Sawyer (Carolina Reapers 2)

“Yes.”

“You came all the way to Vegas just to watch me play?” My other hand rose to the nape of her neck.

“Yes,” she admitted, her lips parting.

“You still love me.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes,” she whispered.

I kissed her before she could say anything else, or spout off another ridiculous reason that she needed to push me away. God, she was wearing that cherry gloss again, and the taste immediately rushed to my dick, hardening me to near pain in the breath of that kiss.

She melted, and I surged, unable to hold back after weeks of being denied even the sight of her or the sound of her voice. I took her mouth until she whimpered and returned the kiss stroke for stroke, until her hands knocked my cap loose to fist in my hair.

“I’ve missed you so fucking much,” I managed to say between kisses. I wanted to eat her alive, to worship her thoroughly, to drench her with so much pleasure that she’d see that we weren’t an inconvenience to each other. We were air.

“God, I’ve missed you,” she admitted as I set my lips to her throat. “Every minute. Every day. You’re all I think about.”

I groaned and pulled her tighter against me. Then I gripped her ass and lifted her. She locked her legs around me, and I kissed her with stark relief. “Tell me you’re done denying this,” I demanded.

“Sawyer…” She silenced me with a kiss, nearly bringing me to my knees with her deft tongue and passionate response.

I pinned her to the wall and kissed her until I was drunk on her, until she filled every sense.

“Damn it, Echo.” I ripped my mouth from hers and tried to clear the fog of lust that clouded my judgment. “Tell me we can be us. Tell me you didn’t fly all the way here just to leave me again.”

Her breath was ragged as she searched my eyes. “I love you.”

I would have taken that answer as an affirmative from any other woman but the complicated vixen in my arms. “Baby, please.”

Her expression softened. “Don’t you want to go party with the guys?”

“I’m exactly where I want to be.” My thumb stroked the soft skin of her cheek. “Having you here with me makes this the best night of my life. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me when I saw you in the stands, and then when we won, and you weren’t there…” I kissed her softly. “None of this matters if I don’t have you. You make everything in my life sweeter.”

“I make everything in your life more complicated,” she answered with a brush of her lips on mine.

“In the best way.” I rested my forehead on hers. “I don’t want to go another day without you, and I know you feel the same otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”

“But we both have so much growing to do,” she protested, but her thighs locked me in place.

“Then we grow together,” I answered. “We both have baggage, Echo. We just have to help each other unpack that shit. You have to help me loosen up and learn to balance my personal life with my professional one. I have to help you learn to trust that I’m not going anywhere.”

“Right—” I kissed her silent, unwilling to let her get up in her head again.

“Baby, I can’t learn that stuff without you, and you can’t trust me not to leave if you don’t give me the chance to stay. And I know it’s scary. I know that trust is expensive, but you have to give a little upfront. I’ll earn the rest for the rest of my life, I promise. Just don’t do this to us. Don’t ruin the best thing either of us has ever had, because you’ll ruin us both.”

She swallowed, and I could almost taste her fear.

“I love you, Echo. I’m never going to hurt you. I’m never going to walk away. I’m never going to forget just what a lucky bastard I am to have your love, and I’ll never let you regret giving me your trust, I swear. I’ll find the nearest Elvis right now and marry you if that’s what it takes for you to believe it.”

Her eyes flared, and I lifted just enough to look into her eyes without going cross-eyed. “You’d marry me?”

“In a heartbeat.”

“You’ve known me for four months.” Her words were a little harsh, but there was a plea in her eyes that sliced me to the quick.

“And that’s long enough to know that you’re it for me. That’s long enough for me to add you to the deed to my house so you’ll know that you have a home and roots if you want them. That’s long enough to—”

“You did what?”

If it wasn’t for the raging demand of my cock, pressed right up against her cleft, I might have laughed.