Page 148 of Beyond the Blue Horizon
“Not sure I know how to stop.” He reached out and brushed his fingertips down the side of my cheek.
I nearly dropped to my knees.
Weak.
Weak.
Weak.
“You have to.” I nearly begged it.
“Just let me do this for you, Piper. Please.” Charcoal eyes flared as he asked it.
Ash that sparked to life.
The man a blackened sun.
Pure gravity.
Panic bubbled up, and tears burned at the backs of my eyes.
“I can’t afford to become reliant on you,” I choked, unable to stop the words from dropping free. “Not when it already takes everything I have to survive on my own.”
I fisted my hand over my heart like it might protect it.
Protect it from this man who was whittling his way through every barrier.
Expression morphing in a cross of understanding and grief, Theo wrapped a tattooed hand around the wrist I had clutched to my chest.
Fire singed at the connection.
“You don’t, Piper,” he grated. He leaned closer, his mouth an inch from mine. “You don’t have to survive alone. Not anymore. Not if you let me free you from whatever has you trapped.”
Fear tumbled through my spirit.
“I don’t know how to do that.” It was a hoarse whisper.
“You can, Piper. You just have to trust that I can handle anything and everything you’ve got. No matter how dark or ugly or horrifying it is, it’s no contest to the lengths I will go for you.”
My lips barely parted on a breath.
Completely wrapped in a bubble with no mind to the people that bustled along the sidewalk around us. No mind to the fall of the snow that thickened with each moment that passed.
As if he and I were the only thing that existed.
As if I were safe in his promise.
He let go of my wrist and went back to tracing the pad of his thumb along my jaw, his voice a soft command, “How about we get out of here before we freeze to death on the sidewalk?”
Flustered, I could barely nod. “Yeah.”
“Good.” He reached into his jacket pocket and produced a fob. He extended it for me to take.
Warily, I flipped my hand up and he dropped it into my palm.
On a shaky breath, I curled my hand around it.
Leaning in, Theo whispered in my ear, “Just so we’re clear what you mean to me.”
