“What are you doing here?” I question, only now realizing that my hand is still on his thigh. I slide it away, dropping it off his leg and into the grass, both of us watching it as though the movement is dangerous enough to kill.
The Slade I was talking to last night at the party would have been on his feet and halfway down the street by now, but he remains, not taking his gaze off my hand that picks at the blades of grass by my feet.
“I didn’t mean to stay,” he murmurs, reaching for my hand and then pulling back and making my heart squeeze in the worst kind of way. “I started to leave but the image of Lucien dragging you away kept flashing in my mind. He’s too close. I couldn’t risk him coming back for you.”
Words get stuck in my throat as I try to unjumble my thoughts. What does this mean? Why does he even care? Are we together or are we not? And damn it, why does he keep wanting to protect me if he said he was done?
“I…” I start before letting the words fall flat. I really don’t know what to say so I stick with the only appropriate thing in our fucked-up situation. I lower my voice to a barely audible whisper, knowing that he’s so damn in tune with me that it wouldn’t even matter what I say, he’d be able to read me like a book. “Thank you.”
His dark, tiresome gaze slowly sweeps up from my hand and as it finally reaches my own, he finally lets me in. He’s so damn broken but more than that, he’s terrified of what this could mean, terrified of losing me, terrified of his family getting hurt, and terrified of who he is.
My heart aches watching him and the second he reaches for me, I fly into him, straddling his lap and curling my body into his as my arms snakes around his neck.
Slade drops his face into the curve of my neck and I realize that all this time, all he needed was a fucking hug.
He holds me tight and at this moment, I feel as though he’ll never let me go. I feel as though I’m everything he’ll ever need in this word. In fact, maybe I’m exactly that. I’ve been needing this connection with him more than I ever knew. He’s my whole fucking world and being apart from him, not being able to hold him has torn me to shreds.
My heart races in his arms and for the briefest moment, everything is right in the world. How could he not want this? We’re so right together. He’s my other half.
The realization hits me hard; I am in love with Slade Cruz.
I am so damn over the moon, excruciatingly in love with this man. How could I have not figured it out? I knew I was heading down this path but maybe it wasn’t until I saw the man sleeping in the grass and going to all lengths to protect me that I truly understood what it was. All I know is that to be out of his arms with his heart not belonging to me would be the worst kind of torture.
I love him. I‘m so fucking in love with him.
I don’t know how much time passes, all I know is that I hold him tighter and tighter as every second passes by. I need this man in my life like I need to breathe. I don’t want to be that cliché bitch who says he completes me but…you know, I think he might.
Shit. I wish I was stronger to not have to feel this way but apparently, I’m only human.
What am I going to do if he pushes me away? I knew it last night. I tried to convince myself that he was too cruel to fall in love. Sure, he might lust for me, might like me a little more than the last girl, but love? I don’t think that’s a possibility when it comes to Slade Cruz.
When I first met him, falling in love was the furthest thing from my mind and as I got closer, it was about the way he made everything bad fade away. But love? I’m in real trouble here. He’s always had the potential to break me, but now…now he has the ability to destroy me.
When Slade finally pulls his head from the curve of my neck, he presses a kiss to my forehead and then leans back against the house. The early morning sun beams down on his face, turning his deep, dark eyes to delicious honey that has me drowning within their depths. “We shouldn’t be doing this,” he murmurs, making my heart clench.
Don’t do this. Please, don’t do this.