Too small for the size of his heart.
The moment he watched me cry out in pain while he held a gun to Jill’s head, I saw something in him snap.
It was almost as if someone pulled a switch inside his head.
The pain in his eyes was immeasurable, all-consuming.
Just like the thoughts inside my head that screamed at me to grab the nearest knife and open those past wounds.
But he wouldn’t let me.
By sacrificing the one thing he truly wanted, her life … he saved mine.
My pain, my heart, my love mattered more to him than his own life.
And that fact alone makes me lean up and kiss him harder than I ever have before.
The moment seems to last an eternity, but it feels as though every second in his vicinity is another one I want to spend closer and closer until I can no longer exist without him.
He pulls away for a moment only to lock eyes with me. “After everything I did … you still want to kiss me?”
More tears escape my eyes. “I thought I’d never be able to kiss you again. But you’re here, alive … and you chose me over everything else.”
He raises his brow. “So it’s true what you said?”
“What?”
“That you love me.”
My eyes widen, and my face turns beet red.
The only time I ever said that … was when he was on the ground, not breathing.
“But how?” I mutter.
He tilts his head. “It was the last thing I heard before everything went dark.” He cups my face. “And it kept me from giving up the fight.”
I smile and lean into his hand, desperate for more after almost losing it forever. “It’s true. I do.”
A lopsided grin forms on his face. “Then you can say it again.” He pulls me closer until our foreheads touch, and his lips hover dangerously close to mine. “Say it out loud so I’ll believe it. So I will never, ever try to hurt you again.”
Tears well up in my eyes at the thought that my words alone were all he ever needed to stop. “I love you.”
Not even a second later, his mouth latches onto mine, claiming me once again, no holds barred. Even when I know he’s in pain, he refuses to hold back.
“Even when I’ve tormented you?” he groans into my mouth.
“Even then,” I mutter between kisses. “I need you.”
He grabs my face with both hands and pulls me in even closer, and I struggle to stay put on the bed as he kisses me harder than ever before.
“All I’ve ever done was for you …” he murmurs, tearing away for a second as my swollen lips hum with desire. “I’ll do anything for you. And I promise I will never, ever fucking hurt you again.”
“Anything?” My brow rises.
“Do you want my heart? Because I’ll carve it out on a platter just for you,” he says.
I smile against his lips. “No …” I place my hand on his chest until I feel the thrum of his heartbeat. “I want to hear your beating heart every day.”