Page 270 of Forged in the Fire
Aglow.
Aflame.
So hot I was worried she might burn through the polar icecaps.
I resituated her underwear then stood, scraping my palms up and down the outside of her thighs, trying to bring us back down to solid ground.
But there was no tranquility. Not when I knew what had to be done.
Brinley Webber wasn’t a fucking secret, and I wouldn’t go into tomorrow’s raid with any of my men still believing she was a pawn in this game.
“Are you okay?” The words were coarse.
A strangled laugh worked out of her. “I think you’re intent on breaking me, Silas Mercer.”
I cracked her a soft grin and ran my knuckles along the sharp line of her jaw. “Don’t act like you can’t handle me. Bravest, fiercest woman I’ve ever met.”
“Made for you,” she murmured on a breath.
My knuckles traced the defined ridges of her lips. “That’s right. Made for me. Written for me just like I was written for you. Etched so fucking deep that I know you were marked there long ago, and I think I’d been unknowingly searching for you ever since. Swear my soul recognized you the second I saw you.”
A wistful smile played across her entire face, and the love that we’d found pounded around us.
A snare.
A base drum.
A beat of life.
“I felt you everywhere. Swirling around me and gliding right under my skin,” she whispered.
“Guess it’s true what they say. Hearts always find their way home.”
“And I’m so thankful I found you.”
I swept the pad of my thumb over the sharp cut of her cheek, then I edged back and resituated myself back into my jeans.
Taking her by the hand, I weaved our fingers together. A knitting that couldn’t be undone. “Come on.”
Her cheeks pinked as she slipped off the table and onto those heels, and one of her lush curls brushed my jaw as she leaned into me. “I’m sorry that we came here. I just…I really needed to see you.”
Worry gushed from her spirit.
I turned her to face me and tipped up her chin. “Everything’s going to be okay. I promise you.”
That oath was cemented inside me.
It had to be. This all had to be put to an end because it was time that all of us lived.
Hurricane eyes flashed, tenderness glistening in the flecks. I stood there in the emotion rustling between us before I swallowed hard and turned on my boot, still holding onto her hand as I led her out the door.
The massive, ominous wood clanged shut behind us, and I squeezed her fingers in mine as I hauled her all the way down the hall and to the swinging door that led into the bar.
I didn’t hesitate.
I shoved it open and dragged her through it.
Our fingers bound because our souls were tied.
