I step toward her, and she steps back, but I'm not giving up that easily. She'll run out of room sometime.
"Your father is right. You're so much better than me—too good for me. You're the most incredible person I could have ever found, and I'm the biggest jerk in the world."
Her eyes flick to the door, possibly hoping her father will barge in and save her. By now he's heard me. If he was coming, he'd already be here. Something tells me I've proven to him how serious I am about her, considering the only way to get in here is that stupid fucking tree.
"He didn't phrase it like that," she says, sounding breathy and so damn sexy.
I can't help but smile at the uncertainty in her eyes. She's close to giving in to me. She just doesn't know it yet.
"He should have," I say, taking another step, smirking when she steps back, matching the distance I closed.
"Please go, Kade," she says too softly, her eyes begging me more than her voice.
"Not this time, Raya. Even if you forced me out, I wouldn't give up. I'll jump from that fucking ridiculously scary tree everyday if you make me. Just try to leave the window up for me from now on. It's hard to hang on and force a window up."
I grin, but nothing about me feels playful right now. I've needed her for too long. She doesn't speak, so I trudge on, pouring my soul out.
"You don't feel like you're good enough, and that doesn't make a damn bit of sense to me. I couldn't give a fuck about your father or what he did. I wouldn't give a damn if you had done the same thing," I promise, finally breaking through to her.
Her eyes soften as she stares at me with wavering strength. Another piece of this wall between us breaks in front of my eyes, and I step closer.
"My fathe
r is a con. Even if he's not out conning the world the way he used to, his past will haunt you just as it does me. No one in this society will ever back you if you have me and my reputation tethered to you," she says, reminding me how much I've failed to show her my feelings toward her. "They'll whisper, gossip, and run your name through the ground. Just like they did mine back home. It'll catch up with me here. I'm sure Courtney is already spreading the word. You need to—"
"I need to be with you. That's all I need. My father's name holds more weight in this town than Courtney's or her family's. Even if it didn't, so what. I don't care what anyone thinks. I've spent my life worrying about the opinions everyone else has. I've spent too much time playing some stupid, elaborate game that I don't care about anymore. I was hooked. That's all.
"I was hooked on the game—just like your dad, Raya. I'm nothing more than a con. I don't have a single genuine friend outside my family. I realized that almost as soon as you left. I'm the one people should look down on. I'm the one who could tarnish your name. But I won't be this way anymore. Fuck it all. I want real friends—people who are there for me when I need them, just like my family. Just like you were."
Tears trickle down her cheeks as she stares up at me, seeming immobile. I close the distance between us, and reach out for her the second I'm close enough. One of my hands finds her cheek, and the other tugs at her waist.
"You were all I wanted to see when Granddad went into the hospital, and you came. Even after all I did, you came. After the way I treated you, you risked it all to help me. I lost more than my girlfriend when I pushed you away. I lost the only friend I had ever made on my own. I don't want to lose you, Raya. I can't. I'm not hooked on the game anymore. I'm simply hooked on you. I love you," I murmur softly, not caring how pathetic I sound as I brush my lips against hers, leaving her with the choice to push for more.
Everything in me boils to perfection when her arms wrap around my neck and pull me closer, and then her lips part in invitation. Her soft tongue presses against mine, sending a powerful shot I can feel all the way to my toes, among other places.
Her fingers thread through my hair as the sound of the front door shutting is followed by a car cranking and leaving. That brings a smile to my face, because now I have her all to myself.
The reunion gets heated and intense when I rip open the button to her shorts. Her tongue grows more demanding and greedier, toying with the bar in my tongue as she reacquaints herself. Then she pushes her shorts down, taking her panties with them, and I pick her up, stifling a moan when her legs wrap around my waist, letting me feel her wet heat.
Damn, I've missed her.
The panting headiness in the room is enough to make me lose control, and then she strips off her shirt, making it even harder. No bra. I've really missed her.
She tugs my shirt off, but I never let her go. I kick off my jeans and boxers, and push her against the wall, not hesitating to push inside her, finding the home I've been missing. When a throaty moan escapes her, I fight back my early-striking release. Christ.
"Fuck," I whisper, tugging at her full lower lip with my teeth.
Feral sounds escape us both, and I push forth a month's worth of pent-up passion. Her lips become savage, ravaging me—driving me into a breathless frenzy.
Her back claps the wall each time I surge forth, but she rewards me by devouring me more and giving me those sexy, carnal sounds. She starts clawing at my shoulders and her legs tighten simultaneously, forcing a growl to vibrate in my chest.
When she whimpers, my balls tighten in response. When she screams, I lose it. A powerful release jerks out of me when I push in hard one last time, and we both pant wildly, lost in the lingering effects of epic ecstasy.
I try to kiss her while moving away from the wall, but that is a failed, sloppy disaster, considering I'm still gasping for air. Our foreheads press together as I hold her as tightly as I can, still trying to calm down from my high.
I drop to the bed, still holding her, and she curls into me. "I'm glad your dad left," I snicker, kissing her forehead as she smiles. She snuggles in closer, and all the weeks of pain vanish. This is real. I have her back. And I'll never lose her again.
"Me too," she says, still a little breathless.