To own.
For now and forever.
Her face flushed. “N-no. I mean, yes… at first it hurt, but I didn’t want to tell you, not when I finally had…” She averted her eyes. “Not when I finally had you. Not when I’d waited so long to taste your kiss. Feel your hands on me. Your dick inside of me. That night at the bar when you became captain all those years ago and you left me with Tristian. It was you I wanted to take me home. It was you I wanted to start a relationship with. It’s always been you. I’ve loved you my entire life, Romeo Sinacore. I knew what you were doing; I could see it in your eyes.” She lifted her face and pinned my gaze with hers. “I think that’s what hurt the most, how easily you gave me up. Gave me away.”
These confessions were breaking my heart. I had to remind myself we were long past that, and she was in my arms. I made so many mistakes, and I was sure I wasn’t done making them.
But for her.
For Eden.
My girl.
My Red.
The mother of my child.
I’d try to not fuck it up.
I waited too long for her.
This was always how we were meant to be.
Together.
No matter what life would throw at us.
“I survived six years off the way I felt when I was inside of you, Eden.” My voice cracked as I slowly pushed her down against the couch, my body hovering over hers. “But somehow, in these last few minutes, I’ve forgotten the way my ex-best friend used to feel, I forgot the way you used to press up against me, and I think I need reminding of why it was so hard to push you away in the first place…”
Her body trembled beneath mine. “Because I’m addicted to a Casanova like you?”
“No… because I’m a sinner, stumbling, bleeding into the garden of Eden, it’s the only place I find my salvation… In you.”
Tears welled in her eyes, and I lowered my mouth, pressing a brief kiss against her lips. “I lied that night I took your virginity, and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my whole life.”
I spoke my final truth against her mouth, “I love you. I’ve always loved you, and I always will.CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE“See, madness, as you know is like gravity, all it takes is a little push.” —Heath Ledger’s, The Joker
Eden
It didn’t feel real, the words he said, the way his lips felt against mine. He finally said the words I’d been dying to hear my entire life.
I used to dream about this.
When things were bad, I’d imagine Romeo storming into our home, taking Naz and me away, telling me he was wrong.
That he’d been wrong.
I was his.
I had only ever been his.
We’d kiss.
And life wouldn’t hurt so much anymore.
I wouldn’t flinch in fear whenever Tristian gave me a condescending look of hatred for not being good enough. For not being what he needed.
Wanted.
Couldn’t live without.
Romeo’s eyes searched mine; he was asking a question without speaking.
I answered without even breathing as I pressed my mouth against his, parting my lips, inviting him in, welcoming him home.
To me.
To us.
We were finally one again, and there was no place I’d rather be than in this moment lost with him.
In him.
He was my everything.
This felt right.
It finally felt right.
Us.
I clung to the front of his shirt for dear life while he welcomed my kiss, his eyes completely focused on me. His heated gaze was almost to the point that I looked away.
I turned my head slightly, only to have him grip my jaw roughly with his fingertips and bring me back to his hypnotizing stare.
“You.” Awe and determination washed over his face, almost as if a hunger began burning inside of him.
I needed Romeo like I needed my next breath.
My next beat of my heart.
My next…
My next…
My next…
I’d always needed him.
Wanted him.
Craved him obsessively.
I pondered in that moment how I’d actually survived this man until his calloused fingertips burned into my skin. His full lips parted.
I knew I was about to become fully lost in Romeo Sinacore, praying nobody would find me, or there’d be a way out.
With one last piercing look, he devoured my mouth; he stole my soul.
He put my heart back together.
We became reborn through the flick of his tongue.
Through the deepening of the kiss.
Thought his hands near my breasts.
Touching me.
Tugging at my shirt and bra.
Tossing them to the floor.
Leaving me topless and exposed.
Groaning, he trailed kiss after kiss down my jaw, my neck, until his lips rested in reverence against my chest. Could he hear how fast my heart was beating?
For him?
Always and only for him.
Over and over again in a cadence so violent that it was painful.
Overwhelming.
Mind-blowing.
He was barely touching my body, and I was already wet for him.