Page 234 of Under an Endless Moon

And sometimes, they just represented the day to day.

But to me, each of those days were a milestone. Something to be remembered and cherished.

Each a reminder that my wings were no longer clipped.

This girl had decided to soar, and I no longer held back.

Excitement blazed in my belly when I heard the low grumble of a motorcycle coming up the drive in the distance, that anticipation growing to a furor as the sound of the garage door rolling up echoed through the walls before it wound back down.

I was in a full body buzz by the time the steady thud of heavy footsteps climbing the stairs reverberated the floors.

Then my heart pressed full when the door opened behind me.

His presence rolled over me from behind.

His aura profound.

Patchouli and warm apple pie.

I could feel his slow slide of appreciation as he stilled in the doorway. The heat of his ravenous gaze dragging over my back.

“You tryin’ to wreck me, darlin’?”

“I must be since you ask me the same thing every day,” I told him with a coy glance over my shoulder.

Okay, so I was totally trying to wreck him. Bring him to his knees the way he always had me on mine.

Because the man stole my breath where he stood just inside the door.

Otto Hudson was so hot it was unfair.

So hot it was physically painful.

I’d once thought that staring at him was like standing in the sunand knowing you were going to get burned, but you did it anyway because it felt so good while you baked in the blistering rays.

But I knew now that I did it because it was where I belonged.

Held beneath that fierce gaze of blue, loved by a man hewn of rugged stone.

Skin covered in tats and muscles rippling beneath the tight white tee stretched over his massive chest.

What else was I supposed to do but throw on one of those dresses and heels that I knew drove him wild?

“Dream I’m livin’ every day…coming home and finding you standing there like that,” he rumbled in that deep, lust-inducing voice.

He ambled into the kitchen, carrying a bag of ice and a twelve-pack of beer that I’d sent him to pick up at the store. He put the ice in the freezer and the beer into the fridge.

One of those smirks that hadn’t left his mouth for the last nine months rimmed his full, plush lips, desire glinting in his eyes as he let the refrigerator door drop closed before he slowly edged up behind me.

Each step an earthquake that resonated across the floor.

I had my hair pinned up in a loose twist, and he pressed his mouth to the nape of my neck as he gripped me by the waist.

Need licked through my veins.

He let his palms ride around to my belly.

Splaying wide as he kissed a path across my shoulder.

---