Page 35 of Saving Scarlett

Although I wanted to make it last all night, it was too fucking good, so I was seconds away from exploding when I heard her soft whisper. “Come inside me.”

Her words sent me over the edge, groaning into her neck as I did exactly what she demanded without a second thought. If she got pregnant, I would only worship her more. As I released inside her welcoming body, it was a torrent of sensation that robbed me of my breath.

When the tremors stopped, I collapsed on top of her, my arms on either side of her shoulders. Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at me, her beauty taking my breath away.

The moment was so perfect I didn’t want to ruin it by speaking, so instead I chose to lie there with her in the firelight. As the blaze crackled in the background, Scarlett and my limbs intertwined. With me still inside of her, not wanting to leave her warmth, our bodies moved to the rhythm of the flames. I kissed her shoulder, her neck, her lips, savoring the taste of her as I pulled her closer… and closer.

When I finally stopped thrusting inside her, sated and exhausted, her breathing was slow and steady as she lay on her side, looking up at me with a smile on her face that told me she felt the same way.

Smiling back, I looked into her eyes, my heart pounding as I saw a wisp of fear still floating in their depths.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” I said, brushing a stray hair off her forehead and kissing her on the lips. I wanted to say more, but I didn’t know how. All I knew for sure was that I couldn’t get enough of her. She was mine.

Closing her eyes, she nodded, her body rising and falling with every breath as she drifted off to sleep. My eyes moved over her while she slept, barely able to believe that she was there with me.

“I love you,” I whispered, surprised when the words left my mouth as easily as if I was taking a breath. Although I’d never said them to any woman aside from my sister and mother, I knew deep down in my heart that they were true.

As I closed my eyes, I listened to the sound of her breathing, wrapping my arm around her and pulling her closer. All I could think was that I never wanted to let her go, and I hoped I would never have to.

Chapter 31

The Survivor

Footsteps , the crunch of leaves under heavy boots, woke me from a deep sleep. My heart seized, pulling me up from my safe place in the bed where Bane and I had made love.

In an instant, he was on his feet, his body coiled tight as a spring. His eyes met mine, his finger signaling toward our clothes and his weapons as the other lifted to his mouth.

I nodded as he moved, slipping to the floor between the bed and the wall, my pulse pounding in my ears, not understanding how they’d tracked us to the cabin so quickly. But unless it was someone checking into the cabin in the middle of the night, or a very curious bear, it was our pursuers.

A moment later, he slid my clothes to me, pulling on his own as he positioned himself between me and the entrance.

The footsteps halted just outside the cabin door. If there had been any question it could have just been a camper, coming to check into the cabin for a getaway, that thought was dashed the second we heard the click of a gun cocking. Bane’s jaw clenched, his muscles taut.

Heart dropping into my stomach, I sucked in a breath, watching him quietly. There was so much I wanted to say. I wanted to beg him not to sacrifice himself for my sake, because I knew that was exactly what he intended to do, but before I could speak, the door burst open, and all hell broke loose.

Bane moved with calculated precision as the five armed men flooded into the cabin. His fist smashed into the first man’s nose in a spray of blood, bones crunching from the impact. Before the man knew what was happening, Bane grabbed the man’s gun, turning it on the others who were just realizing their ambush had failed.

Gunshots split the air as he opened fire, dropping two more men in quick succession. The remaining men scattered for cover, returning fire. Using the furniture as a shield, Bane fired back, holding his own against multiple adversaries.

Unable to tear my eyes away, I huddled behind the bed, hands pressed over my ears. I had never seen anything like it. He was death incarnate, an unstoppable force of vengeance cutting down anyone who stood in his path, but the men kept coming, wave after wave. No matter how many he gunned down, more appeared to take their place. It was clear they were wearing him down. I could see exhaustion creeping into the corded muscles of his back, his breath coming harder. He wouldn’t last much longer at the pace it was going, and it terrified me. For the life of me, I didn’t understand what they wanted. There was no reason for my husband to put so much effort into finding me. It just didn’t make any sense.

As Bane moved to refill his magazine, a shot caught him in the shoulder, making him stagger. Biting back a scream, my fingers dug into the floorboards. His eyes found mine through the chaos, full of fury and regret. I knew then what that look meant. It was a fight he couldn’t win, but he would die on his feet before he let them take me.

Tears blurred my vision. I wanted to run to him—to fight at his side—but I was frozen where I crouched. I was powerless as the men closed in for the kill.

The circle of enemies tightened around the man I loved, their guns leveled at his head. His muscles trembled with exhaustion, soaked in blood and sweat, but his icy eyes burned with defiance. He would not make this easy for them.

With a guttural roar, he surged forward, his knife finding throats and stomachs. The gunshots were deafening in the small cabin, and I couldn’t tell if the screams were his or theirs.

Then, when he rose to his feet to run to me, a blow to the back of his head sent him crashing to his knees. I cried out as the group of men swarmed him, raining down blows until he lay crumpled and unmoving in a heap on the floor.

“No! Bane!” I screamed, but rough hands seized my arms, dragging me from my hiding place. Straining against the iron grips holding me back, I fought with nails and teeth, but it was useless. They shoved me toward the door, heedless of my screams.

“Bane!” My heart splintered in my chest as I tried to throw myself on Bane’s body. I was desperate to end his suffering, but they yanked me to my feet and held me back, kicking and screaming. His eyes flickered open, dazed with pain, focusing on my face. I saw his lips shape my name, his hand reaching for me, but no sound came out before they forced me from the cabin and into the cold rain. The last glimpse I caught of my savior was his body lying broken amidst the carnage, my heart shattering with it, but I swore to myself if I made it out of this alive, I would find my way back to him. No matter what it took. In the short time I’d known him, he’d become everything to me. There was no way I could just walk away from him—pretend like none of it had ever happened—even if I did get out of it somehow.

I stumbled through the dark woods, prodded along by the barrel of a gun. Rain poured down in sheets, plastering my hair to my face and mingling with the tears on my cheeks. Sobs wracked my body, as much from fear as grief. I didn’t know if Bane was alive or dead. The not knowing was a knife twisting in my gut.

When we came upon a clearing where several SUVs idled, headlights cutting through the gloom, an older man in a suit with dark sunglasses stood waiting, an oily smile spreading across his face at the sight of me. I didn’t know who he was, but anyone wearing dark sunglasses on a rainy night was a psycho.

---