Disclaimer: This chapter contains a scene of sexuality.

Viewer discretion is advised.

I came awake to strong arms cocooning my body and soft breathing against my hair. Snuggling against the warmth, I sighed, content, until my brain kicked in and anguish tore through me. Violent sobs wracked my body as my memories surged and grief ripped me apart.

My mother was gone. Dead. And I had done nothing to save her. I had spent all day with Chelsea, ensuring I'd still have a friend to turn to, and lost my mother in return. I should have been there.

"Evelyn?" The gentle voice in my ear pulled me back from the edge of the chasm I teetered on.

Opening my eyes, I rolled over, heart racing, to face emerald eyes searing in their compassion. Flinging my arms around Zev, I clung to him, crying all the harder in his presence.

Cradled against his chest, I poured out my grief. Each beat of my heart more painful than the last, tears flowed, soaking his black t-shirt but he didn't mind.

Mixed emotions tumbled through me, each one bringing on a new onslaught of tears. Hatred and venom coursed through me, anger that my mother had been taken from me. Sorrow and misery crushed me. I had gotten to spend only a couple short months with her, and now I'd never get the chance to know her better.

I was outraged my life had been such a sick, cruel joke that beat me down at every turn. After everything I had been through, I thought I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel but had run headlong into the train barreling down the tracks.

I was tired and sick to death of the pain that ruled my life.

My screams muffled against his shoulder as my nails dug into his back. And still, he held me without complaint until the tears ebbed and my cries were spent.

Pulling away from Zev, I wiped my eyes and stared down at my hands, refusing to look at him. But as his weight eased from the bed, my eyes tore over to him, terrified he'd abandon me to drown in this sea of suffering.

"Where are you going?"

"I didn't want you to be alone when you woke up, but I know I'm the last person you want to see right now. I didn't want you to hurt any more than you already are." The soft moonlight reflected in his green eyes filled with sorrow.

He thought I was still mad -- that I hated him -- and still, here he was. His kindness touched me, lightening the weight in my chest. How could I hate him? It was obvious as the day I met him he cared about me. Cared maybe more than I deserved after how I'd treated him, and I couldn't push him away now. Not when he was all that was holding me together.

"Don't go, Zev. I need you here." Crawling across the bed, I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling myself against him and closing my eyes.

He wrapped his arms around me and laid his cheek atop my head. "I'm sorry I haven't been here. I should've been, but I couldn't take seeing the hurt and anger on your face and knowing I caused it."

Tilting my head up, I kissed his cheek with quivering lips. "I'm not mad, Zev. I thought I was, and I wanted to be, but I can't hate you. You weren't trying to hurt me and I forgave my -- I forgave my mother." The last part came out in a choked sob and I took a deep breath to steady my voice. "I forgave you a while ago too, just too late to tell you."

"Evelyn..." He caressed my cheek, sending a shiver down my back. His eyes searched my face as he brought his lips to mine, capturing them in a gentle kiss.

Like the glowing embers of a fire on a frigid night, he warmed my frozen soul, pulling me from the dark. My shriveled heart swelled, daring to beat with the strength of his passion.

*

Desperate to feel more than cold sorrow, I crushed myself to him, deepening our kiss while my hands danced from his shoulders to his waist, undoing his jeans.

He jerked his head back as I cupped him, his eyebrows furrowing above wide eyes. "What are you doing?"

"I'm sick of being sad and angry. I want to feel something other than numb and empty, and you make me feel, Zev. When you kiss me, my heart comes alive, you set fire to me. I need a respite from this pain. Don't turn me away now, give me a minute of pleasure so I can breathe, so I can feel whole again."

"I can give you a hell of a lot longer than a minute, Evelyn. If that's what you want." His lips trailed down my throat and his hands slipped under the fabric of my sweater, searing their way across my skin.

He grew hard in my hand as I massaged him, drawing a deep moan from his throat. Kissing him, I lowered and took him into my mouth. He hissed in pleasure, fisting his hands in my hair.

Pulling me back to his lips with a growl, he pulled my sweater off and nudged me back on the bed. Yanking my jeans off, he knelt in front of me. A teasing grin curled on his face and the blazing intensity in his gaze set my heart pounding as he slid off my underwear and his fingers stroked me.

Heat pooled between my legs and I gasped, throwing my head back as he dipped his mouth to my core.

Burying my hands in his silken hair, wave after wave of pleasure tore through me, heightening into blinding ecstasy, leaving me a panting, shuddering mess.

Watching him through half-lidded eyes as he stood, I sighed low in my throat.

His face curved into a wicked grin at my sound of contentment. "I'm not finished with you yet." Peeling off his shirt, he kicked off his jeans and stalked toward me. Crawling up my body, his lips traced a fiery trail across my skin.

Unclasping my bra, he slipped it off and cupped my breasts, and dipped his head to taste me, watching me with those piercing green eyes.

Biting my lip, I moaned at how good his tongue felt teasing me. The sensation of his stubble scraping my skin, heightening the pleasure.

The heat in his eyes seared me as he brought his lips to mine, capturing my mouth in a scorching kiss as he slid inside me. I cried out as lightning tore through me and clutched him to me, my nails biting into his shoulders.

Every thrust was pure bliss. Every inch of his sensual body slid against my skin, igniting me in a blaze of passion. Euphoria thrummed through my veins as I writhed against him. Each second more intense than the last, my breath came in gasps and I shuddered, screaming out as I burst into a blinding moment of ecstasy.

Faster and faster he drove into me, wringing every last drop of pleasure before joining me in my release. Collapsing beside me in a tangle of limbs, he kissed my neck and pulled me flush against his body.

*

My heart beginning to settle into its normal rhythm, I snuggled against him, tucking my head under his chin. The gentle rise and fall of Zev's chest lulled me while his hand stroked a lazy path up and down my spine, relaxing me into sleep.

As my eyelids drifted shut, the pain of my mother's death rushed back in, stealing my breath like a physical blow. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tightened my grip on Zev, clinging to him like a lifeline and breathed in a steady breath.

Enveloped in his warmth, strength infused me. And even as grief shredded me to bits, I patched up the holes and forced my heart to take its next beat.

Well... Zev is back. Is he here to stay?