Page 99 of Bae

My eyes flashed to hers.

“You begging God for my life even at the expense of hers was not what made me miscarry. She was gone before we even left the house that morning. You were scared. I would have done the same thing.”

I snorted. “No. You wouldn’t.”

“I went into the stands at a football game to stake my claim over you to a bunch of Lite Brite bobbleheads. I was prepared to throw down,” she said, matter-of-fact. Almost as if she were a little badass. “If I’m willing to do that over a stupid list, imagine what I’m capable of if I were truly afraid you were being taken from me.”

Warmth suffused my chest. I chuckled because she thought she was going to throw down at the game. Like I’d have allowed that.

She still loved me. The same way she had an hour ago. I saw it in her eyes. I felt it in my soul.

“I forgive you, Romeo, even though there really is nothing to forgive. You loved Evie, and I know if she were here right now, you’d be wrapped around her little finger, and she would be a daddy’s girl.”

She forgave me.

Her hands rested on either side of my waist. “But it isn’t my forgiveness you need. It’s your own. It’s okay to be human. You don’t have to be alpha all the time.”

“I am.” I argued.

She smiled. “Well, yes, you are. Even now. That’s how I know you have the strength to forgive yourself.”

“I’m not sure I can.” I admitted. It seemed like I would be letting myself off awfully easy.

“I know. It won’t come overnight. I’m still working on it, too. We can do it together.”

“I really fucking love you.”

“I’m sorry I scared you tonight.”

“I shouldn’t have gotten so pissed about what you said. I just… Don’t ever put yourself behind anyone else, baby. Never. You are irreplaceable to me.”

Her lips made contact over my heart. She pressed in, kissing deep. My eyes drifted closed.

Rimmel pulled away and crawled up onto the bed and into the center of the one million pillows. She lay back, sinking right into them all.

I crawled up alongside her, but that shit was lumpy and uncomfortable as hell.

I made a rude sound and started flinging the offending pillows all over the room. Rimmel lay against the comforter and watched; I felt her eyes like the most sensual caress.

“Kiss me,” she demanded.

I kissed her. I always did what she told me.

Well, when it involved using my tongue.

I felt lighter somehow, like the worst of the storm had passed and all that remained were some storm clouds with a rainbow peeking through.

Rim was the rainbow.

I pulled back, pressed our foreheads together, and lazily perused her face. My body pressed hers into the mattress. I loved the give in her body when I was on top of her. Her fingertips danced along my spine, exploring the expanse of my back.

We stayed like that a long time, just staring at each other, her hands grazing along my bare skin.

When the tension became too much, our lips met again. I stroked into her mouth, made love to it with mine. Our tongues slid against the other, and I sucked her lower lip into my mouth.

Her fingers tightened against my back. The nipples beneath her T-shirt grew firm. Desire blanketed the room like freshly fallen snow.

It was almost like the first time all over again, as if I were experiencing her body like I hadn’t already a million times. She trembled under me, her leg slid between mine, and her fingertips played in the hair at my nape, tugging and pulling me closer.