I pulled slightly and locked eyes with her.
“I came,” I said softly. Her brows scrunched. “Winston and I came to your father’s service. I didn’t know what happened, and I knew you didn’t want me, but I wanted to make sure you were okay.” My forehead came to rest against hers. “I wanted to make it all better for you. I wish I’d known.”
She licked her lips, her breathing slightly shallow. “And I wish I’d trusted my gut. I should have known you weren’t that type of a man. Maybe a little grouchy, but not vicious and cruel.”
“My father played us both.”
We’d have to talk about our son too. She just admitted that she hadn’t been with anyone since that night, but part of me needed her to say the words, to tell me Ares was my son. To trust me with that information. But I knew she needed time. She was opening up to me and that was all that mattered.
My hands moved down from her waist to her ass, gripping her curves.
She would tell me—eventually. She needed time, and I’d let her get there. After all, we had the rest of our lives.
“I missed you so goddamn much,” I murmured, my lips brushing against hers.
“Ditto,” she breathed, her cheeks flushed and her hazel eyes glimmering.
I kissed her again, this time slowly. Devouring. As if we had all the time in the world. And we did. We would. I’d ensure it.
Her breath hitched and her kiss turned urgent. It turned me on like nothing else. She gently rotated her hips in my lap, making me fall even deeper into this addiction.
Her hands roamed over my T-shirt, never breaking the kiss, until they came to my biceps, then her fingers traced my tattoo. Slowly. Reverently.
“You never told me why you have a chemical molecule as a tattoo,” she panted, breaking the kiss.
“It’s a combination that makes bombs. It was the mixture of the two that burned my back,” I said. “It’s my reminder never to fund assholes who make this shit.”
Her touch was featherlight as she traced my tattoo. “But if you didn’t have those scars, your sunburn that day may not have been bad enough to seek medical treatment, and you’d have never ended up in my dad’s hospital.”
She had no idea how many times that little fact crossed my mind. After she broke my heart, I cursed my burned back more than ever because it led me to her. But as the ache in my chest eased and settled deep inside my heart, I knew it wouldn’t have made a difference. The two of us would have found a way to cross paths.
After all, life without her would have been bleak. A blank canvas. But now, there would be colors splashed all over it. She was the best thing that had ever happened to me.
She tugged on the hem of my T-shirt and pulled it over my head. Her gaze turned heated as she stared at my abs, and it had my lips curving into a smile. I remembered the same look six years ago when she beamed at my abs.
“I guess some things never change,” I teased softly. She never played coy or pretended with her desire.
“You still have the most magnificent abs,” she purred.
“I’ll have to ensure I work out until I keel over to ensure you’re happy with my abs.”
She waved her hand in dismissal while a soft smile played around her lips.
Her desire was written all over her face, and she was owning up to it. Finally! I’d take this as a good sign. We were moving forward.
I leaned in for another kiss, my touch rougher now. Hungrier. Thrusting my tongue into her mouth, I explored every inch of it. I swallowed her moan hungrily. I pushed her robe off her shoulders, letting it slide down and fall behind her. My hands wrapped around the hem of her silky nightgown and pulled it off impatiently, breaking our kiss just long enough to pull her babydoll nightie over her head.
“Fuck,” I groaned, seeing her breasts. If she was obsessed with my abs, I was fucking obsessed with her breasts. “You’ll be the death of me,” I rasped as I pulled her closer, so I could have her tits right in my face. Where they belonged.
I bent my head and took her hard nipple between my teeth. She moaned my name, her back arching into me and her hips rolling back and forth, grinding herself against my hard erection.
Her hands brushed through my hair, and I looked up as I flicked my tongue. Her hazel eyes met mine, dark with desire and something else that had my chest squeezing in the best way possible.
“Byron,” she panted softly. “I need you inside me.”
I grinned at her demand.
My hands slowly moved down from her waist, until they disappeared between her thighs. I pushed her wet panties aside, brushing my thumb over her pussy. Her eyes fluttered shut and her lips parted while her hips bucked.