Page 111 of Wait For It

“Do you love me?” he asked gruffly.

My mouth opened and closed like a fish’s, before settling into a frown. It wasn’t what I’d expected. Once I recovered from the shock, I nodded.

“I do,” I admitted in a strangled voice. “I’m so in love with you, but I’m not good and you—”

He inched forward, slowly closing the gap between us. “Deserve better? Yeah, you said that already. So, were you planning on telling me you loved me?”

“N-no,” I stammered, shrinking back. My teeth began to chatter, and I hugged myself to keep warm. “I mean, yes—I don’t know!”

The wind strengthened, picking up dead leaves and scattering them across the parking lot, but Killian didn’t take his eyes off mine. “Why, Ari? Why wouldn’t you just tell me?”

“Why?” I roared in a voice laced with hysteria. “Because I’m an object, not a person! Don’t you see that? I’m never going to be free to make my own decisions because he’s never going to let me go! I couldn’t even escape when I had the damn key in my hand, Killian! What I feel or want—none of that matters to him!”

“It matters to me,” he bit out as he continued stalking toward me, his forehead creased in concern. “Dammit, you matter to me!”

I swallowed hard, entirely baffled by the admission. “But I’m—”

“The woman I’m in love with,” he finished for me, a small smile tugging at his lips. “I don’t give a damn about the rest, slugger.”

“But,” I protested, hearing the desperation in my tone.

Killian came to a stop just in front of me, close enough that the toes of my ballet flats were touching his boots. He reached forward to cup my jaw, his blue eyes glowing with affection as he drew me closer.

“I meant what I said. You aren’t going to lose me. Now, if keeping my word means going toe to toe with your father, I’ll do it. Trust me, I’m stronger than I look.” He flexed his bicep in demonstration before lowering his voice. “I know you’re afraid, but you’re not alone anymore, Ari. You’ve got me now, and if you trust me enough to give me your heart, just know I’ll guard it with my life.”

My heart throbbed painfully against my chest with a mounting sense of urgency and an overwhelming need to reveal myself. This man had scaled every wall, seeing me in ways no one ever had. Only a fool could have walked away.

I swallowed my doubts and lifted my face to his, completely vulnerable. “You’ve had my heart since I was nine. I thought you were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I wanted you for my own, never dreaming in a million years we would meet again.”

His forehead furrowed in confusion. “Since you were nine—I don’t understand.”

He’d been the one constant in my life, the only decision that had ever truly been mine. So, gathering the last bit of courage I still possessed, I whispered, “Are you good?”

“Ari,” Killian exhaled my name, pulling me with him as he stumbled back a step. I reached up to grip his shoulders, holding him steady.

There was a second of tense silence. Then his arms were around my waist, and I was being crushed to his chest. “The song, it was you,” he murmured into my hair. “Christ, it was always you. You saved my life. You saved—”

I tilted my head back when his voice cut off, needing to see him—to make it okay. He was shaking his head in open-mouthed disbelief, his eyes glossy. My numb fingers smoothed over his stubbled jaw and face, brushing away the tears just like he’d done for me back in the stadium.

The sky chose that moment to open up, drenching us both in an icy shower. I blinked away the drops of rain caught on my lashes and rested my chin against his heaving chest, finding comfort in just being close to him.

Killian huffed a soft laugh and gazed down at me, his misty eyes darkening as they moved over my lips. “All of this—everything I have—it’s because of you, Ari.”

The ache in my chest migrated lower when his expression heated, my pulse quickening in anticipation. Instead of moving closer, he froze, his eyes filling with tears again. The surrounding squall faded into the background as I pushed myself up onto my tiptoes, pressing my lips to his.

While I took control and explored his mouth, he guided me backward across the parking lot with his hands on my waist. I licked along his bottom lip, and his grip tightened, squeezing as if he was afraid I might disappear.

I jumped when my back connected with something solid, before realizing we’d reached his truck. And then he was kissing me back. I opened up and let him in, my tongue darting out to meet his. The frenzied kisses of lust we’d shared before were just a flash in the pan compared to this. This was a steady shower of sparks, building into an all-consuming desire that coursed through my veins.

Killian’s hands moved beneath my soaked shirt, stroking my skin until heat pooled in my lower belly. I slipped my hands into the back pocket of his jeans and pressed my body to his, moaning as I felt him harden against me.

He trailed kisses over my face and jaw before pulling away with a pant. When he reopened his eyes, the distant smile faded from his lips. “Jesus, get in. You’re going to freeze to death if you stay out in this any longer.”

I mumbled nonsense in protest as he helped me into the passenger seat, using my frozen hands to try to guide his mouth back to mine. He stepped back with a low chuckle, chewing on his lower lip as he surveyed me. “Slugger, there’s no sense in either one of us getting hypothermia when my condo is just a few blocks away.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ariana

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