Page 112 of Her Summer Hope

Madison blinked back tears, overwhelmed by the depth of love and acceptance in his gaze. "I don't know what I did to deserve you."

"You were you." Kyle smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You’re all I've ever wanted. Everything you’ve been through has made you who you are today."

She slid her hands over the ridged scars on his torso, scars that spoke of sacrifice and courage in the face of unimaginable pain. "You're one to talk. The things you've endured..."

“I never told you about McClellan,” he said after a moment’s hesitation.

“McClellan? Like your chalet?”

He nodded. “I named the chalet, and my foundation, McClellan’s Hope, after a man named James McClellan.”

The way he said it, so stoically and so heartbreakingly solemn, told her all she needed to know about what happened to him.

“James was another man on our team. He made it home without too many physical scars, but he blamed himself for some things that happened with Murdock. He…couldn’t cope. Took a quick way out, violent. I blame myself because I didn’t see it in time. The others, they did too. Murdock maybe most of all.”

“What happened to him?” Madison asked, feeling her throat tighten up as she thought about the massive guilt Kyle and the others must have been living with.

And Murdock…poor Cal.

“Shot himself. John and I, we found him in his apartment a couple days later. I don’t want to talk about it anymore right now, but I thought you should know. Wanted you to know. Sometimes Murdock gets into a mood. Hell, maybe we all do, but that’s a big part of why.”

She wrapped her arms around him and he rested his head on her breast and listened to her steady heartbeat. “And that’s why you were so driven to provide a place for people like Aiden and Jace.”

He nodded. “And because I needed something too. After I thought I was done fighting, I came back and found that we were all still fighting, maybe in a different way, but just as bloody and violent as before. It gave me the focus I needed at the time.”

“And now?”

He moved up to rest on an elbow. “Now, I’m right where I was supposed to end up all along. Now, I have you.”

Madison couldn’t help the tears that welled up in her eyes.

"Don't dwell on the past." Kyle tilted her chin up, forcing her to meet his eyes. "What matters is here and now. You and your kids are my future, Madison. My reward for surviving hell."

"I love you so much." She stretched up to kiss him, slow and sweet. "Thank you for loving me as I am."

"Always." After several long moments, where he ran his hands up and down her sides, memorizing her curves and causing her to shiver, Kyle rolled her beneath him again, desire darkening his eyes to midnight. "Now, our mission here has a strict time limit. Are you ready for round two?"

Madison laughed, desire stirring low in her belly at the hard length pressed against her hip. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for another kiss.

"Absolutely."

Kyle reached for another condom on the nightstand and tore the packet open with his teeth, staring down at her with a hungry gleam in his eyes. Madison's breath caught as he rolled the latex down his rigid length, her core clenching in anticipation.

When he positioned himself at her entrance, he paused, searching her face. "Last chance to change your mind." His lips quirked up at the corners. "I won't hold it against you if you're not up for another round."

Madison rolled her eyes, even as warmth flooded her at his teasing. Trust Kyle to find a way to lighten the mood. She hooked her leg around his hip and arched up, gasping as he slid into her slick heat in one smooth thrust.

"Does that answer your question?" She dragged his mouth down to hers, moaning into the kiss as he began to move. Slow, deep strokes that had her trembling and clutching at his shoulders.

"Sassy." Kyle nipped at her lower lip, his rhythm intensifying. "You'll be the death of me yet."

"No way. I’ll never let you go," Madison shot back, clenching around him as ecstasy began to build.

She cried out, back arching, as his fingers slipped between their joined bodies to stroke her.

Kyle groaned, burying his face in her neck as his hips bucked. "That's it, baby. Come for me again." His breath was hot against her skin, his voice rough with passion. "I want to feel you come apart around me again. One more time."

His words shattered the last of her restraint and she came with a sob, her inner walls convulsing around Kyle's thrusting length. He stiffened against her, growling out her name as he followed her over the edge.

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