only been his finger. Because she had to live with the fear of not knowing how far it would go, of not knowing what pain was in store.
Not knowing if she'd even survive at the end of it all.
Nora froze and felt the beginnings of panic.
She pushed against his chest and Strong stopped, looking down at her in confusion.
"I'm sorry," she took a quick breath. "I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me." She tried to clear her mind of the memories and focus on the here and now, focus on the feeling of his firm chest beneath her palms.
His heartbeat and his breathing.
Focus on the fact that this was Strong and not those other men, those other dead men.
Frustration and embarrassment washed over her, and she let out a shaky sigh.
"I'm sorry Strong, you know I do want you, I love kissing you. I just, I- it's, you know, what happened at the hospital with those men-" Nora frowned and Strong cupped the dip of her waist.
"It's fine, no need for sorry. Those humans were cowards, they were weak and now they are dead." He traced the fullness of her bottom lip with his thumb, "only strong ones survive in the end."
She measured his words before giving him a small nod, a brief smile of gratitude on her lips as the knot of tension in her chest loosened.
Strong lifted her off of his lap and stood up, and Nora followed suit, gathering up her book and empty glass before shaking the sand from the makeshift blanket.
"I think I'm gonna head inside and wash up," Nora touched his hand. "Please take some breaks, okay?"
He nodded and she turned around and walked back towards the house, very much looking forward to washing away every last grain of sand.
...
Nora awoke from her nap to the smell of meat cooking.
She sat up and stretched, feeling the grogginess from the warm, hazy afternoon melt away. The air was brisk and refreshing now as the sun was setting, and she was glad she had bathed earlier before it had gotten too cold.
She padded downstairs to find Strong cracking open the shells of roasted mirelurk pieces, separating the steaming meat for her.
"Thank you," she smiled and took the offered plate from him, and they ate sitting on the couch in a peaceful quiet broken only by the low snapping of the wood burning in the fireplace.
Once they were finished, she cleared away the dishes and turned the radio on low, and the gentle sounds of One More Tomorrow filled the room. Nora deemed the unopened bottle of wine she had found stashed in the back of the cabinet acceptable after a cursory sniff, and poured herself a small glass before settling back onto the couch to read.
Strong pulled her legs onto his lap and stroked her calf as he stared into the fireplace, lost in thought. She shivered as his large, calloused hand brushed over her skin, and found herself having to re-read the same paragraph as her mind drifted.
She registered the familiar, smooth voice of Nat King Cole as the next song started, and paused in her reading as the fragment of a memory caught her attention.
… she was in a cozy cottage with a roaring fire crackling in the hearth. She and Strong relaxing on a plush couch while she read and he sat lost in his thoughts, sipping whiskey with the soft crooning of Nat King Cole drifting from the record player.
Nora laughed and closed her book, watching Strong with a lopsided grin on her face.
That had been the little daydream she'd had while tending to him after his near-fatal run-in with the deathclaw in Concord.
And look at us now.
Strong lifted his hand from her leg to rub at his neck, and Nora remembered that he had done so earlier that afternoon.
"Is your neck bothering you?" She set her book down on the side table and sat upright, pulling her legs from his lap.
"It's nothing," he shrugged.
"Have you ever had someone rub your shoulders before?"
Strong quirked a brow and thought for a moment.
"No."
"Oh, it's lovely, trust me. Take your upper armor off and come sit here," she pointed to the area in front of her and plopped a pillow down on the floor for him.
He hesitated, but the sincerity of her smile swayed him and he moved to bar both the front and the back doors of the house before going through the motions of unlatching his armor. He dropped it into a pile and sat down where she directed, crushing the pillow beneath him.
Nora opened her knees and guided him to sit back a bit closer until it was easy for her to reach, and he shivered at the feeling of her soft thighs hugging him.
"Okay, let me know if I'm being too rough, I don't want to hurt you," Nora rolled up the sleeves of her sweater, flexing her hands. His chest rumbled with a low laugh and Nora squinted at the back of his head. "It's important to really get into the muscle to release any knots. My dorm mate was always begging for one before midterms."
Strong grunted in agreement, not having a clue as to what she was talking about.
She smoothed her thumbs upward with firm pressure, starting from the point where his shoulder blades met to the top of his neck before rubbing back down to do it all over again, and Strong hummed in pleasure. Her fingers felt like little drops of rain on his back, and his eyelids drooped closed, body cocooned by the heat of the fireplace in front of him, and her legs wrapped around him from behind.
"How does that feel?" Nora paused after a few minutes to massage her hands and waited for Strong to respond, but he only breathed in and out deeply, on the cusp of sleep. "Asleep already?"
She laughed and lined the point of her elbow with the spot he had been rubbing at earlier, leaning into him with some force as she moved her arm in a circular motion around the hard knot in his shoulder. He groaned and pressed his back into her touch, wishing he could experience this forever.
He could, Strong thought, experience this forever.
This warmth, this comfort, this human.
His Nora.
She was his and no one could take her away from him.
He thought back to his life from before his fall from Trinity Tower, when he was still in his pack and held in high regard amongst his brothers. The idea of him wanting something like this back then was so absurd it was laughable.
Now, he couldn't imagine continuing on living without her.
Strong tried to pinpoint the moment she had gained so much power over him but found it impossible.
"I wonder how many calls for help will be waiting for us when we get back to Sanctuary Hills?" Nora mused, sliding her elbow to the next knot on her warpath. She thought of Preston and Sturges waiting for their return, of the responsibilities she had left behind. "We should probably head back tomorrow."
Strong went rigid under her hands and she frowned.
He had been reacting like this ever since the lighthouse incident, and she wasn't going to let him brush her off any longer.
"What's wrong, do you not want to head back yet?"
He refused to answer her, staring at the flames that danced in the hearth.
"Strong?"
After a beat, she started to pull away and he grabbed the sides of her legs, holding her in place on the couch.
"No, we'll stay here."
"What? As in, you want us to stay here and never go back to Sanctuary Hills?"
"Yes."
"But why?"
"It's dangerous."
"Strong, I-" her patience was running thin, "look at me. I don't want to have this conversation with the back of your head."
When he didn't budge, she tried to lift her legs out of his grip but it was like being held fast by cement shackles.
"Let go of me, I'm serious." She placed her hands on his shoulders, "I, I will push you off of me if you don't stop."
His chest rumbled with what sounded like a laugh and he turned around to face her, rising to his knees. He placed his hands against the couch on both sides of her, caging her in.
The intensity of his eyes startled her and a small seed of fear started to grow in her stomach.
"Why don't you want us to leave?"
"It's not safe for you."
"Nowhere is truly safe though, not with the world as it is now." She touched his arm, hoping he'd see reason. "I appreciate your concern for my safety, but staying here forever isn't the answer."
"Can make it safe here, can patrol the fence and hunt for you. Give everything you need." His tone brooked no argument, and Nora felt her heart start to race as she began to consider the strength advantage he had over her.
"But, I don't want that. I need more than that. I like helping the Minutemen, I like helping around the settlements. There's more to life than just surviving."
His brow pinched and he looked torn as he considered her words.
"No, too dangerous."
"No?" Nora grit her teeth and glared up at him. "You don't get to decide what's best for me." She shoved against his arms to move him away from her and he grabbed her wrists, pressing them back against the couch.
She gasped, and her frustration melted into hurt as she blinked back the tears that started to fill her eyes.
"You can't keep me here."
Oh, but he could.
And if she ran away, he would just track her down and bring her back.
Of course, there were several ways he could think to keep her from leaving altogether, things that any other super mutant wouldn't blink twice at doing.
If there was something a super mutant wanted, all he had to do was take it. If someone or something got in his way, he simply destroyed it. It was in his nature.
The unshed tears in her eyes cut him to the core and he tried to remain firm.
Strong knew he could never bring himself to harm her of course, but why shouldn't he keep her here?
It was the safest option, it made the most sense to him.
There was nothing she could do about it either way, he was stronger, there was nothing that could stop him-
There was fear in her eyes now.
This wasn't what he wanted.
He growled in frustration, he didn't understand.
He was offering her food, shelter, protection; why was she looking at him like he was a monster?
"I don't want that. I need more than that."
Strong shut his eyes, unable to take the expression on her face.
Was he wrong? Was he making the wrong decision?
He glanced back at the hurt in her eyes and his resolve crumbled.
It didn't matter if he was right or wrong, she was unhappy.
Strong released her wrists and looked down, unable to meet her eyes any longer.
Nora scrambled off of the couch and made it halfway across the room when she realized he wasn't chasing after her.
She stopped and stared at him, panting as the short burst of adrenaline drained out of her.
What was that about?
His downcast face angered her, and she curled her nails into her palms.
How dare he.
How dare he try to strong-arm her into something she didn't want, just because he thought he knew better.
She considered racing upstairs, packing her bag, and heading out that door. And that would be the end of it, and she wouldn't care if she never saw him again.
Nora willed her feet to move, to do just that, but she didn't, couldn't.
She let out a long breath and walked back over to the couch, perching on the edge of the seat.
"I'm going to give you a chance to explain yourself, explain why you just did that. But you need to know that was not okay, Strong. You can't treat me like that, I won't stand for it."
Nora had been through enough controlling behavior with Nate, and she had made a promise to herself that she would never be treated that way again.
He lifted his face, and beyond the shame in his eyes, she saw confliction.
"Sorry," he rasped, and she nodded in response. "Don't know what to do, and Strong ended up hurting you."
"What do you mean? Do about what?"
"You are human, easy to break. So many times you have gotten hurt." Strong frowned, frustrated with the difficulty he had putting his feelings into words. "Other humans, Strong not care. But you, you-"
He paused, eyes so intense, almost angry as he finally met her gaze.
"Never cared about anyone else before, not even brothers like this. Think about you all the time, even in my dreams." He touched her knee and she let him, staying still as she took in his words. "Feel horrible feeling, here," he clenched his fist and pressed it to his chest, "when you are hurt. Most fear Strong has ever felt."
He took a deep breath and the hard lines around his eyes smoothed as he took in her face, the soft curve of her cheek now rosy with the flickering heat of the fire.
"You are most important thing to Strong, will do anything to keep you safe. But staying here where Strong can better protect, makes you unhappy."
Nora let out the breath she had been holding and felt her anger melt away as she took in the sight of this large, powerful man on his knees, body withdrawn in the way a dog might when anticipating being struck.
Strong, who are you? Who was this man, really?
Strong was a man who had fallen into her life during a time when she had felt lost and alone. Though he was a man of few words, gruff and unlike anyone she had ever met before, he had been a stalwart companion, a constant reassurance during the turbulent beginnings of her adaptation to this frightening new world.
At first she hadn't understood him, but she had been grateful for him nonetheless.
As their time together grew, so did the glimpses she got of the fabric of his character, and the makings of his past. The brutal, hard life he had lived that had shaped him into the man he was now.
And despite all that, how kind and compassionate he could be.
He was vicious, unflinching in his violence, and he was soft and gentle.
He was a combination of juxtapositions that made her feel less alone, as she too felt like an unsuited element of this world.
Though misguided, the purity of his feelings for her was unlike anything that she had ever experienced.
This was who he was and how he felt about her, laid out in plain speech at her feet.
"Strong," Nora grabbed his hand, "I can't tell you how you feel, but it sounds like you're describing love. I," her voice faltered, and she was shocked by the nervous lump in her throat. "I love you. I care about you more than anyone else, I think about you all the time, even in my dreams."
She smiled and fought the urge to laugh out of pure joy when realization dawned on his face that she was repeating his words back to him.
"When you get hurt, it hurts me too. When you rush into battle without a care in the world it scares me half to death." Nora reached out and cupped his cheek, and he leaned into her touch. "You are the most important person in the world to me."
She pulled her hand back and held his gaze.
"When you love someone, even though their safety means everything, you must live with that fear. That worry for them, caring about them, it's all part of the package. You have to love me enough to let me be free to live my life, to do the things that make me happy."
Nora pulled his hand close and brushed a kiss across his scarred knuckles.
"That happiness includes you, I want you by my side. Can you handle that, Strong?"
Strong stared at her with a vulnerability she had never seen before, an openness in his expression as he took the time to think about her words. His fingers flexed and he glanced down at her hands wrapped around his.
When he met her eyes once more, there was the finality of acceptance that seemed to ground him, and the panic from earlier left him.
"Yes."
A giddy weightlessness filled her as he leaned down to kiss her, resting his hands around the dip of her waist with a gentleness that made her heart skip. Nora reached up to caress the back of his neck, and Strong trembled at the feeling of her nails trailing lightly over his scalp.
Sweet kisses turned to hunger then, and Nora moaned when his teeth found her neck. Every bite and suck on the sensitive skin shot heat through her body until she was pressing herself against him. He lifted the hem of her sweater until her breasts were revealed, and cupped them with reverence, still surprised despite everything at how soft she was.
He took her nipple into his mouth and she gasped, flinching from the unexpected pleasure as the heat from his mouth made her moan his name. Strong growled in satisfaction and lifted the sweater off of her, pinching and licking until she was breathless and panting.
He nestled his fingers under the band of her shorts and pulled them down the curve of her thighs, her underwear following suit, tossed towards the messy pile of his armor.
She shivered and he leaned in again, the overwhelming heat of his body chasing away the chill of the night from her naked flesh. Strong trailed his lips down, nipping at the soft skin as he spread her legs apart to make room for him.
He skimmed the crease of her thigh with his nose and she couldn't help but flinch as his hot breath ghosted over her, open and exposed for him.
At the first touch of his tongue she was lost, jolting and whimpering as every touch made her breathless. Ecstasy heavy and sweet coursed through her, the heat between her thighs so intense she felt as if she was melting.
Strong pressed his palm across her belly to hold her still and groaned as she undulated under his mouth.
"Strong, please, ah," she moaned as he focused on her clit, struggling to hold her train of thought. "Use your fingers, I want to be ready for you."
Brief confusion flitted across his face before it was pushed aside by lust at the sight of Nora so helpless and lost in pleasure because of him. He inched his finger inside of her and felt her squeeze around him as she arched into his touch, gasping his name.
He moved his mouth back down to her and thrust his finger in and out, curling it the way she had liked the last time.
Nora cried out and grabbed his head, holding him against her with a desperation that warred with her desire to flinch away from the intensity of the sensations.
"More, please," she begged, and he worked a second finger into her tight, wet heat.
Nora felt the familiar tightening of her impending orgasm and desperately wanted to be ready for him before she finished. With each push of his fingers the discomfort of fullness lessened, and she barely managed to plead for more before her eyes fluttered shut.
Strong looked up at her then, dark and hungry as he eased in a third finger, and the stretch caused a twinge of pain before that melted into heat. Her desperate moans filled his ears as she squeezed tight around his fingers and bucked against him, waves of pleasure washing over her until she collapsed back against the couch, trembling with the aftershocks.
Strong reached under his lower armor and gripped himself, pulling hard and fast for a peak he felt was only a moment away when Nora stopped him.
"Wait," she panted and sat up, placing her hand over his. "Sit down, here," she touched the seat on the couch beside her, "let me take care of you."
Strong removed the last vestiges of his armor and sank into the couch, the vulnerability of being naked eclipsed by the prevailing cloud of lust that filled his being.
Nora knelt between his spread legs and peppered kisses down the hard planes of muscle that lined his thighs. He flinched at the soft brush of her lips and dug his fingers into the couch cushions, finding himself on the losing side of a battle to maintain some semblance of control.
She wrapped her hand around him gently and trailed her fingers up and down his length, running her tongue over the tip of him until he was breathless and shaking.
The soft, teasing touch was torturous, and it took every fiber of his will to not bury his fingers in the silkiness of her hair and thrust into her mouth until he was spent. He groaned in desperation and Nora took pity on him, pulling away to straddle his lap.
Strong stared at her transfixed, his chest rising and falling, wound so tight he was trembling with need. She let out a nervous breath and reminded herself she needed to stay as relaxed as possible.
Nora reached down and guided him until his tip was pressed into the soaking wet heat between her thighs and he growled, digging his fingers into the swell of her hips. She lowered herself onto him with such aching slowness that Strong wondered if he would survive the sweet torture of her tight heat gripping around him.
Nora gasped and leaned her head back as the stretch of him consumed her thoughts.
Unable to resist the display of the soft column of her neck, Strong leaned forward and nipped at the sensitive skin. He wrapped his arms around her and crushed her against him, and the mounting discomfort between her legs vanished.
The steadfast protection of his embrace sent shivers of pleasure up her spine and she relaxed into him, sinking down until he was nearly encased in her. He let out a harsh grunt and grit his teeth, not knowing how much more he could take, and yet hoping against it all that this sweet agony lasted forever.
Nora panted at the feeling of fullness and struggled to hold herself up on trembling knees.
She reached down to grab his hand and brought it up to her lips, taking his thumb between her teeth. His eyes grew heavy and dark as she laved the pad of his thumb with her tongue until wet, and then moved his hand down until his thumb was positioned against her clit. She guided him on how to touch her and then pulled her hand away, gasping as sweet tendrils of pleasure soon won over the ache of being stretched by him.
Before she could lose her nerve she sank all the way down and cried out, overwhelmed by the victory of him fully inside her.
The tenuous grip on his control snapped and Strong groaned, wrapping his hands around her waist and pulling her flush against him as he thrust up into her. Nora's eyes fluttered closed and she was breathless as he moved her up and down his length with a speed that left her mind spinning.
Each push of his hips felt deeper than the last and she soon felt a weightlessness she had never experienced before.
She surrendered control to him as he manipulated her body and trembled as the rise of the sweet, desperate tightening in her belly consumed her. She panted and moaned his name, pleading for what, she did not know.
Only for him to keep going, to carry her into fiery oblivion she felt was but a breath away.
In a fleeting moment of lucidity, Strong reached down and touched her as she had shown him, and Nora cried out in a surprise that transformed into ecstasy.
She tightened around him with such an intensity Strong's roar filled the room and he joined her seconds later, clutching her to him as he shook through the most intense release of his life.
Time seemed to stand still then, room filled with the heat from the dying embers that glowed in the ashes of the fireplace. The overlapping sounds of their recovering breaths blending with the faraway chorus of the ocean as it crashed into the shore.
Nora tried to sit up but couldn't, and so she settled back against him, boneless and sated.
Strong lifted his hand to trail his fingers up and down the column of her spine and his chest rumbled in satisfaction.
He lost track of how long they stayed on the couch, his fingers moving over the soft skin of her back in alternating patterns as he took the time to think over the events of the evening. When her breathing evened out he stood up, cradling her against him as he made his way up the stairs to the bed they shared.
Nora curled into him and he wrapped an arm around her, holding her close.
"When you love someone, even though their safety means everything, you must live with that fear… Can you handle that, Strong?"
Yes, for her, he could handle anything.
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Hello everyone, it is so wonderful to be back!
I just wanted to take a moment to say that every one of your wonderful comments were so lovely to read. You all are so kind, and your feedback has always been so encouraging and motivating.
I am very anxious to hear what you think of the chapter, please let me know if you feel like it!
I really hope you all liked it :)
Next chapter we'll see Nora and Strong receiving some surprising news from Preston - hope to have it posted before Christmas.