Page 71 of Need

“Yes,” I croaked out. It was still so hard talking about this.

“I don’t believe it,” Cal said, but his words didn’t seem to be directed at anyone.

“Believe it,” Stephan said. “As long as Brianna feels he’s a danger, Jonathan Reeves cannot know where his daughter is.”

Cal’s gaze lingered on mine for a long time before he spoke again. “All right. I won’t say anything, but you have to know he’s not going to give up. He’s going to find her eventually.”

Stephan’s chest rose and fell harshly beneath me. “I know.”

Cal left a short while later, after promising not to mention anything to my father. For the rest of the evening, Stephan stayed close to me. He rarely let me out of his arms, let alone his sight.

We ate Chinese food curled up on the couch watching a movie. I didn’t watch much, and I don’t think he did either.

When the movie finished, he pulled me onto his lap. “I want to talk to you about what happened with Ross today.”

I nodded. I’d known this was coming.

“Do you know what triggered your panic?”

Yes, I knew. And looking back at it now, it seemed rather silly. “I was embarrassed,” I mumbled, ducking my face into his shoulder.

“What were you embarrassed about?” he asked, tucking my hair behind my ear.

“I got upset with Cal for continuing to think bad things about you, and I yelled at him. When I looked up, everyone was staring at me, and...”

“And you panicked.”

I nodded. “I didn’t know what to do. I just wanted to get away, to hide. The first thing I saw was the restroom, so I ran in there as fast as I could and locked myself in the back stall.”

His lips grazed my ear. “Thank you for calling me.”

“I didn’t know what to do. I just... I needed you.”

Stephan lifted my head so he could look into my eyes. “There is nothing wrong with you needing me.”

He caressed my jaw and lips with his thumb. Slowly that warm feeling I felt so often when he was near began to spread through my body, and the skin under his thumb tingled. There was no movement besides the slow and steady rhythm of his hand and our breathing. Time seemed to stop altogether.

My gaze dropped to his lips. He hadn’t kissed me since this morning. Cal’s being here had disrupted our routine, and I’d missed his welcome-home kiss.

He tightened his arms around me, and he slid the hand that had been on my face behind my neck, angling it up. My lips parted as his mouth made contact with mine. The kiss was slow, and he took his time as his tongue probed and explored. Heat from his body seeped into mine where we were connected, and his hand gripped the back of my head, pulling at my hair, bringing back the memory of my head in his lap.

He pulled away, breathing hard. His eyes had a warm glow to them as a smile spread across his face. I smiled back, even though my own breath wasn’t close to being back to normal yet.

“Are you ready for our shower?” he asked. His voice was abnormally low and husky.

“Yes,” I whispered.

He cupped my face and placed a kiss on my forehead before releasing me. “Go get your things and meet me in my room.”

I stood, and turned toward my room. As I did so, I felt his hand swat my butt. It wasn’t hard—more of a tap than anything—but it got my attention. I paused, stiff and waiting.

“Hurry.”

I wasn’t sure what had just happened, but I did as he said, and ran to my room.

Chapter Eighteen

Brianna

---