Page 50 of A Montana Secret Admirer
Her hands pushed into his hair, drawing him closer like he was the oxygen she’d been depriving herself of all these months that she’d been alone. Out of all the men who could have entered her life, Reese had been who she needed, and she was done pretending that she didn’t.
He moaned into her mouth, and his grip on her tightened. “Serenity,” he whispered, turning his attention and his kisses to her neck. She gasped at the contact, and her breathing grew more ragged by the second.
They were crossing the line she’d drawn in the sand, and there would be no going back from it.
She didn’t want to, either.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she heard a door shut. Deep, male voices, too. With another gasp, she pulled away from the man in her arms. Her cheeks burned, and her hands shook with barely visible tremors.
Reese looked to be in a complete daze. His eyes found hers, and he was just as unsteady on his feet. He took a step toward her, but she didn’t retreat. “Serenity.” The way he said her name, goodness, she could die happy just listening to him say it over and over. “What…”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen between us,” she blurted. “I don’t even know if I’m ready for whatever this… thing… is.”
He lifted a hand but then dropped it to his side. It was her fault that he was so hesitant, and she was finding it hard to reconcile with the man who held her hand out at the pond. So she reached for his hand and laced her fingers between his. He stared down at where she held him, but he didn’t speak.
“I’m prepared to say that I like what we have. And I might want more.” She chewed on her lower lip. “But right now, I can’t…” She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt the blush creep up her skin and fill her face. “I don’t want labels. I’m not sure I’m ready for that degree of seriousness.”
His hand tightened on hers, but it wasn’t painful. If anything, it was done with a reassurance that he understood.
“How did I get so lucky?” she whispered.
“What?”
Her eyes lifted, and she repeated herself a little louder. “How did I get so lucky to have a guy like you interested in someone like me?”
“Someone like you?” he blustered. “Do you think you’re not worthy of my l—” He cleared his throat. “Affections? Because I can assure you that you are.”
She dropped her gaze, unable to meet his head-on. “I don’t want you to wait for me.”
The air turned colder, and she winced.
“That’s not what… I mean, if the time comes and someone else?—”
Reese placed a hand to her cheek, forcing her to lift her eyes to meet his. “There won’t be anyone else.”
“But—”
“No one, Serenity. Believe me when I say there is no one and will never be anyone else but you.”
Her breath caught in her throat. She didn’t want to believe it. Or maybe she simply couldn’t. That concept was so far away from where she had been even forty-eight hours ago.
“I’m willing to give you as much time as you need. The summer. The year. Five years.”
She let out a surprised and disbelieving laugh. “I doubt that.”
He stepped into her, his body dwarfing her in ways that made her feel both safe and the object of his desires. The latter had an uncanny way of scaring her but in the most delicious way. His hand shifted to the nape of her neck, and he tilted her face upward even farther. “What I feel for you is unlike anything I’ve experienced, and I’m willing to be patient if it means you’re willing to give me a chance.”
He was serious. She could see it in the set of his jaw and the lines around his mouth. His eyes flashed with something that could only be described as an oath, a promise.
Serenity swallowed back a sob. It was ridiculous that she was getting emotional over something so simple as him telling her he was going to be there for her.
Maybe that was all she needed right now—someone to be a constant, a rock, someone to count on.
“Hey,” he murmured, his voice soft, soothing. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, a sad laugh bubbling from her lips. “Perfect.”
Another week of sneaking around,and Serenity was having a harder time coming up with excuses as to why she couldn’t just come out and tell everyone that Reese was her boyfriend.
