It’s on the tip of my lips to say it, to tell her as she quivers below me. But then my body convulses, losing control, releasing everything into her and robbing me of thought and words. It’s when I collapse beside her, kissing her, lifting errant strands off her still swollen cheeks, that I admit it. “I love you.”
She smiles. It’s a timid smile. I only get a glimpse before she rolls into me and buries her face once again in my neck. She drapes her body over mine, and I swear I could stay like this forever.
“I’ve never loved anyone before. I don’t know what it feels like. But I read about it in books. The ones Sage and I read. I believed it was fiction, and even if it was real, it wouldn’t happen to me. Because I’m different.”
“I’d take your different over anyone else’s normal any day of the week. Never doubt it.”
“You don’t have to say that.” She presses her lips to my chest and nibbles. I pinch her ass, and we settle down, holding on to each other.
“You know, I think I fell for you because of your differences. You’re refreshing. Honest. Dedicated. Passionate. And not like anyone else I’ve ever known. It takes work to get close to you, but it’s the most rewarding work I’ve ever done.”
“I think I love you, too.”
“Yeah?” She presses her lips to my throat. I’ll take that as a yes. “Well, it’s a good thing, because I don’t plan on letting you go.”
“You’re not going back?”
“No, I have to go back. The plane’s scheduled. There are still a lot of open questions. Someone did this, someone with a lot of financial backing, and we need to find out who. But I’ll be back.” My hand wanders from her hip back down and cups her bare ass, and I squeeze. God, I love this. It feels so fucking right being here with her. “I suppose we’re going to have to lay out some ground rules for long distance.”
“Long distance?”
“Yeah. But luckily, it’s not such a long flight.”
“And maybe you could move here? Sage said it might be an option.”
“You talked to Sage about me?”
“Knox is going to ask you why you think I lied.”
I chuckle. Knox will probably be some kind of peeved that I ignored his warning about future family gatherings. Tough shit.
The pad of her thumb circles my nipple, and her thigh rubs over mine. This is heaven.
Her company may not be responsible for her abduction, for coming after Sage, and for Felix, but I don’t buy for a minute that no one within her company is involved. Maybe her direct boss isn’t in on it, but someone is. Was. They may not have a reason to come after her now that we’ve accessed her servers and have the data, but we still have reasons to find the guilty parties.
I don’t want to think about it anymore. I just want to hold her. She’s mine. In this moment, she’s all mine.
CHAPTER26
Sloane
“Do you want to shower?”
Max’s suggestion sounds nice, but there’s so much to do. How will I validate what happened to me? How do I prove I was drugged, abducted, and held against my will? I have witnesses for the rescue part.
“Hey, there, beautiful girl… where’d you go?”
He tilts my chin, forcing me to take in all the glory of recessive genes. “You have beautiful eyes. Did you know that?”
His calloused hand glides over my hip and down to my behind. I like the rough feel of his skin. He playfully takes a fistful of my right butt cheek and smacks me. “I think I’d prefer a more manly word. But for the record, I’m a big fan of your dark eyes. There’s nothing like that moment when you first look at me, directly at me. I feel it right here.”
He finds my hand and places it over his sternum, between his bulging pecs. We’re standing in a room naked. Well, I found my underwear on the way to the bathroom and put them on, but otherwise, we’re naked.
“This is so unusual,” I say, flattening my palm over the curve of his pec. He tilts his head, and that maddening grin spreads. “You make it hard for me to think. You distract me.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” He lifts my hand from his chest and sucks the tip of my index finger into his mouth.
“We have things to do,” I remind him. He’s got a flight, and I need to move back into my apartment.