“I can and I will.” He leaned his head to the side. “Do you know why?”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want you to run anymore. I want you to stay right here with me.”
Shivers rose through my body.
My pulse beat rapidly.
My stomach somersaulted.
“And. . .what if I don’t want you to get hurt. . .because I want you in my life. . .forever.” I pressed myself firmly against him, straining to get as close as I could. I ached to touch his warm skin. “What if I want to see where this goes. . .you and I?”
He had no response.
I moved his arms away from his waist.
He stood there in a daze.
“What if I want to eventually have more than a kiss? How can I get that, if you’re dead?” I grabbed the bottom of his sweater and lifted it.
“Ebony.” He raised his arms as I pulled it up over his head.
I dropped the sweater on the floor and glided my fingers over the bruises decorating his muscular chest.
Groaning, he tried to kiss me again.
I leaned away and studied his chest some more. Bruises and marks decorated his chest and ribs. “Does it hurt, when I touch you?”
“No.”
“Would you tell me, if it did?”
“No.”
I glared him. “Why not?”
“Because I don’t want you to stop touching me.”
Those words shuddered through me.
“Please, promise me that you won’t—”
“I can’t, Ebony.” He captured my mouth again, winning me over. Shutting my dispute up. He claimed me yet again. And then he moved his mouth past mine and left a trail of kisses down my neck. Each brush of his lips ignited flames along my skin.
Surrendering, I slipped my hands around his waist and gripped his back. Between kisses, I whispered, “I’m scared.”
“That’s why I won’t stop.”
“I want to help.”
“You’ve done enough.”
“All I’ve done is run.”
“And you can’t run anymore.”
“Yoshiro—”
His tongue was in my mouth, twirling, dominating, owning.
He whispered, “I’ll always protect you. I’ll never stop. It doesn’t matter, if I get hurt. And it damn sure doesn’t matter, if I die. All I care about is your kids and you being safe.”
Tears left my eyes. I didn’t know what to say. Thank you wouldn’t have been enough. Please, don’t would’ve been a waste of words. Never had I had anyone care about me so much. Sacrifice it all for me.
“Don’t cry, Ebony.” He wiped the tears away. “I don’t ever want to hurt you.”
My voice went horse. “You’re not hurting me, Yoshiro. You’re. . .loving me. It’s been so long. . .if I’ve ever been loved at all.”
“I want to show you. Don’t you think we both deserve love?”
“Y-yes.” It made me nervous to even discuss the word. That concept of love. It had been something I never wanted to think about it.
“We’re still learning each other.” Warmth radiated off him. “We’re still figuring our hearts out. We’re both broken in some ways.”
“We are.”
“But we deserve love.”
“We do.”
“Then, he needs to die.” Rage blazed in Yoshiro’s eyes. And it didn’t make me back away. I knew who the anger was for, and that fact made me closer to him. “With him gone, we’ll have the time to figure this out. This. . .thing. This. . .energy pulsing between us.”
This time when he kissed me, I leaned into his embrace, realizing that I could never have enough of Yoshiro. I gave up with pretending. I found myself lost in him. And I swore our connection deepened.
Every inch of my body melted into his. My heart exploded, but no pain came. Only pleasure and warmth. Like it had been trapped inside something and needed to get out.
He slid his hands down my body and then back up. When he tenderly cupped one breast, a million sparks scorched my nerves, sending delicious sensations from my nipple to the longing ache between my legs.
And in that moment, my worry fell away. Faith came. I believed. And all I could think about was him, all I longed for was Yoshiro—to feel him inside me, his mouth hot on my skin, and his tongue blazing a trail down to a part of my body that had not been touched by another man in years.
“Yoshiro,” I murmured, slipping my hands along his rippling muscles. It had been so long since I’d longed for any man.
Loud sounds rumbled up the stairs.
Barking came next.
And then one of the kids knocked on the door.
Jalen’s voice blared from the other side. “Mommy, can I have the rest of the lasagna? Or does Yoshiro want it?”
I leaned away, unable to catch my breath.
A smile spread across Yoshiro’s face. “I want it, Jalen. Don’t touch my lasagna.”
Disappointment filled Jalen’s words. “Ah, man.”
Yoshiro called back. “But I have some cake that we can split after I’m done eating. Give me a minute. I’ll be downstairs.”
The footsteps thundered away.
We gazed at each other in silence.