Page 82 of Renewal After Dark

“You’re special. Very, very special.”

“So are you.”

“That is nice of you to say, but?—”

“No buts, Duke. It’s true. You’re a special person who’s become very important to me, and it hurts me to hear all the reasons why you think I’m too good for you. I’m not. Maybe I might turn out to be just right for you. Did that ever occur to you?”

“Ah, yes, it did, and I believe that might be why I behaved badly.”

She had to hold back the need to smile. “You didn’t behave badly.”

“Then why do I feel terrible about it?”

“I don’t know. Why do you suppose that is?”

“I think I hurt you, and that was certainly not my intention. That’s the last thing I’d ever want to do.”

“Do you hear yourself? Did you hear what you said about how hurting me is the last thing you’d ever want to do?”

His brows furrowed in confusion. “What about it?”

“That, right there, is what makes you special, Duke, and you can’t even see it. Most of the guys I’ve met, and most of the ones my friends have met, don’t care whether they hurt us. They want whatever they can get from us without a single thought about anyone getting hurt. You care. That makes you different.”

“I don’t want you putting me on any kind of pedestal. I’ve lived a rough-around-the-edges kind of life. I’m not even sure I know how to do…” He rolled his hand to gesture between them. “This.”

McKenzie’s heart was fully engaged as she moved closer to him.

Duke seemed to stop breathing altogether while he waited to see what she might do.

“I think you know exactly how to do this.”

He shook his head.

“Yes,” she said softly as she placed her hand on his face.

She held back a gasp when he pressed a kiss to her palm.

“You could do better.”

“No, I couldn’t, so shut up with that.” She applied gentle pressure to his face, encouraging him to look at her.

When his gaze collided with hers, she could see how much he cared, how badly he wanted her and how worried he still was about making a mistake that would hurt her.

She saw things she’d never seen in the eyes of any other man, which had her leaning in to press her lips to his.

For a hot second, she didn’t think he’d kiss her back.

But then his hand encircled her neck and his lips moved against hers and everything went quiet and still, as if the whole world had paused in honor of this moment. She was kissing Duke, and he was kissing her back, and it was the best thingever.

For the longest time, the kiss was nothing more than lips sliding over lips, but somehow, that waseverythingshe hadn’t known she needed.

“McKenzie…”

“Yes?”

“You’re really sure about this?”

She moved quickly, before he could talk himself out of it, straddling his lap and putting her arms around his neck as she kissed him again. “I’m sure.”

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