Page 53 of Love What's Left
I shake my head, take a deep breath, and try again. “I’m sorry. You did nothing wrong. Your family . . . will want me . . . to stay away from you.”
“They’re your family too, not just mine. And not one of them would do anything differently than I just did.”
I grew up knowing my place. I was extraneous. Disposable. It doesn’t make sense to keep me around under the circumstances.
“I’m grateful for your loyalty, but I don’t understand it,” I say slowly.
“Loyalty is the bare minimum.” He approaches, crouching in front of me, and lifts his hand. “May I?”
I nod, the motion jerky and filled with tension.
His palm comes to rest on the side of my neck, his fingers curling around my nape, under my hair, warm and strong as his thumb skates over my cheekbone. “I know what you heard and remembered scared you.”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I whisper.
His lips quirk with a cocksure smile. “If you think you’re bad, I’m badder.”
“Badder isn’t a word.”
My husband is the good guy here. If he’s a government operative or part of some black ops organization, I don’t want to know. Not if there’s a single chance the doctor could be right about me, and what I’m capable of. McRae needs to keep his secrets safe from me.
“I have to go away. I have to protect you,” I say.
21
Gabriel
Imake a sound low in my throat, my gaze on her mouth. “Don’t run, wife. Not to protect me. I’ll follow you into hell itself. I’m never giving up on you. Not in this life or the next.”
Her breath catches. Her scent, citrus and vetiver, curls through me. Her eyes, warm but ferociously intense, glint in the ambient light. I move my thumb down to brush over her lush bottom lip.
Opening her mouth, she draws my thumb inside and sucks.
Pure lust rages through me, my cock hardening to steel in an instant. My gaze flies from her lips to her eyes then back again.
“Fuck,” I breathe and slide my thumb in farther. Pull it nearly out, then press it back inside again for her tongue to curl around.
She sucks harder, her eyes on mine. When she releases me with a wet pop, my chest heaves as though I just sprinted ten miles.
I couldn’t stop myself even if I wanted to. She’s the shore, and I’m the tide rolling in. This moment was always inevitable.
She leans closer, and I move to my knees, sliding my hand from her neck to cradle her head.
I need her kiss. I’m dying for the feel of her skin against mine. My mouth on hers. The sweet tangle of our tongues.
Both of us have our adrenaline running hot after the confrontation with the doctor. At this moment, her desire could be nothing more than gratitude. I saw it in her eyes. She thought I would send her away somewhere she’d not only be behind locked doors, but where she’d be kept from me. Somewhere it would be impossible to truly protect her.
It was never going to happen. Not after I saw her fear. But I don’t need her fucking thanks. I need mywife.
Her breathing hitches, her lips full and damp as she sways closer. Everything in me coils in readiness to take her. Sink into her.
One slow, wet kiss. I’ll allow myself that much. I can stop there.
Our mouths meet, and the first contact lights me on fire.
Patience, you asshole. Slow down.To her, this is our first kiss, not a reunion. I try to respond gently to her enthusiasm. Try.
But the moment her hands land in my hair, and she spreads her thighs on either side of my waist and yanks me against her, it’s too much to fight. No one could. Holding myself back from her is like trying to leash-train a mountain lion.
