"for you"

My voice catches slightly, betraying how much his presence unsettles you. Elijah's lips curl into the barest suggestion of a smirk he's always known exactly how to affect me. He moves closer, near enough that the subtle tobacco on his skin mingles with the crisp cologne now forever associated with him. His hand lifts, hovering just inches from my waist where the delicate lace meets silk.

"Don't pretend you're surprised," he murmurs, rough and intimate. His other hand brushes a stray curl from your temple, the gentleness at odds with the storm in his dark eyes. "You knew I'd find my way back to you."

I retreat, the back of my legs bumping against the vanity chair. My breath hitches as Elijah advances with me, his body a wall of heat as he crowds me intimately against the vanity. His cologne fills my lungs as he towers before me. My fingers grip the chair's edge, nails digging into the silk-covered wood as I tilt my chin up to maintain eye contact.

"Elijah," I say, forcing the words through tight vocal cords. "I'm getting married."

His smirk widens, revealing teeth just slightly too sharp to be charming. "I know baby and you still let me in here" he counters, his large hand coming to rest against the wall beside my head. My heart pounds so hard I'm certain he must hear it. The space between us crackles with charged history, with unspoken things left unfinished between you. His dark eyes burn into mine, stripping away every defense I've built up over the years. The faint scruff along his jaw catches the light, the same jaw that used to nuzzle against my neck when we.....

No.... I shut that thought down ruthlessly.

"I have an hour before I walk down the aisle," I say, forcing steel into my words even as my pulse races. "Whatever this is, whatever you came here to say... do it quickly." our bodies still pressed intimately close.

His lips part in something between a smile and a grimace. "That's what you want?"

The words hang between us, his dark eyes searching mine for any trace of hesitation. My breath comes faster now, chest rising and falling visibly against the ivory bodice of my gown. The hand not braced against the wall rises, fingers brushing along the edge of my collarbone with terrifying gentleness. My skin prickles at the contact, heat spreading outward from his fingertips into my cheeks and chest.

"Because I don't think that's what you want at all." His voice drops to a murmur, lips nearly grazing the shell of my ear as he leans in. "I think you've been waiting for this."

A tremor runs through my body despite itself. I should push him away. I should remind him that you belong to someone else now. His breath is warm against my skin, sending shivers down my back as his thumb traces the hollow of throat. The space between us shrinks to nothing as he stands close enough that I notice the flecks of amber in his dark eyes, the slight dilation of his pupils as he watches my reaction.

"I think," he continues in that same rough whisper, "you've imagined this moment almost as much as I have." His other hand slides down the wall, fingers skimming along the vanity until they come to rest beside my hip. "Every night in that bed with him..."

My stomach twists violently at the implication. "Stop." The word comes out strangled and nearly breathless. My heart hammers against my ribs as Elijah's words carve through the years of carefully constructed walls. His fingers tighten where they rest on my hip, leaving no doubt about his presence.

The chapel clock ticks in the silence stretching between us. I can hear my own ragged breathing, feel every point of contact where my skin burns beneath his gaze. "I never stopped loving you Katie" he says, his word twisting my stomach more like a small dagger. "If you tell me to stop again I will but you have to mean it" he whispers in my ear sending goose bumps down my back and arms.

His lips that have been whispering his sweet words to me find my earlobe. I suck in a breath as his teeth graze the sensitive flesh, his mouth trailing down the column of my throat. The first brush of his lips makes my knees weak, and I hate how easily he pulls a reaction from me.

"No," you gasp, pressing back against the vanity as his mouth finds the dip where your neck meets my shoulder. "Elijah, I can't..."

"But you want to." His tongue flicks out, tasting the rapid pulse point at my collarbone. One hand slides fully around to my back, pulling me flush against him. I can feel every inch of his body through the thin fabric of my dress, the hard planes of his chest, the strength in his thighs pressing against mine, His thick erection that reminds me of every good moment we had together.

He pulls his head back his dark eyes meeting mine. My heart races so hard I feel as if it could give out at any second. My knees quake under my own weight as I look up at him.