“After hearing all this, I want it more.” Truth rang out in his voice. “This is you. Your life. Hearing all this doesn’t make me want to run, it makes me want to wrap my arms around you and not let go.”
Uncontrollable tears rushed down her cheeks, and his face became blurry. “What if I said I wanted you to never let me go?”
“I would say it’s about time we’re getting somewhere, and I’m glad you’re no longer fighting me.” He leaned away, putting some space between them. “Now a bit of the truth is finally out in the open. I feel better. Do you?”
Did she?
She wasn’t sure.
Kyler had been nothing but completely forthcoming with her and she’d hid things from him. Important things she should have told him. She felt foolish. He understood her, probably more than anyone had in her life. He didn’t judge her. He didn’t get angry. He simply cared for her unconditionally.
She cupped his face, feeling the scruff from his five-o’clock shadow. “Why are you so good to me?”
“Because you deserve it, Ella.”
Guilt and shame led her to say, “I’m sorry I kept all this from you. I should have told you.”
“I’m sorry that I learned about it in the manner I had, too. But now I know and you know that I don’t care.” He slid his fingers across her face to grasp her hair, and then he dropped a hard and passionate kiss upon her lips. Tension lay in the firmness of his mouth, but the heat was all-consuming. When he broke the kiss, he added with a devilish smile, “Now we can move on, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t hide from me,” he added with a firm voice. “All of this is your history. Maybe painful history. But it’s all of what makes you you. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could possibly keep me away now.” Then he sealed his mouth over hers and briskly ended the conversation.
She kissed him back with equal fervor, amazed by him. By how compassionate, how strong, how confident he was. Some men might be threatened by Rory, but beyond all the secrets, his only focus was her.
In that truth, she lost herself.
He wrapped his strong fingers around her cheeks as his tongue explored her mouth. The passion was fever-pitched. The unconditional love meant more than his heated kisses.
Trust.
Communication.
Acceptance.
Things were deeper between them, and she let go to a man who deserved it. Who’d fought to gain her trust. A man who she wholeheartedly believed would never let her fall.
With a final brush of his lips across hers, he broke away. Holding her hair firmly in his grip, he murmured, “Now we are in a good place to play. Do you feel that also?”
“Yes.” She smiled, wiping the last tears off her face. “It does feel good it’s all out in the open now.” Real good.
His grin spoke of love and something so much more: appreciation that she gave him more of herself. “All right, sweetheart. Are you ready to play?” A darker—more demanding—look crossed his face, one she’d never seen before. All those examining looks he’d given her now became intense, almost as if he searched her soul.
This time she allowed it, welcomed him in.
“I’m ready,” she said.
He gathered her off the table and placed her on her feet, then rose off the couch. The warmth of his body pressed against her and he stared down at her with hard, yet simmering, eyes.
There was a notable difference in him. Oh, hell, was there ever.
He didn’t simply look at her, he studied her. He didn’t move without purpose, and each move seemed to be to gauge her. As if his world narrowed entirely on her, and she experienced the draw to that. The importance of feeling a man engrossed in her.
She realized in this moment, Kyler didn’t stand in front of her.
Master Kyler did.
Chapter Sixteen