Page 79 of Protective Heroes

I laughed. “That is tragic. I am still trying to figure out how to fit that woman in my suitcase.”

The amusement faded from Trevor’s gaze. “I don’t want to think about you leaving my side ever again.”

A shaft of anxiety lanced through my middle. If I thought too long about packing and leaving him, I might have a full-blown panic attack. Something I’d never done before in my life. “I don’t want to think about leaving either.”

He pulled me closer and wrapped his arms around me. I looked up at him and he leaned his forehead against mine. “What are we going to do about us?”

I shook my head against his. “I have no idea.”

“Do you have anyone waiting for you back home?” Now he’s the one who looked panicked.

“Just my best friend and my cat.” God, when I said it out loud like that, it sounded so lame. The only two creatures in the world who would miss me if I didn’t go back to New York were Asha and Willa. And Willa wouldn’t really miss me. She’d just miss getting regular meals and having her litter box cleaned.

“What about your business?” he asked.

I shrugged. “New York is a good place to find clients who can afford destination weddings. I’ll always have to travel for my job, but the reality is I can do it from anywhere.”

As I spoke, it hit me that we were talking about the possibility of me staying here in Hartwood. Nerves caused adrenaline to spike through my system and I dropped my arms and took a step back. I started pacing behind one of the long couches that faced the fireplace in the great room.

“Trevor…what are we talking about here?”

He shook his head. “I think we’re talking about you moving back here. To be with me.”

“That’s totally crazy,” I burst out.

He shrugged. “All I know is that you’re here for a reason. Your friend’s sister could have picked any other place, but she insisted on Hartwood. That’s fate correcting the stupid mistake I made. I know it might sound crazy, but I’m not willing to give you up.”

My head yelled at me to run as far and as fast as I could away from him. But my heart…that was a completely different story. My heart loved that he didn’t want me to go. That the thought of being apart again upset him as much as it upset me.

But years of pragmatism didn’t leave me in an instant. “Maybe we could try the long-distance thing.”

Trevor closed the distance between us and pulled me down to the couch. He tugged until I sprawled across his lap. “I know it must sound insane to you. I get that, I really do. But, sweetheart, I have to tell you, if you go back to New York, I’ll follow you there. You’re it for me. You always have been.”

I started to protest. I wanted to argue, to object, to throw up walls. It was ridiculous. It was too soon.

But there was something deep inside me that wouldn’t let me say any of those things. With his words, it was like something had been waiting to hear them. Something clicked into place and the rightness of being here with him, in his arms, settled over me.

I wound my arms around his neck and stared up at him with eyes wide. “I think…I definitely think we’re crazy. But I think you’re it for me, too.”

Before I could utter another word, his mouth was on mine. He kissed me with a fierce, possessive hunger, unlike anything I’d ever felt from him before. I returned it in full measure.

One of his hands slid down to the outside of my thigh and up behind my knee. In one fluid movement without ever breaking our kiss, he shifted me until I sat up in his lap with my legs on either side of him. Between us the ridge of his arousal pressed against the apex of my thighs. I shimmied my hips over him and the fierce growl that left his throat stirred the animal in me.

His arms moved up my back to ease me closer until I straddled him and could feel every inch of his hard body against my much softer one.

I pulled free from the kiss, desperate for air. He didn’t miss a beat. His mouth moved to leave hot, openmouthed kisses against my jawline, down my neck and right to the spot where my shoulder met my neck. He bit down, sucking at the same time, and my head fell back as a moan broke from me.

I leaned forward and my hair came down, forming a curtain around us. I moved my mouth to his again at the same time his hands slid to the hem of the sweater I wore. The moment his hands touched my skin, I became frantic to get rid of every scrap of clothing between us so I could feel his warm skin against my own.

I pulled back and sat on his knees, my hands going to the hem of my sweater, meeting his hands.

Confusion swept across his face. “You want me to stop?”

I pushed his hands away, caught the hem of my sweater and the T-shirt underneath in my grasp and in one fluid motion pulled them both over my head. I tossed them to the floor behind me and leaned in close to him again.

“Never stop,” I whispered against his mouth.

I could feel his smile against my lips. “You got it, sweetheart.”

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