“Yeah, babe. I really want to talk, too.” He lifted his head, his eyes eating me alive as he stepped to the side and helped me into the car. “Just smack me in the face if I don’t let you do any talking, though, okay? I don’t quite trust myself alone with you right now.”
I grinned. “I don’t trust myself either, Jace, but we really should talk first.”
He nodded and closed the door before running around to climb into the driver’s seat. Watching him, I couldn’t help but notice his hands actually shake as he started the car and put it in gear. “Talk,” he muttered to himself as he pulled into traffic. “Just talk.”
I didn’t reply as he made the short drive to his apartment building. It was a nice area with some high-grade security. He used a keycard to open the gates to the garage and then had to use it again to call for the elevator once we were parked. We had to walk through the lobby to get to another set of elevators and passed two security guards on the way.
Finally in the second elevator, he used his keycard to unlock the floor to his apartment and then pulled me into his heat. With a contented sigh I went willingly. His head lowered, but he only buried his face in my neck and inhaled deeply as if trying to breathe all of me in. I leaned in to him more, wanting to soak all of him in just as he was me.
When the elevator stopped, neither of us moved right away. We were too happy to stay the way we were, wrapped around each other so tightly neither of us dared to let go for fear of losing a part of ourselves.
Someone cleared their throat and our heads shot around to see Gray standing with a hand on the doors as he watched us with a mixture of amusement and disgust on his face. “You two gonna fuck in the elevator? If so, can you wait until I’m gone first?”
Jace muttered a vicious curse, took my hand and pushed his way past his roommate. Gray chuckled as he stepped on to the elevator. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t,” he called after Jace as we reached their apartment door. “On second thought, maybe you shouldn’t.”
I rolled my eyes at him over my shoulder just as the elevator doors closed. Gray winked and waved his fingers in a way that would have been seductive to anyone else. I, however, was completely immune to Gray Knight.
“Thank fuck we’ll be alone.” Jace opened the door and tugged me inside with him, turning on lights as he led the way into the living room. “I didn’t want to
talk with him around.”
“Me either.” Gray was so fucking annoying. I didn’t understand how Kassa could put up with his ass the way she did, but she was the only one who seemed to understand him. I was pretty sure Jace’s sister needed her head examined.
Still holding on to my hand, Jace sat on the couch and pulled me down beside him. Sitting that close to him, with my left side plastered to his right, I found it hard to remember what I had even wanted to talk about. Jace put our joined hands on his thigh, turned his palm over and started tracing his fingertip over my life line.
“Does your father know you’re going to be out late?”
I shrugged. “I doubt he knows anything that goes on under his roof. He went back to Canada two days ago to shoot the rest of his movie. I told Carolina to tell her mother I was going to be staying with Lucy, though, so she won’t be expecting me.”
“Shit,” he breathed and dropped his head back on the couch. “Wish you hadn’t said that, babe.”
“Why?”
“You’re not expected. That means I can keep you here all fucking night.” He slowly lifted his head and met my gaze. “Do you want to stay?”
“I was hoping to…” I bit the inside of my bottom lip to keep from revealing all the things I had been hoping for that night. If I told him I was hoping to spend the entire night, in his bed, there would be absolutely no talking taking place.
He jerked to his feet and was across the room in a flash. I blinked up at him, confused by the sudden distance between us.
“Talk, Kin. Let’s talk. Now, before I lose sight of all the reasons why talking is a must.”
“Oh.” I swallowed hard, feeling shy for the first time around this guy. “Well…”
Seeing that I was having trouble, he thrust his hands into his jeans pockets. “Do you forgive me, Kin?”
I sucked in a deep breath and nodded my head. “Yes,” I whispered. “I forgive you, although I’m not sure you need my forgiveness.” I blew out a long sigh and pushed my hair back from my face. “Look, I understand why you left. Tainted Knights has what it takes to go far and I’m so damn proud of you and the others, Jace. That was never an issue. I just…”
“You should have come before the band, Kin.” He dropped his head, as if ashamed. “I should’ve been there for you when your mom died. I know you would’ve been there for me if it had been Alicia.”
Swallowing hard, I nodded. “Yeah. I would have been.”
“I made a mistake. A huge one, at that.” He lifted his head, his eyes bright with determination. “And one I won’t ever repeat. I love you, Kin. I’ve loved you practically from the second I set eyes on you. I loved you even when I was walking away. I’ll love you for the rest of my life, baby.”
Each word out of his mouth was like a direct hit to the chest. It hurt but it was a good kind of hurt. It eased all the lingering aches and filled my heart up with the love I’d never stopped feeling for him. “I didn’t stop loving you, Jace. I-I tried—hard—but I just couldn’t.”
I felt tears sting my eyes and lowered my lashes so he wouldn’t see them. Great, more tears. Damn it, I hated crying. That’s all I seemed to do lately, though. I was turning into an emotional basket case.
Warm, strong hands touched my arms. Jace had moved quickly again and was now crouched down in front of me. “I know it makes me seem like a bastard, but right now I don’t give a damn. I’m glad you didn’t stop loving me, Kin. I’ve had fucking nightmares about you stopping and it always made me wake up in a cold sweat.” He raised a hand and used his thumb and forefinger to tip my head up so our gazes locked. “I know I ruined things between us, baby. I shattered your trust in my feelings for you, but I won’t stop proving to you that—for me—you are everything. I won’t let you go again, Kin. I won’t walk away unless I know you’re going with me next time.”