Page 57 of Lost in the Moonlight

Willow

LOVE WINS

Performed by Carrie Underwood

After years of saying nothing, talkingabout that night and what had happened afterward broke open a scab that had barely healed. I saw Dad’s bloody, mangled body again. I saw the evil pouring from Danny’s and Roci’s eyes. It made it feel like that evil could find me simply because I’d spoken the words aloud.

After being on the witness stand, I thought I’d never talk about what had happened ever again. I couldn’t even tell a therapist about it. But now, having told Lincoln, it was as if one weight had been lifted while another had been added. I’d shared my burden, but now he was tied up in it too. I’d put him at risk in order to lighten my own load.

My jaw clenched tight as I saw the worry creasing his brows. I’d wanted so badly to turn his scowls into smiles, and now I’d done the opposite. Brought more grief.

I inhaled deeply, trying to push back the ugly memories enough to offer some reassurance. “I believe it’s Poco rather than the Viceroys because Aaron isn’t the kind to give a warning shot. He’d just send his men in, guns blazing to end me and whoever was with me. My mom…you…”

His eyebrows raised. “You’re worried about me? After all that?” Then realization seemed to hit him. “The other day, when you said you were worried I’d get hurt, it had nothing to do with Poco or even really who I am. It’s because you’re afraid they’ll come after me too.”

It wasn’t a question because he knew it was true. The risk was just too great for all of us.

I wanted him so much it was its own kind of torture. It wasn’t just about looking for love and happiness, or marking off a few more experiences in my journal, or finding someone who would love me enough to not care about the risk of my having a fatal health condition. This was about Lincoln. About wanting to add joy and comfort to his life. To help him shove off some of the burdens clinging to him. But I’d never put someone I cared about in physical danger.

I couldn’t be with him, or anyone, if I was going to lead the Viceroys to their door.

I’d convinced myself it was behind me.

But the truth was as harsh as the red ink on the letter that had been left at my door. I swallowed over the large lump that had formed in my throat and whispered, “You shouldn’t be anywhere near me.”

He closed the distance, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear, fingers lingering on my skin, and his voice dropped to a sensual hum. “It’s too late, Sweetness. I’m here. I’m in your life. Fate took it out of both our hands.”

Frustration welled at the beauty and ridiculousness of his words, and I welcomed that feeling as it helped shove back the fear and sorrow. “Fate isn’t a real thing,” I huffed out. Because if it was, I had some serious bones to pick with it.

“Fate is just one of the many unexplainable things I believe are real. I have it on good authority that you’ve come into my life for a reason.” He said it with a conviction hard to discount.

“So, what? You’ve talked with God?”

Apprehension clouded his eyes as they darted to the side of the kitchen just like I’d seen him do while he’d shared his secrets with me, as if he was seeing something or someone. But then, he looked at me, and his mouth broke into that stunning, glowing, full smile that made me feel special every time I experienced it. The one that was mine, and mine alone, and made me forget every reason for not being with him.

“Maybe an angel or two,” he said as he wrapped an arm around my waist and drew me closer. I threw my head back to look up at him, confusion warring with the frustration even as desire burst through me as our bodies collided. I didn’t just feel him everywhere we touched. It went so much deeper. Like souls touching souls.

When my eyes locked with his, the fire I found there took my breath and sent it sailing.

Our heartbeats pounded together.

He scoured my face, and I wasn’t sure what he was searching for. All I knew was this—the feeling I had tucked up against him was something good and beautiful. Feelings I could let push away the ugly that had crossed my path. Bright shimmers of hope I yearned to have. It wasn’t just a connection with some random person I craved. I wanted it withthisbrave, gorgeous man. I wanted all my joyous experiences to be with Lincoln.

It was too much. Too fast. Too ridiculous.

But as his gaze slipped down to my mouth and back, my breath evaporated once more, my blood boiled, and my limbs grew roots.

“I’m going to kiss you,” he said huskily. “Because if I don’t, I’ll never sleep again. I’ll spend every single minute of every night wondering if you taste as sweet as you smell.”

When I didn’t pull away, when I didn’t even shift a millimeter, his head descended, mouth inching closer. He stopped with his lips so close to mine an exhale would have them touching as he whispered, “Last chance to slap me and send me on my way.”

My response was to push up on my toes and smash our mouths together.

The world exploded into a kaleidoscope of colors and smells and emotions right before everything in the room disappeared, leaving only the bright light of me and Lincoln and our skin touching. Like walking through the gates of heaven.

He’d spoken of angels, and I’d seen him as one. An archangel, a godlike apparition lassoing me to him with a golden rope that would be impossible to remove once it wrapped around me. And I didn’t care if it tethered me to him for an eternity. Because the touch of his lips—the brilliance and heat of it—was a paradise I welcomed. It was a moment that moved beyond simple existence to a place where love was created. Beauty was crafted. Where memories would linger until time stopped.

The pressure of his lips increased, causing tingles to spread from the balls of my feet to the tip of my head. A sigh of pleasure escaped me, and Lincoln licked into me, tongue lapping inside smoothly, swiftly, assuredly. Sipping, tasting, discovering.

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