Page 127 of Temptation
Because she knew he was a killer.
“Just as I hope you know…” Sloane’s husky voice continued, “that I would do the same for you in a heartbeat. If you were taken, if you were threatened, I would never give up. I would find you. I would find the people who took you. I would make them pay.”
His heart rate kicked up.
“We are more alike than you seem to realize. Any darkness that you carry? Oh, Preston, that darkness does not scare me. It draws me closer. You control the dark. You make it do what you want, not the other way around. Don’t you see that? You are not like Adam. You will never be like him. You would never hurt anyone who was innocent. You would never terrorize or torture a woman or a child or anyone just because you wanted the sick thrill that came from breaking another human being. That isn’t who you are. You hunt. You protect. Protect. You save. You saved me in the woods.”
“You saved me….” He had to swallow. Twice. “When I first woke up in that coffin, and you kissed me.” He’d started to come back to life with her. No more just going through the motions. But actually feeling, wanting, yearning, needing…
Her.
“Adam would have killed us both.” Very definite words from Sloane. “If your nightmares haunt you with images of his death, please know this truth—he would have killed us both. The boy that he’d been was lost long ago. The man you saw in those woods was a serial murderer. He would have left me dead in that coffin. He would have watched you grieve and then he would have come for you. All along, you were his goal. He would not have stopped until you were in the ground.”
“I know.” She was warm against him. One of his hands slid over her thigh. The other remained near her waist. “I haven’t been dreaming about me being in the ground, not these last few nights.” That wasn’t the image that woke him up, sweat covering his body. “I don’t dream about killing him.” He didn’t.
“Then what is it? Before…you said it was me…”
“I’m too late,” he told her and that was what he feared the most. What he’d always fear. “You’re in the ground. They’d already buried you. By the time I dig you out, by the time I finally reach you, you’re cold and still.” Just like Bridget had been. “I can’t save you.”
“You did save me.”
You saved me, angel. But I am still terrified that I will lose you. I found you, I fell in love with you, and I don’t know what I’d do without you.
“And I’m not cold, Preston. Touch me, and you’ll see that.”
“I am touching you.” Her silken thigh was beneath his hand. Her?—
“No, touch me.” She caught the hand on her thigh. She moved it up higher, sliding it beneath the too big shirt. Up, even as she parted her legs.
His fingers brushed over her silken core.
“I’m not cold,” Sloane said again.
His jaw clenched.
“I will never be cold, not while I’m with you. I’m not afraid of you. I don’t think you’re some kind of twisted monster.” She guided his fingers.
They stroked over her clit.
A soft gasp came from her.
She pushed his fingers, making them dip into her. One finger. Two.
She moaned. “I…wouldn’t want a monster to touch me.”
She wasn’t guiding his fingers now. He was touching her the way he knew she liked. The way he liked. Strumming her clit. Rubbing her with his thumb. Pushing two fingers in and out of her tight, hot pussy. Making her ready.
She arched in his lap. Beautiful. Legs open. His fingers in her.
“I want you.” Breathy. “I love you, Preston.”
Those were the words he needed. If Sloane loved him, then he wasn’t irredeemable. If Sloane loved him, he had a future. He had hope.
If Sloane loved him…
Then I control the dark.
She was his tie. His anchor. His everything.
