Page 105 of Love Me Steadfast
She blinks at the tattoo over my heart, then glances up, a question in her eyes. “Is this…?”
“A blackbird?” I swallow hard as she caresses the intricate wings, spread wide in flight, but the emotions I’ve locked away are growing too big to hide anymore. “Yeah. If I couldn’t have you, I at least needed a reminder…” I swallow down the prickly knot of emotion thickening in my throat “…of you.”
She presses her fingers to her lips as a tear trickles down her cheek. “I wanted you to forget me,” she whispers, her eyes tense with so much hurt.
I caress her face. “I could never forget you. Not in this life. Or the next.”
She presses a kiss to my heart, her lips trembling. “I’m sorry.”
“We’re here now.” I cradle her face so I can kiss her. She’s still trembling when our lips touch.
“I don’t deserve you,” she says.
The shock of her words electrifies my emotions. “That’s the last time you ever think something like that.” I lock eyes with her. “You deserve everything good this world has to offer. All the love. All the joy. All the kindness. Understand?”
“But I’ve made so many mistakes.” She sucks in a breath, her eyes brimming with more tears. “I’ve hurt the people I love.”
I want so badly to demand the explanation I’ve been longing for all these years, but the devastation in her eyes is like a giant warning sign. “That doesn’t make you any less worthy, Charlotte.”
She closes her eyes and kisses me. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”
I kiss her back, caressing down her shoulders. “We’re here now, baby. That’s all that matters.”
She caresses the bird inked across my heart. “She’s beautiful.”
“Almost as beautiful as you.” I kiss her again as she strokes across my chest, unable to stop myself.
She nips at my bottom lip, like a tease. I groan into her mouth and caress up her bare thighs, then over the denim to the button in the center. I tug it loose and slide the zipper down. With one slow caress, I reach in and slide the skirt over her narrow hips and let it drop to the bed. It pools around her knees, like she’s too turned on to worry about kicking it aside.
She rubs down my erection, turning my craving into something painful, and urgent. I force myself to slow down, focusing on the warmth of her skin beneath my fingers, the dip and rise of her body’s curves. Everything about her is familiar, yet there are subtle differences I’m longing to categorize. To mark as mine. I trace the hem of her sweater to her low back, then dip beneath her panties and caress all the way down to the backs of her thighs. Fuck, her skin is still so soft.
She slips the tail of my belt through the buckle and unclasps it, the jangle of metal in my ears another warning bell to slow down and do this right because what if this is my only shot at fixing what’s been broken? But I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long, how can I not devour her?
I stop her as she’s popping the button of my jeans. “Sweetheart,” I say, my breaths too fast in my chest. I take her hands. “I want…I need…we’ve been apart, and I…” Shit, this isn’t supposed to be difficult. It’s Consent 101 and in the past, at least, a permanent part of my playbook.
Her lustful gaze lifts to mine, and she blinks.
Fuck. I’m out of practice. Or maybe I’m scared of her answer. “Did Crosby…hurt you?”
She opens her mouth, her expression a mix of surprise andsomething I can’t name, but she looks away, and it’s gone. Was it anger? Regret? “No,” she replies, shaking her head.
Gently, I lift her chin so our eyes meet again. “Is there anything I need to know?”
Emotion plays across her face, and she blinks once, twice, her long lashes dark against her pink cheeks. “I trust you, Will.” Her eyes shine with yearning, but there’s something sad there too. It’s like watching a game of tug of war. “I always have.”
I kiss her softly. “I will never hurt you, Charlotte.”
She caresses my sides, her touch warm and sensual. The callouses on her finger pads add friction that might as well be a key fitting perfectly into a locked drawer. Hers. The one that holds all my memories of us. The same one I keep safely tucked away, for rainy days and lonely nights.
I let her finish unzipping my jeans, then I step out of them and lift her by the backs of her thighs. Her skirt joins the other clothes on the floor as I set her down in the middle of the bed.
I hover above her, kissing her while I run my hand up her side, slowly, gooseflesh pebbling her skin, to her breast. She arches into my touch and gives a soft groan. I take my time caressing her over the fabric of her bra, until she’s panting and her nipples are tight knots between my fingers. Kissing down to her neck, I suck the tip of her earlobe into my mouth, the tiny beads of her earring slipping past my lips. She strokes up my back and tilts her hips, her soft pussy pressing into my boxer briefs. I reach down and pin her hip to the bed before her grinding pushes me over the edge.
“Patience, baby,” I purr in her ear.
She combs her fingers into my hair and gives it a tug. The tight burn only heightens my lust, a sign I’m dangerously close to losing control.
Not that I care. I’d stay right here forever if I could.
