Emotion surged into the room.
And she was whimpering, her cries tiny whispers, “I love you, Royce. I love you so much. You kept me from falling apart. Caught up to me at exactly the right time.”
I pressed a hand to her chest, my mouth at her ear. “You are everything.”
She spread her hand over mine as I stroked her, and I turned her a fraction so I could look at her all spread out in the mirror.
The picture of everything I’d wanted and never thought I’d have.
Her pants increased, her little body winding tight, and she was clamping down on me. I thrust deeper, harder as she rode out her orgasm that I could feel racing across my flesh. Her pleasure mine.
Pricks of it scraping my flesh, arrows that impaled, the barbs of her spirit sinking into mine.
Forever.
My balls tightened, shivers of ecstasy gathering at the base of my spine.
Fierce.
Powerful.
It burst.
Bliss sped through my veins, so intense the only thing I saw was this girl’s light.
I grunted as I came, clutching her sides as I poured into her body, her walls clutching, sucking me deeper.
Sweat slicked our skin, our breaths shallow and fast, as fast as our thundering hearts. I hugged her close, pressed my face into the thrumming pulse of her neck. “I love you, Emily.”
She turned her head, nuzzling her cheek into my face. “I love you, Royce.”
Heaving out a sigh, I pulled out of her, tugged up my pants, and moved over to the sink. Wetting a cloth, I cleaned myself before I grabbed a fresh towel, ran it under the water, and moved back over to her. I pressed it between her thighs, cleaning her, hoping she’d know I’d always take care of her.
She braced herself on my shoulders, casting a nervous glance up at me. “Are you ready for this?” she whispered, her voice sounding of cautious excitement.
Not even fucking close.
A roll of anxiety slipped beneath the surface of my skin. A shudder of unease. “Are you?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she said with a tiny smile, trust filling her green eyes. “I’m ready to do this. With you. Because of you. Because you reminded me of who I want to be. And tomorrow . . . I’m going to the police.”
Everything clutched. My heart and my spirit and my mind.
My love for her up against my love for Anna. How could I separate the two?
The words pooled on my tongue, the confession that going to the police tomorrow was already going to be too late.
Instead of releasing them, I touched her chin. The most adoring caress. “You are the warrior, Emily Ramsey.”
Held, she gazed at me through the leaping shadows before she shook herself out of it. “I should change. I think you might have ruined my dress.”
That time, her tone went coy, low with playful seduction.
She grabbed a simple white floral dress that hung from her wardrobe rack.
“Let me help you with that,” I murmured. I took her by the shoulders and turned her around, slowly unzipped the golden dress, and let it drop to her feet.
She breathed out a sigh.
Turning her back around to face me, I slipped the dress over her head, situated it on her sweet body. Reaching out, I brushed my thumb across her cheek, gazing at this girl who I would do anything for. “Before we step out that door, I need you to know one thing, Emily. Know that everything I do, I do it for the people I love. Whatever you do, don’t forget it. And second? Don’t leave my side.”Twenty-FiveEmilyThe limo eased down the long driveway that led to Reuben Carmichael’s home. If that’s what you wanted to call it. The massive estate was spread out at the back of a sprawling lawn that seemed to go on forever, tucked behind a ten-foot gated wrought-iron fence. Abundant, flourishing trees surrounded the perimeter of the opulent residence.
Nerves rattled me to the bones.
Reuben Carmichael was one of the most successful country singers of all time.
A legend.
And we’d been invited to his house for the afterparty.
Richard let out a low whistle as the car eased around the colossal fountain with a statue of an angel in full flight. It appeared to be hovering over the gush of water spurting from the cascading pool, streaming arches lit up in hues of pinks and blues and greens.
“So this is how the other half lives,” Richard mused as he peered out, my brother as anxious as could be, his knee bouncing at warp speed as we came to a stop.
This was it.
We all knew that it was.
After tonight’s performance, we had reached a pinnacle. The peak we’d been climbing toward for years. It was time to sign away our souls in the hopes that we were appointing them to something better.
One way or another, our lives were about to change.