I turn to face him but keep walking and say, “Anyone and everyone. It’s our safe place.” Almost comically, I nearly trip on the last statement, and catch myself before tumbling forward.
With a firm grasp, Z pulls me closer to him. There’s still a good ten feet of nearly flat rock till the edge, but he acts like I could have fallen over.
“Ella,” he says, practically reprimanding me and I laugh in response.
“It’s fine. I’m fine.” I try to shake him off but he’s adamant.
“It’s dangerous,” Zander tells me in a low tone and I know not to push him much.
“Not with you here,” I say and take another step forward, but he holds my elbow just enough to keep me from going toward the edge of the waterfall.
The water is gorgeous. The rushing waves reflect the sunlight and everything about this place is peaceful. The white noise, the fresh atmosphere, and the clean yet woodsy smells in the cool air.
Closing my eyes, I imagine this may be what heaven feels like.
“It’s dangerous, Ella,”he repeats with emphasis and I have to laugh.
“We used to jump,” I tell him, the youthful memory bringing a smile to my lips.
“From here?” he says and the shock in his tone is comical to me. I keep my distance, though, so as not to worry him.
Nodding, I keep the smile in place and tell him, “Yeah, from here.”
“Why the fuck would you do that?”
I shrug and give him a rueful grin. “Because we were young and dumb and it was here.”
“Who’s we?”
“Me. Trish. My girlfriends.” I shrug again and he wraps an arm around my waist.
“Don’t worry. I’m a good listener and I heard you tell me not to jump,” I joke, taking his hand in mine.
He roughly chuckles and squeezes my hand back.
“Besides,” I say and peek behind Z to where Silas is watching from a short distance away, “I wouldn’t want to give your backup a heart attack.”
I’m rewarded with another short, rough chuckle.
“What about Kam?” His tone is more serious now although he tries to play it off.
“What about him?”
“Did he ever jump with you?”
“He knows but he’s never jumped.” I confide in him without thinking twice. Which is dangerous and yet there isn’t an ounce of worry in the confession. Although I know I’m on the edge of unraveling something that’s been kept tightly wound and should remain that way. “He’s picked me up a time or two before, late at night, soaking wet even.”
“You trust Kam,” he says almost like it’s a question. His gaze stays pinned on me, no longer interested in the fall in the least.
“I don’t just trust him, I love him and if you knew—” I stop myself before finishing my statement but Zander picks up where I left off. I swear he knows what I’m thinking before I do sometimes.
“If I knew all your secrets …” he starts.
“If you knew all my family’s secrets and those of his too …” I say and trail off, then huff humorlessly and look away but not for long.
With his thumb on my chin and his forefinger beneath it, he tilts my head up so I look him in the eye. His gaze is intense and he pauses a moment, searching my eyes for something before confessing, “I’d still love you.”
The intensity is all too much. Like something breaking and crumbling apart in a way where it will never be repaired. Something I don’t want to be fixed. Something I don’t want to think about ever again.
He leans down, his warm breath meeting mine and he nips my bottom lip before capturing my mouth with his, silencing the sudden gasp from the hint of pain.
He’s good at that. My Z … my Dom. He excels at silencing the pain.
“That’s my girl,” he whispers against my lips and I smile.
A warm feeling in the pit of my stomach flutters like butterfly wings as he kisses me once again. Deeply, with longing, then hungrily. I meet his want with my need and deepen the kiss that much more.