Page 34 of Crimson Bond

“None of it would have happened if I hadn’t chosen to turn Josiah in the first place.”

“And I caused the accident on the highway that started everything,” I argued.

Abbi rose again and put a soft finger over my lips. “Even if itwasyou who killed the Yoders, and even if youhadkilled Josiah, it wouldn’t change things. I’m sad about their deaths, but I had to learn this lesson for myself, and you need to learn it, too—you can’t change the past. There is nothing and no one beyond forgiveness. Not even you.”

I sat back on the edge of my bed, stunned. Abbi moved forward, coming to a stop just in front of me, standing between my spread knees. Before I could prevent it, she put her hands on my shoulders, then slid them up to clasp my jaw.

She looked down into my face, her eyes shining in the darkness. “I forgive you, Reece. For whatever you’ve done... for whatever you might do in the future. You are the most important person in the world to me, and there is nothing you could ever do that would stop me from loving you.”

For long excruciating seconds I remained motionless, staring back at her, drinking in the love in her eyes and preserving every line of her beautiful face in my mind’s eye so I’d never forget a single detail of this moment.

17

The Answer for Now

Reece

When I finally released the floodgates, it was more like a tsunami than a wave.

I literally couldn’t keep the emotion inside any longer. My arms went around Abbi, pulling her down on top of me and bringing her lips to mine.

Stroking her back and hair and face, I spoke between fervent kisses, letting the words and passion I felt for her crash over her, drowning her in my love.

“God, I love you. You have no idea how much I burned for you while you were away. It was even worse when you came back. When I saw you in that corridor outside the clinic, I thought I was going to spontaneously combust.”

“Me too,” she said. “I was overwhelmed to see you. I didn’t think I could love you more, but when I saw you again it all came rushing back, and it was like it had doubled somehow.”

I kissed her again deeply, trying with my lips and tongue to express the truth behind my words. “Since then, I’ve been in agony, wondering how I was going to survive eternity without holding you and kissing you and making you mine, wondering how I was going to keep us both alive if Imogen suspected. I still don’t know the answer to that one, but I don’t care anymore. I can’t hide from you anymore.”

“I don’t want you to. I don’t want us ever to hide our feelings from each other again,” she said.

For a few minutes there were no words as our mouths and hands devoured each other. Then Abbi pulled back slightly, speaking against my mouth, which wasn’t nearly finished with her.

“We do have to hide it from Imogen, though.”

“I would never let her hurt you,” I vowed. “That’s why I had to get you out of there. I’d die before letting anything happen to you.”

Abbi’s hands came up to bracket my face, holding it in place. “No. Reece... you can’t say that. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened toyou. We have to be careful. Promise me we’ll be careful.”

She was so sweet and sincere and so incredibly beautiful and sexy I would have promised to pluck a star from the sky for her if she asked.

“We will. She’ll never know.”

I wasn’t even sure what I was saying, I just wanted another taste of Abbi’s delicious lips. I dived in again, holding her against my burning skin, wishing it was possible to pull her inside myself.

After a minute, she broke the kiss. “What if she knowsalready? What if she can...seeus somehow?”

She was doing her best to break themoodwith that question. After waiting so long for this moment, I wasn’t having it. I kissed her again.

“She can’t. Don’t think about her right now.”

Flipping Abbi over so I hovered above her on the bed, I started moving down her body, kissing her neck, then working down the center of her chest to her stomach.

Abbi grabbed my shoulders, stopping me. “But... you said she saw what happened at the Yoders’ farm. She described the scene to you. She’s not just my maker, she’s yours, too. She might be watching us right now.”

A shiver raised gooseflesh on her warm, smooth skin. I attempted to kiss it away, but Abbi wiggled from my grasp, rolling to the other side of my bed.

“I’m serious, Reece. Even if she can’t see us now, she’ll know when we get back to the Bastion. She’ll be able to tell—I just know she will. You’re bound to her. We can’t do this.”

---