My stomach churned. I knew what he was saying. “I’ve worried about the same thing.”
“What then?”
“What we are isn’t—” But I was wrong. It was their business. I’d just gone on national television and projected how it was. We were no longer just the two of us. “Maybe we could—”
“You told your story,” he said.
I held his gaze, frowning slightly.
He added, inclining his head toward me, “Maybe we could tell our story now?” He gestured from me to him. “That is, if we have one?”
My tongue was heavy, lying on the bottom of my mouth. Oh, yes, we had a story. It was one that I couldn’t quit reading, no matter how hard I tried.
“Tell people that we’re—” I stopped.
This was it. This was the talk.
My cheeks were hot now, but I had to say it, “That we’re together?” I wanted to avert my eyes, but I didn’t. I held fast and watched him back.
He nodded, his rueful grin slipping to something intimate, one that started an excited flutter in my stomach. “We are, if you want us to be?”
“I do,” I blurted out.
“Good.” His shoulders lifted, as if a weight had disappeared. “I want that, too.”
“You do?”
He moved toward me, and his hand touched the side of my face. He tilted my head back, his eyes so tender. “Being with you last night was the best night I had ever had.”
“Really?”
He leaned down, so his forehead was resting on mine. He gently moved his head up and down, rocking me with him. “Yes. And it meant more than you could ever imagine.” His hand dropped and rested over my heart. “I don’t know when it happened, but I fell for you.”
My heart clenched.
He said, “I was angry that day because Justin wanted you back, but I wanted a chance with you. I didn’t want him to take it from me. I saw Edmund hurting you then, and I blacked out.”
I reached up and grabbed his hand, my fingers curling around it. “You testified in court—”
“I know.” His forehead was heavily resting on mine. “I told the court exactly what happened. I saw you, went in there, and all I thought about was saving your life. That’s what I said, and to an extent, that’s what I remember. I didn’t testify that I wanted to kill him. When I kicked open the door and saw his knife on your throat, I knew I would use it against him.” His eyes held mine. “He was going to take your life, so I took his instead. I’m still a murderer. You can’t pretty that up.”
I shook my head, my hands cupping his face, and I raised my lips to his. “Shut up.” I touched his mouth, and I closed my eyes. I was going to show him how good of a person he was.
As he slid inside me for the second time that night, my hips moved down on him, and I held still. I saw the lust darkening his eyes before his gaze skimmed down my body, lingering on my breasts. His hands went to my hips, and I began to move, up and down. I started the pace, and I kept it.
This was what I wanted. How fast, how hard, how deep—it was all me.
Kian moved with me, sitting up to kiss my shoulder and trailing his mouth up to my throat. His other hand left my hip to cup the back of my head. He tipped my head down, and his lips were there. He was waiting for me.
His mouth moved over mine as I kept rolling my hips forward, backward, and forward again. My mouth opened, and he slipped inside, sweeping around my tongue. He was starving for me. A rush went through me, hardening my nipples.
I would never get enough of him.
That night, both times and a third time later in the morning hours, that time was our sanctuary. We created our own universe, and no one could intrude.
When I awoke again, I lay still. The early morning was creeping toward us from underneath the curtains. I glanced at the clock and saw it was around six.
Thud!
Hearing that, I sat up. My heart pounded a little bit harder, and I frowned, hearing a second thud. That was what had woken me up. Someone was inside Kian’s suite.
Slipping out of his arms, I grabbed one of the robes. I pulled it on, but a flash caught my eye from the nightstand. His phone had a message. I touched the screen just to see if it was someone important. If it were, I’d wake him up, but I couldn’t see whom it was from, so I left it alone. It wasn’t my business.
Hearing a third thud, I turned toward whomever or whatever it was and snuck from the bedroom. The intruder was trying to be quiet. A feminine curse sounded next.