It pressed the breath from my lungs, a frenzy of need that cascaded through my body.
Eclipsing all thought.
All reason.
It chased out everything but the sensation of this man.
Every cell aware.
Every nerve alive.
All of it burning for him.* * *Morning light spilled into my room. I stretched, my body so blissfully wrung out that I could have curled back up in my bed and stayed there forever.
The sheets smelled like him. His powerful aura still hung in the room.
Cedar and sex. Nothing but sweet, dominant man.
A smile took to my face, and I pulled the covers to my chest, relishing in the memories of last night.
He’d slipped out just before dawn, planting a kiss to my temple and a whisper of forever.
“Soulshine.”
Gnawing at my bottom lip, I tried not to dig too deeply into what that meant, and instead just focused on the fact that we had made it here. That we’d toppled our obstacles.
Decided we were worth the risk.
Fears trampled in a stampede of hope.
For the first time in so long, it was the biggest thing I felt.
Hope.
A future waited out ahead of me.
Lessons that had prepared me. Wounds that had fortified me. Moments that had added up to teach me what really mattered.
What I really wanted.
With that realization, I sat up. A piece of paper crinkled on the bed next to me.
My heart skittered in a race of anxious nerves, and I reached for the ripped scrap of paper, my eyes moving over the words that had been added to our song, the strains of the chorus becoming a melody in my head.
I’m in a free fall
Don’t let me drown
Years spent wasted
Waiting on you to catch up to me
Catching up to youI clutched the sheet of paper to my chest. Cherishing the words.
Cherishing the man I’d never expected.
Had never seen coming but had come at the perfect time.
Bursting with emotion, I reached over to my notepad and tucked the slip inside before I tossed off the thin covers, pulled on a pair of shorts and a tee, and twisted my sexed-up hair into a loose knot on top of my head.
I padded out into the hallway. Voices lifted from below, the smell of bacon and biscuits rising up to fill my senses with the most intense form of familiarity.
Home.
And I knew . . . I knew that’s what I wanted.
To build one.
Something beautiful and strong. Carved out of the cracks of both of our lives. Constructed by our deepest scars and our innermost desires. Fortified when given to the other.
I went into the bathroom at the end of the hall, brushed my teeth, and for a second, I stared at my reflection in the mirror.
Bright pink cheeks, eyes wide, lips swollen.
My chest squeezed with affection
I unlatched the door so I could head downstairs. Halfway out, I tripped over my feet.
Royce was right outside the door.
The man wore a sleepy grin and no shirt, and my tummy was doing crazy, needy things, shivers racing and that pink on my cheeks heating to an inferno.
With a smile ticking up at the corner of his mouth, he edged forward, stealing my breath, filling my lungs, those eyes knowing and playful when he murmured, “Morning, gorgeous.”
My teeth clamped down on my bottom lip to keep myself from going giddy. “Good mornin’.”
“You sleep okay?” Affection, all mixed up with a dose of amusement, danced across his face. I figured I’d better play along.
“Oh yes . . . the best sleep I’ve had in a long, long time.” I drew it out, acting as innocent as I could.
“Hmm. Something must have worn you out.”
I lifted my chin, gave him a smile. “No, actually, I was resting up because I figured I was just gettin’ started.”
A smirk took hold of his face. So decadent. A promise of the most delicious sort of sin. His voice dropped an octave, so deep and slow. “Is that so?”
I nodded erratically.
He angled down, faster than I could make sense of it, pinning me to the wall. He rocked his hips forward, his hard, massive erection straining behind his jeans.
I gasped at the sensation.
“Don’t say you didn’t ask for it,” he warned.
Need blazed a path through my body. This was so not good for first thing in the morning, right out in the open in my parents’ house.
Still, I couldn’t help but pitch my head back to meet his eyes, to taunt him a little in the way he was taunting me. “I’m not asking for it. I’m beggin’ for it.”
Dropping his forehead to mine, he groaned a needy sound, though I could feel the force of the smile that was splitting his face. “What I’m going to do to you, sweet girl.”
“I can’t wait,” I murmured back.
When a door slammed from somewhere downstairs, I jumped, then grinned, figuring it was best to detangle myself from him before I let the moment get carried away. “I’ll see you downstairs.”