Say It's Forever (Redemption Hills 2)

What I saw.

The beauty she sparked in my heart and mind.

I helped her off, and I climbed to standing, grinning at the way she quickly unwound the strap and handed it to me, girl all nerves while she stood there like a vixen in the middle of my shop.

This enchantress that held me in her sweet, sweet spell.

“Fuckin’ fantasy, you standing there.”

Her throat tremored when she swallowed, and she fidgeted with her hands. “I have no idea what I’m doing here, Jud.”

“Going to show you.”

I reached for her hand again, and we crossed the space, her heels clacking along behind me as I led her to the stairs. Shifting, I ushered her ahead of me. “Up you go, darlin’.”

Warily, she took the first step, and I couldn’t do anything but lean in and breathe near her ear as she passed. “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll catch you if you fall.”

Thunderbolt eyes struck me from over her shoulder. “And what if you’re the one who sends me tumbling?”

I quirked a teasing brow. “Now why would a friend go and do something like that?”

Deep laughter rolled up her throat. “Friends, huh?”

I gave her an exaggerated nod.

Pure innocence.

Girl saw right through it.

Fact I needed her here. A hunger had lit, and I wasn’t sure I would ever get my fill. How I’d ever be sated. How I’d ever stop wanting more.

That kiss had only evoked a feeding frenzy.

We climbed the stairs to my loft, and I punched in the code on the keypad and opened the door.

Dusky, hazy light echoed back.

I held open the door so she could step inside my home.

A home that normally felt vacant and vast.

Artificial warmth in the dark woods and fabrics, but the only thing I ever really felt were the ghosts howling back. The demons that thrived in the shadows.

Salem stepped inside. Immediately, her attention went to the floor to ceiling paintings hung on the far wall.

An expression of my dreams.

The nightmares that chased me into sleep.

My sins I could never escape.

Could feel the questions rush from her skin, the way she looked back at me, asking me to let her see what lived in the recesses of my mind.

I set my hand on the small of her back. Severity zapped through the connection. “I’ll show you.”

Salem leaned down and removed her heels the way she’d done the last time she was there.

It dropped her four inches.

This barefooted girl sexy as fuck.

She hooked them in the fingers of her right hand at the same time as she wound the fingers of her left with mine.

Peace.

It whispered beneath my skin.

A slow burn that flooded my veins and threatened to seep all the way to my soul.

A motherfucking fool, but still I led her across the loft, through the open living room and along the far-right side of the kitchen, to my bedroom double doors.

Stalling, Salem swung her attention to me, her tone incredulous. “Your bedroom?”

A low chuckle rumbled out. “Thought you trusted me?”

Her eyes narrowed. “I never said that. Besides, you’re the one who just told me I shouldn’t.”

“I changed my mind.” The words were close to a growl.

“Touch me and I stab you.” Mischief glinted in those blue eyes.

A bolt of laughter boomed from my chest.

Shit.

This girl was too much.

My little wildcat.

I reached out to open the right side of the double doors.

Salem warily looked through the opening.

Ripples of need.

Waves of unease.

I shifted around to face her, tugging at her hand while I walked backward, luring her in.

Her attention raced across the rambling bedroom. Entire thing was this extravagant show of the wealth I had built. A reminder that I was doing it right for a change.

Had to wonder if that applied right then.

I kept moving across the room to the door on the left wall.

I paused outside it with the girl facing me.

The room dark. Her gaze bright.

“Just what are we doing, Jud?”

Disquiet rattled me to the bones.

“Should I be concerned?” She attempted the tease to break through my apprehension. “Is this where you hide your victims?”

I reached out and brushed back the lock of hair from her face, tucked it behind her ear, my voice close to shaking when I muttered the truth, “No one has been inside here except for Trent.”

Not even Logan.

A frown marred her gorgeous face.

I watched as her expression shifted, as she realized I was giving her something I rarely shared with anyone.

A view into my forsaken soul.

I punched in the code that unlocked the door and let Salem into my studio. A studio that took up half the area of the loft.

The soft glow of recessed lights barely illuminated the massive space, just a drizzled white seeping over the shadowy room.

There wasn’t any furniture except for the easels that were littered about and the stacks of canvases piled everywhere.

Buckets of paint and supplies were strewn all over. Ladders and scaffolding climbing the walls.