Ride Hard (Raven Riders 1)

Dare frowned, and then his eyes went wide. “Are you saying—”

“I don’t want to go,” she said. “Unless you don’t want me to stay. Unless . . . unless I’m really not that special to you.” Giving voice to those words was one of the scariest things she’d ever done. But she had to know. Once and for all.

She could barely breathe as she waited for him to reply.

On a groan, he reached for her with his good arm, and she leaned in to let him cup the back of her neck and pull her closer. “Come here,” he whispered. She got as close as she could without putting any of her weight on him. His gaze went soft and unshuttered, and then words spilled from that harsh, beautiful mouth. “I love you,” he said. “I fucking love you so much that I don’t think I can exist without you. Not anymore. I don’t want you to go. Not at all. You’re the most special thing I’ve ever found. You’ve given me love and acceptance and peace and comfort and made me realize that I want things out of this life, too. Things I hadn’t realized and certainly hadn’t been pursuing. But the world I live in . . . fuck, this life isn’t—”

Haven kissed him, happiness, relief, and overwhelming love making it impossible for her to speak. So she poured everything she felt into the way her lips caressed his, the way her hand stroked his hair. And then she looked down into his questioning eyes. “I love you, too,” she rasped. “You own my heart and you always will, because you taught me what love was and you showed me what life could be. You gave me wings, Dare, and they brought me right back to you. And they always will.”

“You love me?” he asked, raw wonder in his voice.

“Maybe from the very first time we spoke,” she said, happiness welling so big and warm inside her chest that she wasn’t sure how she could hold it all in.

“Fuck,” he said, his face crumpling with emotion. He tried to cover it with his hand, and the show of emotion reached into her chest and squeezed her heart. “You saved me,” he said, his voice cracking a little.

Haven smiled, completely overwhelmed by the perfection of the moment. “We saved each other.”

Dare heaved a deep, shaky breath. “You’re pretty fucking awesome. You know that?” he asked.

Her smile slipped into a grin. “I really am.”

He gave a little coughing laugh and groaned at the same time. “Can’t . . . laugh,” he gasped.

“I’m sorry.” She stroked his hair back off his face.

“Don’t ever be sorry for making me happy, Haven. Because you do. Happier than I’ve ever been in my life. I didn’t realize how little I’d been living all these years until you came along. So, yeah, we saved each other. And I just can’t let you go. Not today. Not ever.”

Which was exactly what Haven wanted to hear. “That’s all I need, Dare. You’re all I need. We’ll figure the rest out.”

His fingers toyed clumsily with a long strand of her hair. “Yeah, we fucking will,” he said, strength filtering into his voice. “One day, one night, one ride at a time.”