Page 51 of Forbidden Heroes

Spoiler alert, he’s mine too.

He wraps his fingers around mine and lowers my hands away from his shirt. I think he’s going to refuse me, but I’m surprised by what he says next.

“Allow me.”

With each button he slowly reveals a piece of him I’ve craved to see, taste, touch forever, and I’m not imagining the heat behind those dark, fiery eyes the lower he gets.

I take a big shaky breath and shove aside any thought or idea of wrongness that should keep us apart. “Now allow me.” With the buttons undone and the sides of his shirt hanging open, I step close and run my hands under the lapels and peel away the sides as I’ve imagined doing for forever.

As the shirt drops into his open hands, my bottom lip falls open at the glorious sight of the man I love. And that’s when I realize the power behind those words.

I slowly run my hands over tanned, deeply corded tattooed muscles and my mouth waters to lick each dark line. “Gideon Blackthorne, you are a beautiful man,” I whisper in awe, taking him in for the first time.

“The tattoos?”

“Are to cover the burns I suffered trying to pull my mother from the fire,” he confirms my suspicions in a husky voice, and my heart breaks for the man trying so hard to do right by so many.

Tears well and fall down my cheeks. “I am so sorry.” But my words sound so light compared to the pain he had to have suffered.

His strong arms wrap around me in comfort of the pain he suffered, and it doesn’t seem fair. I rise to the tips of my toes and press my lips to his ear. “I love you.”

When I pull back, the gravity of my words reflect in his eyes. “I don’t know if you know this or not, but I’ve loved you since the day you walked through the classroom door replacing Dr. Cobbs. I just didn’t recognize the connection my heart wanted to make to yours with that one simple look you slid my way. Or maybe it was that first smile that swept me off my feet. But I know for sure on the day you comforted me about my virginity. You were so tender and kind to me.”

He leans in and kisses my forehead. “You were an angel in need and now you’re my angel to care for and protect. And the first time I saw you. Fuck me,” he growls. “My cock throbs at the memory of you in that tight jean skirt and red shirt. Honest to God, I had no idea plaid could look so sexy until I saw you sitting there like a personal invitation for me to sin with.”

“You liked that country look, huh,” I tease. “Wait ‘till you see me in my mandatory red polka dotted bikini this summer.”

“Mandatory, huh?”

“Yes, Professor.” I work up my best Elly May voice. “Every good Southern girl has one.” I wink, enjoying seeing his eyes light up.

I laugh softly.

He takes my chin between his fingers. “I have a small confession of my own. I only took on Dr. Cobb’s class because of you. I saw you walking the halls with your head down and the troubles of the world in your eyes. Then I sat in on Dr. Cobb’s class and watched your brilliance come to life as you talked about, I think it was phobias. I’m not too sure. I was distracted. I couldn’t look away from the way your hair bounced when you spoke and that tiny Southern lilt coloring to your words. Sexy as fuck. The next day I encourage Dr. Cobbs to take early retirement and promised him his full pension plus thirty percent if he did.”

“You did what? You’re such a dirty perv.”

“What can I say, I like to help people. Speaking of, you must be hungry. Let me feed you and then I’ll bathe that beautiful body. After I tend to your current needs, I’ll be making a few calls and fixing your botched scholarship. There’s no way you only earned a partial and the board is going to hear about it.”

He’s leading me through his home when I tug on his hand and pull him to a stop.

“Gideon, I do not expect anything from you. You know that, right? That is not what anything we share is about.”

“You can’t just expect me to stand by and not help you.” His brows pinch into a line of stubbornness, and I know this is going to come down to a battle of wills. Well, he’s about to find out just how stubborn a Georgia girl is.

“And you can’t expect me to want a handout.” I pull out of his light touch before I fall for all the promises his words offer. Money is not what I want from him, and I won’t risk him thinking that in the slightest.

He swings me around and pins me to the wall with his arms locked on either side of my head. It’s hard to stop thinking about them wrapped around me, holding me close as he takes my body on a wild pleasure ride again. But I manage.

“Anything I do for you is from the heart, Rosalee. I want to help you so you can help others. Think of it as paying it forward and me getting a little of the black on my soul cleansed.”

“I truly do want to help so many. When I am back home and we visit my father’s doctor, I see so many others suffering from depression and I know there’s a way to help them see the happy parts of life again. To come out of this kind of fog that has wrapped itself around them and enjoy their family.”

He pushes off the wall and I watch him take the gold ring off his right hand. “My grandfather changed our family name when he left Russia and brought my grandmother here. I grew up hearing about his country and all kinds of stories. Stories of his parents and on down the line. When I lost my family, though it was broken, I felt lost and yes, depressed.”

He brushes the tip of his finger under my chin. “Much like the tattoo you have, I got this to remind me of what I one day want to have and remind me of what is important in life.”

“What does it say?” I ask, running my finger over the black, bold ink circling his ring finger.

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