All while I held a sob deep in my chest. This love that wanted to break free.
Gage grabbed my face in both of his small hands. “My turn! I’m gonna give you a billion kisses, too!”
He smacked little kisses all over my face. Turning me inside out. Twisting me in two.
My heart in his tiny, tiny fist.
I wanted to sing.
I wanted to weep.
“Goodnight, my sweet Gage,” I finally managed to say.
Before I lost it, I tore myself away, holding it in as I moved for the door as quickly as I could. I rushed out into the hall, my back to the door as Trent rumbled a few more words to Gage before the light flicked off and his footsteps thudded on the floor. The door creaked as he partially closed it, leaving it open an inch.
His presence washed over me from behind.
So big.
So beautiful.
Everything I’d ever wanted, and so much I hadn’t known I needed.
His fingers brushed down my arm. Chills lifted.
“Eden?” He whispered it like a question.
I barely managed to peek at him from over my shoulder. “You’re such a good father.”
There was no keeping the emotion out of it. The way my mouth trembled and my spirit shook.
“I’m trying to be.”
“There’s no trying to it. That child…he’s amazing, Trent. So amazing. I…”
How did I tell him that I wanted it? To be a part of it?
Trent pressed his hand to the small of my back as he rounded to my front. His palm moved up my spine until he was cupping the back of my neck. With his thumb, he tipped up my chin.
Understanding filled his dark eyes as tears slipped from mine.
“I see you, too, Eden, and I wish I could give you everything. Everything you need. Everything you deserve. Wish I could heal every broken part inside you. Hold it. And I’m so fuckin’ scared I’m going to be the one to tear you down.”
“I don’t think that’s possible when you’re the one holding me up. Sweet warrior.”
Pain eclipsed every inch of his face.
“What?”
“My mother used to call me that.”
Agony fisted. “Oh.”
He edged in closer, his spirit alive. “I wanted to live up to that. Wanted to so damned bad.”
“You are for us.”
“Eden.”
“What happened to her?” I chanced.
His expression hardened, a barrier trying to drop between us. His words were shards. “Lost her when I was a kid.”
I didn’t push farther, only touched his face. “I’m so sorry. You’ve lost so much.”
That barrier fell for a beat. “No more, Eden. No more losing the ones I love.”
“Are you afraid?” I whispered.
“Terrified,” he admitted.
“Who is after you, Trent? Who would do this?” My chest ached with the thought of someone that evil. That cruel.
His fiercely beautiful face pinched. “I don’t want you to worry about that.”
“Trent—”
Desperation flashed. “Please, Eden. Let me take care of you.”
“I don’t want you to hide from me.”
“Couldn’t if I tried, baby. I need you. I fuckin’ need you.”
His forehead dropped to mine and the words scraped from his mouth. “Tell me you need me, too. Tell me that tonight none of this other shit matters. Tell me nothin’ right now counts except for me and you.”
“Nothing matters right now, Trent. Nothing but me and you. Nothing but this.”
I wondered if he knew that included Gage. Included this little family that was slowly staking its claim on me. On my heart. On my soul. On who I was.
Because the hand at the back of my neck curled in possession, and the other was splaying wide, gripping me by the bottom and pulling me against every rock-hard inch of the man. “Little Temptress.”
I whimpered a needy sound. “It’s me who can’t resist you.”
Trent growled.
Then he hiked me up and into his arms. In an instant, I was pressed to the wall, my legs wrapped around his waist and his mouth devouring mine.
It was a clash of tongues.
Greed.
Lust.
Fire.
My dress was bunched around my waist, and he took the opportunity to burrow his fingers into my bare thighs.
His touch searing me through.
Our movements were a blur.
Impassioned kisses.
Heated hands.
Feverish whispers.
He kissed me as he carried me into his room, pressing me against every surface as we went. Furniture banged and fabric ripped and souls sang.
Hungry caresses and needy touches.
Taking. Taking. Taking.
I was on fire.
Burning.
Dying in the dark haze that was this man.
He blindly fumbled into the nightstand drawer and pulled out a condom.
In a flash, my panties were gone, and Trent’s jeans were shoved around his thighs.
No thought but this.
This.
It was the only thing that mattered.
He covered himself then drove into me.
Overcome.
Like I could be the source that sustained life.
I cried out at the feel of him.
At the full intrusion.
At the bliss.
He didn’t slow. His fingers sank into my bottom as he thrust, my back pinned to his bedroom wall and my arms wrapped around his head.