Page 59 of Broken Halo

I take the final step and press my body against her small one. “Nothing’s going to happen. I’ve got eyes on him and Eli’s on it, too. I promise, he won’t do anything to you ever again.”

“It’s just too much,” she cries. “Nothing is right. He’s breathing and free and Faye is gone and you and I…”

She pulls her lip between her teeth and I feel the muscles in her body give up the fight. I wrap my arms around her to support her weight.

“You and I are fucked up,” I finish her sentence.

She nods and hangs onto me tighter. I lean down and put my lips to her cheekbone, her whole body tensing at my touch.

“More than fucked up.” My voice is rough and guttural as my lips feel their way up her porcelain skin toward her ear where I trace it with my nose. My hand drops, feeling its way down her side, gripping her hip and holding her tight. Her tears wet my cheek and her breath is heavy on my skin, not unlike the last time I had her in my arms this week, or even years ago when I would’ve moved mountains to take away her pain.

Our pain.

But there was nothing I could do.

“That was a long time ago, angel.” I try to cover my groan from the feel of her.

She presses her face to mine, her lips move against my skin when she murmurs, “Nothing has changed.”

“You’re wrong.”

I press into her stomach, blood rushing to my cock from being with her like this, something I did everything in my power to put out of my head because I knew she was a closed book.

But here we are.

I turn my head and she quivers as I swipe her bottom lip with my tongue. “Everything’s changed.”

“Trig,” she breathes against my lips. Her hands, which have moved to my chest, grip my shirt, pulling me to her with a desperation I fully comprehend. “We can’t.”

“Fuck,” I growl and grip the thin material at her thigh. I pull at her dress until I feel skin, dragging my hand up to her ass covered in lace. I pull back just far enough to look at her tear-streaked face that now shows something very different. Her eyes are heavy and her lips parted. I try to control my sprinting heart that feels like I just ran a marathon. Nothing in my life has gotten to the core of me like her. I give my head a shake. “Nothing’s going to happen to you. Ever again.”

Her eyes drop.

I grip the back of her head, her soft hair tangling in my fingers, and then, in an instant, it’s as if none of the shit between us ever happened.

That her father didn’t blackmail her against me.

That my fucking father didn’t hurt her.

That we didn’t lose everything.

And that I didn’t turn my back on her, making the biggest mistake of my life.

Because none of it’s her fault. The only mistake she ever made was falling in love with a nobody ranch hand who had nothing and was just as young as he was stupid.

She’s the oxygen I’ve needed all this time and I take it from her. Every single breath. When she presses up on her toes, my tongue invades her mouth and her moan cuts through me. I yank the material of her dress, not able to get enough. Cupping her ass in my hands, I lift. As if she hasn’t missed a day in ten years, she wraps herself around me, fitting herself to my body like a second skin—like she was made for me. I put her back to my desk that’s covered in papers and legal documents filled with nothing but her family’s name, representing everything that broke us apart.

Pressing my cock between her legs, her head falls back. When I bite down on her bottom lip, her gasp brushes my skin.

“Angel.”

I put my lips to her neck while tugging her panties out of the way and don’t waste another moment. I fill her with two fingers and her body becomes one with mine.

She presses down on my hand and whimpers.

I suck at the delicate skin below her ear.

“Fucking missed you,” I growl as I pump into her, her juices covering my fingers. I circle her clit with my thumb and she lifts her legs where they tighten around my back.

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