“Just let me take care of you. We can talk about—we can talk later, about everything. Tell me anything you want when you’re feeling safe again and I’ll listen to all of it, I promise. Part of this is my fault. You tried to tell me about Trent several times, and I never wanted to hear it.”

“Okay,” I murmured into the darkness. “We can talk in the morning.”

“Okay.” He pulled me close, resting his chin on the top of my head while being careful of my injured cheek.

“I don’t know why I ever left you,” I whispered. “I should have stayed here in Sweetbriar. Look at what happened—”

“No, don’t talk like that.” He placed a gentle fingertip to my lips. “You did what you needed to do. You had to go. There were things you needed that I couldn’t possibly have given you, and that’s okay. I couldn’t see then what I see now and I’m sorry—so, so sorry—that I put you in the position to have to choose.”

Tears filled my eyes, he brushed them away as they fell. “God, Cade. We’ve been divorced for so long, but sometimes it still hurts like it was yesterday.”

“It hurts me too. I was wrong to let you go without trying to understand you better. I was selfish back then. I had this grandiose idea that I should have been enough for you. That if I loved you enough, I could make you happy here, with me. But I know better now. I’ve grown up, Charlotte. And I’m not trying to be condescending so please don’t take it that way, but I am so fucking proud of you. You did the right thing by going to New York. Look at what you’ve become.”

“Look at you. Your dream has almost come true too. You’re going to be the chief, just like you always wanted.”

“The more time I spend with you, the more I think you’re my dream, Charli.”

My heart soared at his words. “I feel the same way about you. Being here with you again is magic, it’s everything.” I paused. “But this is not a second chance, not really. We both know we never had a real shot the first time around because we were just too young. This is us starting over. I think we finally want the same things from our lives.”

“What do you want? Tell me. I need to hear it.”

I pulled him closer with his shirt clutched in my fists. “You. Only you.”

“You have me. You’ve always had me, Charlotte. I tried to convince myself I was over you so many times, but it was a lie. I never got over you and I never will. You are part of my heart, burned into my soul. What I feel for you is forever.”

I nodded, desperate to make him understand how I had always felt. “I swear, the more time we spent apart, the deeper I fell in love with you. I know it doesn’t make sense, but it’s how I feel—”

“It does make sense, I get it. We’re both old enough and smart enough to know what we were missing from our lives. We had to grow up to fully understand what we lost.”

“I love how you’ve always understood me. You’re the only one who ever has.”

“I’ll never let you go again. You know that, right?” He kissed me softly.

“Well, that’s good because you’re stuck with me.”

“This is our path, Charlotte. It’s not the one we thought we started on after we walked down the aisle all those years ago, but it belongs to us.”

“We’re going to be okay. Tell me it’s true.”

“We’re going to be perfect.” He kissed me again, slanting his mouth over mine, thrusting his tongue inside with a low groan as his hands slid down my back to grip my hips and drag me closer. “I need you, Charlotte. Is this okay?”

“I don’t want you to stop. Make me forget everything but you, Cade. I want it to be only me and you for the rest of the night, and nothing else.”

He hooked his thumbs in my waistband and tugged my panties down while I lifted my shirt and slipped out of it. I wanted his skin on mine. I wanted him to erase this entire night from my mind.

He kissed me again, sweet and slow. “I’m going to take care of you. Tell me what you need and it’s yours.”

“All I need is you,” I murmured as I eased into his arms, letting him take the lead. Cade and I had always been fiery, full of passion whenever we were together. But tonight was different. He was tender and soft, as though I would break apart if he wasn’t careful.

“Lie back,” he whispered as he brushed a kiss against my cheek, over the bandage. “Try to relax, I’ve got you. I’ve been waiting for this, for you to finally be mine again, to stay. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you all these years, but I’m going to show you right now.”

My hands went to his shoulders, tugging his shirt up. “Get this off. I need to feel you.”

He shifted up to his knees and with a reach behind the back of his neck, pulled the shirt over his head. “Whenever we’re together, it feels like what love is supposed to be. I know that now. With you, I’m needed, I’m wanted, I’m not alone. Promise to let me protect you. Swear it to me, Charli. I can’t be without you. Tell me you’re mine again. Let me keep you safe.”

“You’ll never be alone, never again,” I promised as I reached for him. “I’m yours—”

“Good girl. God, how I want you.” We both gasped as he lowered himself, caging me in with his arms as he entered me. Our eyes met and held as he slid deep.

“You feel so good, Cade.” I moaned as he placed kisses along the line of my jaw up to my forehead. “This is how it’s supposed to be.”

“There’s no going back now.” His voice was rough like gravel as he buried his face in my neck and thrust gently into me. “I need you too much to ever lose you.”

“I need you too, Cade. Please don’t stop.” I wrapped my legs around his waist to draw him closer.

“I love being inside you, Charli Barrett. There’s no better feeling in the world.” His voice was a deep groan in my ear.

I slid my hands up his back and around his neck to cup his cheeks in my palms, urging him to move back so I could see his face. “Say that again.” His gaze was possessive, the intensity in his eyes lit me on fire. “Please.”

“Charli Barrett,” he repeated with a dark, sexy grin.

“Yes.” I beamed up at him. “God, Cade. I love the sound of that.” He kissed me deep. My heart raced in my chest and my toes curled as goosebumps rose over my skin and tingles shot between my legs.

I felt him smile against my lips. “There is nowhere I’d rather be than buried deep inside of this beautiful body,” he growled before kissing me again.

I was gone for him. Lost in this perfect moment of clarity and pleasure where he was mine and I was his, and I never wanted it to end. “Make me come. I’m almost there.” I threw my arms above my head and arched my back, giving myself over to him like I knew he wanted.

We were fluid, connected, moving as one as he rocked into me. We were finally in a place where the overwhelming feelings we had always carried for each other fit into our lives the way they were meant to.

He reached between our bodies to circle my clit with his thumb, and I writhed beneath him as he drove into me with hard, relentless strokes. I cried out after each one, begging him not to stop.

“Charlotte, I’m close.” His thumb moved faster while his other hand slid beneath me to hold my shoulder, keeping me still so he could take me harder and harder until we went off together like fireworks, in bright, bursting, glorious sparks of light.

“Stay right here with me for a minute. Don’t go,” I whispered.

Tags: Nora Everly Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net