Page 21 of Take Me Wildman
“Before I could fall in love with you?” I whisper, suddenly nervous. “Well, it’s too late for that.”
“Rosalie. Fuck!” He runs an impatient hand through his hair, gripping tight before releasing it with another curse. “I can’t give you anything more than what has already happened between us.”
“Do you regret it?”
“Fuck, no—”
“Then why—”
“Because I can’t!” Frustration rolls off him in waves. His jaw clenches tight and his eyes narrow to slits when they lock on mine. “I warned you, Rosalie. I told you I couldn’t give you more, and you told me you understood.”
“Because of your partner?” A muscle jumps in his jaw, but I don’t miss the brief flash of pain in his eyes. “Are you scared about losing me too?”
“Don’t,” he hisses when I step forward..
“Because I’m scared too,” I say, letting every feeling show. “You saw it, how it nearly broke me when I thought I would never see Kristin again. Do I stop being her friend now, so the next time something terrible happens, it hurts less?”
“Goddamnit, Rosalie!”
“I get that you’re afraid of going through that kind of pain again. Of feeling the devastation of losing someone you care about,” I say, stepping up to him before he can create any more distance between us. “Does that fear outweigh than the feelings you have for me?”
“I never said anything about feelings—”
“Then look me in the eye and tell me you don’t have any feelings for me, and I’ll leave.” I would be heartbroken, but Kristin is right, this is worth the risk. So I wait for the pain of his confession. When it doesn’t come, hope blooms in my chest.
“If you knew the ending, would you trade the decade you spent with your partner? Erase all the memories of the lives you saved, people you helped, and the milestones you shared?” I wrap my arms around his midsection and drop my head to his chest. Tears flood my eyes, and I’m surprised I have any left in my system. “I could get struck by lightning tomorrow morning or suffer a heart attack at ninety. Whatever my fate, I don’t want to lose a moment of my life regretting what could’ve been. Do you?”
He’s silent for a long moment as my words float between us. The morning sun is warm on our skin, but there is still a chill in my heart. A fear that my words won’t matter to him. That maybe his grief goes too deep for me to reach him.
But then, his arms come around me, pulling me tighter against him.
“Fuck,” he hisses under his breath, so much emotion in his voice that I feel the ice around my heart crack and fall away. “I couldn’t bear it if I lost you.”
“I’m here now. That’s all that matters.”
He pulls back, cupping my face and staring down at me. The emotion on his face is so clear and loud that I know the words are coming before I hear them. And still, when he utters them, my heart jumps in my chest.
“I love you, Rosalie,” he chokes out, brushing his lips over mine. “It’s careless and foolish of me, but goddamnit, I’ve fallen in love with you.”
“Me too.” I sniff as the tears finally fall. “You broke my heart when you left.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t...I didn’t...” He shakes his head, his hands dropping to my bottom and squeezing my ass cheeks, pulling me against him so I can feel the hard press of his erection. “Let me make it up to you.” His lips slide over mine, sending the butterflies in my tummy fluttering wildly. “Let me apologize properly, little bird.”
“Here?”
“Here,” he growls against my lips, snatching me off the ground and carrying me to the entrance of the house. I gasp into the kiss when my back hits the door, but his mouth is attacking mine before I can catch my breath. “Fuck, I need you so much.”
“Beau, we’re in the open.”
“One of the perks of living in the middle of nowhere,” he growls against my lips before kissing me again.
His mouth moves to my neck, his hands squeezing my ass cheeks as he kisses my throat, licking under my ear and sending goose bumps licking up my skin. I stroke my hands over the hard muscles of his back even as I rock forward to ride his cock over our clothes, my sex aching from emptiness, pulsing wetly with need for him.
“Want you,” I whisper, dropping a hand between us and tugging restlessly at the waistband. “God, need you, Beau. Inside me. Now.”
“Fuck!” he growls, lowering me to my legs. His hand slips into my skirt and tugs down my panties, yanking them down my thighs as my hands move to unfasten his jeans. His hands slide beneath my thighs and he lifts me again, pinning me against thedoor. His breath is harsh against mine as he positions himself, and a pleasured cry leaves my lips at the sudden fullness.
His eyes meet mine as he slams forward, burying his thickness inside of me. The eye contact is so intimate, even more than the last time we came together. But it’s freaking wrong to be doing this out here in the open. Still, I can’t bring myself to care. Right now, it’s just us in the world.
