Page 16 of Awakening the Wild
"He’s right. I don't have anything."
"You have me." His hands settled on my shoulders, warm and reassuring. "You have a place here, with me. You have skills you're learning, work you can do. You have value that has nothing to do with money."
“I’m such an idiot for signing everything without reading it.”
Kevin's hands framed my face, forcing me to meet his eyes. "Stop. Just stop. You trusted him and he betrayed you. That’s on him. Not you."
“He owns me.”
“He does not.”
I wish I could believe him. "I'm useless."
"You are not."
"Then what am I?" The question came out broken, desperate.
The intensity in his dark eyes made my breath catch. Something shifted in his expression—went from protective to hungry in a heartbeat that made my pulse stutter.
"You're everything."
The words hung between us for one suspended moment. Then he moved.
His hand came up to cup the back of my neck, fingers threading through my hair with a possessiveness that should have scared me but instead sent heat spiraling through my core. He pulled me to him—not rough, but absolute. Claiming.
When his mouth crashed down on mine, I gasped against his lips. This wasn't gentle. This wasn't tentative. This was raw needbarely held in check, desire that had been building since the moment we met finally breaking free.
His lips were firm, demanding, coaxing mine open with an expertise that made my knees weak. When his tongue swept into my mouth, tasting me, claiming me, I moaned—a sound I'd never made before, pulled from somewhere deep and primal.
He swallowed the sound, one massive hand still fisted in my hair, the other sliding down to grip my waist. His fingers spanned almost completely around me, a reminder of his size, his strength, how easily he could break me—and how carefully he was choosing not to.
I grabbed onto his shoulders for balance, feeling solid muscle bunch under my fingers. He was so big, so warm, so overwhelmingly male that I felt delicate in a way I'd never experienced. Not weak—cherished. Protected. Wanted.
The kiss deepened, turned desperate. His beard scraped against my skin, rough and masculine, so different from Michael's always-smooth face. This was real. Raw. A man who worked with his hands claiming a woman he wanted with a hunger that stole my breath.
When he finally pulled back—both of us breathing hard, my lips swollen and tingling—he didn't go far. His forehead pressed against mine, his warm breath mingling with my own.
"Tonya," he said, my name rough on his tongue, almost reverent.
I couldn't speak. Couldn't think. Every nerve ending was on fire, my body humming with want I'd never felt before. Michael's kisses had been controlled, calculated—a means to an end. This was different. This was Kevin losing control because of me. For me.
His thumb stroked along my jaw, gentle despite the hunger still burning in his dark eyes.
"Michael can take your money," he said roughly. "He can freeze your accounts, cancel your cards, whatever else he thinks will hurt you. But he can't take this. He can't take what's between us."
"Kevin..."
"Stay with me," he said, his voice raw with emotion. "Not because you have nowhere else to go, but because this is where you belong. Here, with me, building something real."
I searched his eyes, looking for any hint of obligation or pity. Instead, I found something that made my heart race—desire so intense it took my breath away.
"Show me," I whispered. "Show me I'm more than just a burden."
KEVIN
The words were barely out of her mouth before I was lifting her, my hands spanning her waist as I sat her on the kitchen counter. She gasped at the sudden movement, her legs automatically wrapping around my hips to steady herself.
"You want me to show you?" I stepped between her thighs, pressing close enough that she could feel exactly what she did to me. "You want me to prove that you're not a burden?"
