Page 137 of Unleashed
I stand up and cup her face. Kiss her forehead. Long and slow and with everything I have.
"Come on, Goldie. Let's get you home."
"I still can't walk."
"I know."
I turn around and crouch. She stares at my back for a second, then laughs.
"A piggyback? Really?"
"You got a better idea? Your legs don't work. Your words, not mine."
She climbs on. Arms around my neck. Legs around my waist. Her face tucked into the curve of my shoulder. I hook my arms under her thighs and stand up. She weighs nothing. She always has.
The walk back through the desert is quiet. The moon's high. The air has cooled just enough that it feels good against my bare skin. Her breath is warm and steady against my neck, and every few steps she presses her lips to my shoulder. Small kisses. Sleepy ones. The kind that don't mean anything and mean everything.
"Ace?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For always making me feel safe. Even when you're scaring the hell out of me."
I tighten my grip on her legs. Press my cheek against the side of her head.
"That's the deal, pretty girl. That's always been the deal."
She nuzzles into my neck. I feel her smile against my skin.
We pass the boulders where she tricked me with the decoy breath. Pass the spot where she broke my grip and put me in thedirt. I make a mental note to check that knee when we get home. It's throbbing. She doesn't need to know that.
The parking lot appears ahead. The bar's still going. Music and laughter spilling out from the front. Nobody out back. Just the trucks and the flickering light and the gravel under my boots.
I walk her to the passenger side and set her down gently on the tailgate. She sits there, legs dangling, wearing my shirt and her boots and a constellation of marks on her throat that she'll have to explain to no one because she doesn't owe anyone a damn thing.
I stand between her knees. Push her hair back from her face. She looks up at me with those green eyes. Tired and glowing and so full of love that it makes my throat tight.
"You're staring," she says.
"I'm always staring."
"I know. I like it."
I kiss her nose. She scrunches it.
"Stay right here. I'm going to grab our beers."
"They'll be warm."
"I’ll get fresh ones."
I’m sure a few eyebrows will raise at the state of me walking in there. I look like I’ve had a brawl, not sex.
I back away from her. She catches my hand. Holds it until the distance stretches our fingers apart and they slip free.
