Those soulful eyes glinted in the light, his throat bobbing as he swallowed. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt the way I felt last night,” he admitted his voice gruff.
I tucked my bottom lip between my teeth before I asked, “What are we doing, Kale?”
His fingertips fluttered across my cheek. “I think we’re needing each other.” He blinked. “I had no idea I needed anyone or anything until I met you.”
And that need . . .
I could feel it compounding and expanding and shifting.
Restoring.
“Stay with me tonight,” he said.
My gaze moved to my sleeping son. “I don’t think he’s ready for that yet. Plus, I need to be up early to get to the shop in the morning, and Evan has his summer program.”
The words flooded out like excuses I didn’t want to have. But they were there, and they were real.
“I have a guest room. You both can sleep in there. I just want you near me. I need to know you’re safe. I have to be at work early, too. I’ll wake you first thing.”
“This is getting so very complicated.”
A grin tweaked his striking face. Goodness, no man should be that pretty. It just wasn’t fair.
“I promise that if you stay, I’m going to take you in my room and really complicate you.”
Oh, and neither was that. Not at all.
Desire exploded in the air.
Hot, heated energy.
But it was bigger than ever before.
Because I could feel it.
The love that shined all around me.
Powerfully. Brilliantly.
But looking at Kale? I was too scared to let it escape from my tongue. Afraid to put it out in the world. I knew once I said it, it was going to ring so true that I’d never be able to hear anything else.
“Stay with me,” he coaxed in that magnetic way.
There was nothing I could do but relent. I guessed I’d been relenting all along. Giving and giving because I couldn’t stay away. Last night, I’d fully succumbed. I should know any reservations would be futile.
“Okay,” I whispered.
“Need me after all, huh, Princess?” That tease was back.
“I think I’ll always need you,” I murmured.
A soft smile fluttered across his sexy mouth, before he shifted around so he didn’t disturb Evan. He climbed to his feet and carefully pulled my little boy into the well of his arms.
Kale hugged him to his chest.
And it spun and spun.
The love that whipped through the room like a hurricane.
The strength of it was so massive that a slice of terror cut through my center.
Awed by its beauty and intimidated by its force.
Kale started for the hall, and I climbed to my feet and followed him through the darkness.
Angling Evan a bit, he dipped down so he could turn the knob.
The room was obviously reserved for guests. The ceiling high, coffered and finished with crown molding and massive windows that overlooked the city beyond.
A rustic, four-poster bed, covered in plush, luxurious bedding, sat against the right wall.
Kale went right for it, dragging down the covers and nestling my son in its safety. He ran his fingers through Evan’s hair and pressed a tender kiss to the top of his head.
Evan sighed and sank into the comfort.
I swore that I felt the ground shake beneath my feet, felt the tangle of emotion lodge in my throat.
Tears threatened to strangle me.
Overwhelming. The way Kale’s aura was suddenly everything. Wisps that wound.
Vapor.
Kale headed back my way, the softest kiss pressed to my cheek. “Hold on one second, I’ll be right back.”
He slipped by me, disappearing for a few moments into his bedroom before he returned with a baby monitor. “I have this for Rex’s kids. I know Evan’s not a baby, but it will make me feel better that we can hear him if he wakes up and needs us. I set up the speaker in my room.”
And that love?
That was the moment it shattered me.
He plugged in the monitor and then slowly moved back toward me. He threaded his fingers through mine and led me back into the hall, leaving the door open a crack.
A breath jutted free when he shifted and moved toward me. My back hit the opposite wall of the hall.
He pushed his fingers into my hair, his nose back to running along my jaw. “I haven’t even gotten to kiss you yet. I’ve been going out of my mind thinking about last night. About you spread out under me. Your sweet body. Want to get lost in it, Hope. Get lost in you.”
A whimper left me, and I fisted my hands into his T-shirt. “I will never forget feeling you for the first time . . . the way it felt the moment you took me.”
That piece that would always belong to him.
He lightly swept his lips across mine.
Fire.
I swore that one brush was all it took for this man to set me on fire.