Tremors rumbled through her body, old wounds that shivered and shook, never fully healed. “That broke me, Kyle. Scarred me in a way that I’ve yet to undo. But I know I have to. I can’t let a single moment define who I am.”
Her gaze dropped, the girl warring with something deep and dark, before she looked back up at me from under her lashes. So damned pretty it speared me again, an arrow through the heart. A hook in my soul.
“But that’s what I just did, isn’t it? I let a single moment of rejection and hurt cloud what was going on between me and you . . . and . . . and I ran because that’s what I do when it gets too hard. And I don’t want to be that girl, anymore. I don’t want to be scared of this.”
I reached up and brushed back a lock of hair matted to her face. “I’m so goddamn sorry that I ever caused you an ounce of pain. But I was determined that night to erase you from my heart and my psyche. To finally give up the fascination I had with you.”
Sadness moved across her face, and I leaned in closer, making sure I was directly in her line of sight. “But it didn’t work. Didn’t work for a second. Because you were always right there, a vision of perfection. You were what I compared every other girl to, and not one of them ever had a chance of filling your shoes.”
I spread my palm across her face. “I love you. I love you for real. I love you with all of me. I love you for you.”
A fresh round of tears slipped down her face, and I was cupping both of her cheeks, wiping away her tears.
“I’m so in love with you, Kyle Love. I love you for you. So much it hurts. I’ve been aching for you my whole life, and I had no idea how to fill it.”
Slammed with an onslaught of desire that could no longer be tamed, I yanked her off her feet and pinned her to the wall.
She gasped and then laughed, and she threw her arms around my shoulders. I pressed her closer to the wall and brushed my lips along the shell of her ear.
“I have a pretty good idea of how to fill it.”
Shivers raced across her flesh, a palpable singe I wanted to trace with my tongue, just as badly as I wanted to devour the needy sigh that scraped her throat.
So I did.
I swallowed that sweet little sound with a kiss.
A kiss that was hard and desperate. A little manic. Two of us finally free. No walls left between us. No questions or insecurities or nosey sisters that were just going to have to get over the two of us.
Fingers dove into my hair, fisting tight, tugging hard.
Reckless and rash, pricks of pain pulling at my scalp.
The force of it shot straight to my dick.
My dick that was hard as steel. Impatient to finally get in this girl.
Her pussy hot where she was rubbing against my pants, her desire wrapping me in chains.
But I had to be careful with her.
Not because she was pathetic or fragile or weak.
But because she deserved to be treated right.
Adored and worshipped and revered.
She kissed me back with a passion unlike anything I’d ever felt.
But that’s the way it was when you found your match.
It was a fire. An inferno. Fireworks launched from a deserted island. The magnitude of it hitting you from out of nowhere.
Awestruck.
Love blistered and blew, devotion pumping firm as we fought to get closer to the other.
“Kyle,” she whispered. “I need you.”
“I know, cupcake. You’ve got me. I’m yours. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Actually, you are.”
I jerked back to look at her.
She had a coy grin on her face. “You’re taking me to my bedroom.”
Shyness bled out with her demand, but that’s what it was, the girl telling me what she wanted.
I was all too willing to oblige.
Still, I had to tease her a little. “Oh, yeah?”
She bit down on her bottom lip, redness splashed all over her cheeks. “Mmhmm.”
I nipped that bottom lip with my teeth. “Tell me you aren’t just using me for my body.”
She splayed her hands over my shoulders. “I have spent an inordinate amount of time fantasizing about it,” she rasped just under her breath.
A groan escaped.
Shit.
Wasn’t sure I could handle that, the idea of this girl getting off to the memory of me.
“Then I guess it’s about time you experienced the real deal.”
She scratched her fingertips along the scruff of my jaw. “And I’m so, so ready.”
I carried her back through the door that still sat wide open, leaving her suitcase behind.
We’d deal with that later.
We had far more important things to attend to.