Didn’t I know it.
“And why are they torturin’ you?” I asked.
“Told you I’ve made more mistakes than I can count.”
“Isn’t that what forgiveness is for?”
He chuckled a menacing sound. “Not when you don’t deserve it.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“That’s because you don’t know the things I’ve done.”
“Try me,” I challenged.
He laughed low. “You looking for a reason for me to send you running tonight?”
“No, Royce, I’m lookin’ for you to give me a reason to stay.”
His throat bobbed again, his voice so hard and low I felt the words like a rough blade. “Fine. You want to know? I let someone hurt my baby sister. Hurt her so badly that I’m not sure she will ever recover.”
“It couldn’t have been your fault.”
“It was.”
My face pinched. “I don’t believe that.”
His laughter was dark. “Well, you should.”
I chewed at my lip, averting my gaze before I warily looked back at him. “I’m sorry that she got hurt. It’s the worst feeling in the world when the ones we love are in pain.”
He looked away, too, shaking his head. “Goddamn it, Emily. Why are you so sweet?”
“I hate that you’re hurtin’, too, you know.”
Need rumbled in his throat, and he set his flute aside and climbed to his hands and knees, crawling toward me.
Predatory.
Possessive.
It pressed me onto my back, the man hovering a foot over me, my heart thundering as I struggled to breathe. I reached up and touched his face, fingertips moving across his full lips.
“I have to admit, I’m happy you were havin’ trouble sleeping tonight.”
He kissed across my fingertips, soft nibbles at the flesh. “Me, too. And I have to wonder what that makes me.”
“A man.”
A smirk took to his sexy mouth. “Oh, Precious, I’m all man.”
Tingles spread, butterflies flapping up a storm.
“I’m getting that, though I think I might need to experience it all to make a final judgement call.”
Good lord.
Did that just come out of my mouth?
Power ripped across his flesh, and he let out a short laugh. “You really do love to test me, don’t you?”
Biting down on my bottom lip, I nodded my head against the mattress. “I . . . I want to live, Royce. Without the fears that have been chasing me. You’ve reminded me that I can.”
He reached out and grabbed a raspberry from the tray. He slipped it between my lips. The sweet tartness hit my senses, and I moaned a little with the flavor of it and the champagne on my tongue.
Royce growled and buried his face in my neck. “Kill me now.”
When he pushed back up onto his hands, he was grinning. “Tempt me all you want, woman. You have no power over me.”
A giggle broke free at the same time as I was slipping my free hand up to the side of his neck so I could hoist myself to sitting. “Is that so?”
“It’s so.” He dipped down and pecked his lips to mine.
So sweet.
I hadn’t even thought it was possible.
“Very so. Now come on, let’s eat.”
He smacked me on the thigh, a love tap that had me gasping.
“Bossy.”
He quirked an eye at me as he moved to rest against the headboard. “You have no idea.”
“I think I’m gettin’ one.”
“Eat.”
“See.” I widened my eyes at him. Playfully.
He took a sip of his champagne and popped a blueberry into his mouth.
“Tell me why you weren’t sleeping.” He cut me a glance as he reached for a slice of cheese.
I peeked over at him, nibbling at a cracker. “Sleeping isn’t the problem. It’s the dreams that are waiting for me when I do fall asleep that are.”
A frisson of rage sizzled across his skin. Every muscle in his glorious body flexed. “How long?”
I shifted in unease, but I couldn’t help but open up a little more. “I guess you could say my life has been a spiral for the last six months.”
Loss after loss.
One tragedy piled on top of the other.
Pain lanced through my being, and I tried to hold it back, the visible effects. But Royce saw it. He shifted, angling around to set a big hand on my face. “If I could take part of it away, would you let me?”
Intensity blazed.
I struggled to inhale.
“I feel like you already are.”
His head shook. “No. I mean more, Emily. Would you let me go after whoever it was that hurt you? The one who put this look on your face?”
Panic flooded me. The idea of him knowing. Of my having to step up and step out. The words vibrated on my tongue, vying for release. But I wasn’t ready.
I blinked at him. “I think you know what I need, Royce. Know what I’m missing. The lyrics I can’t find. I found your offering under my door when I got up this last morning.”
Emotion raced across his face. “It was nothing. I was just scribbling words.”