Page 77 of When He Hunts

That might have just been one of the saddest things he’d told her.No, hearing that he’d held his mother’s dead body was the saddest thing.She pressed onto her tiptoes. Her hand moved so that she could pull his head toward hers. Luna’s lips feathered over his.

“I said I can’t love,” he gritted against her mouth.

“And let me say…” Luna returned even though her heart hurt, “I love you. I don’t need you to love me back. It doesn’t change the way I feel.”

“Luna…”

She didn’t think anything could change the way she felt. Staring straight into his blue eyes, she told him, “This is me, telling my arrogant, growly protector that I would do anything for him. Telling the man who has saved me, made love to me, who helped me cross adventure items off my list…I’m telling him that he is so much more than he believes himself to be. You aren’t some cold-blooded killer. You’re a good man. Whatever happens, wherever I go, I won’t be forgetting you anytime soon.”

His hands clamped around her waist. He lifted her up, and her feet dangled off the floor. “I will never forget you,” he vowed.

Good to know.

Then he was kissing her. His mouth took hers in a deep, drugging kiss that promised to sweep everything else away. The doubts and the worries. The sadness and the pain that lingered in her heart. With the kiss, he was telling her that he couldn’t give her love.

Maybe he was right. Maybe he couldn’t love anyone.

But he could give her passion.

Hewouldgive her passion.

He lowered her onto the bed. Crawled on top of her. Began to unbutton his shirt. But her hand rose to his chest in order to stop him.

“Luna?” Fear flashed for just an instant on his face. “You don’t…you don’t want me anymore?” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Now that you know what I’ve done…”

“Don’t be silly. I’ll always want you. Ifyouwant the truth, I wanted you the first time we met. Back when I really did think you might be some cold-blooded hitman. What does that say about me?”

A furrow appeared between his brows.

“I will always want you,” she repeated because she realized Ronan needed to hear the words. So tough on the outside, but Ronan carried so much pain within him. Her left hand reached out and snagged the neck of the champagne bottle. “I just thought it was my turn to enjoy a drink.”

His eyes widened. “Luna?”

“Get out of those clothes, Ronan. I want to taste you.”

Chapter Eighteen

“I love you.”Luna’s words rang in his head. They played over and over even as she dripped the chilled champagne on his eager dick. He’d stripped off his clothes, lightning-fast, because what sane man wouldn’t strip that quickly when a woman offered to lick champagne off his cock?

Uh, hell, yes. Hell,yes.

But this wasn’t just any woman. This was his Luna.

I love you.

She couldn’t mean the words, right? It was the high intensity of the situation. She was grateful to him because he’d saved her. Because he’d killed to protect her. Because he’d?—

She licked away drops of the champagne.

His hands flew out, then up, and slammed into the headboard. The whole bed jerked.

Her head lifted.

Princess, do not stop.

“You good?” Luna asked in her husky, breathless voice.

Good didn’t describe him. Hadn’t he tried to warn her about that very fact? Good had nothing to do with who he was. Or the life he’d led.

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