The guards around her heart shattered. “You love me?” she asked through watery eyes.
He dropped his mouth to hers in a whisper of a kiss. “I love you, and you love me.” Again, and again, he kissed her just barely, enough to tease. “Tell me what we both know is true. Tell me so we can stop fighting this.”
&nbs
p; And just like that, everything wasn’t so scary anymore.
She had him. He had her. And somehow that made complete sense.
“I love you, Rowan,” she whispered against his mouth.
The smile he gave was blinding and sweet all at once, and then his lips found hers. His kiss was gentle and tender, but soon, all that softness was replaced with a need she understood. With no barriers between them, nothing but their new love they’d been fighting a long time, came a need that was raw and ravenous. A desire that had to be fed. She ripped at his clothing, while he yanked away her towel, sending it to the floor. He had her in his arms, naked and ready, and then soon, laid her out on the mattress, closing his body against hers.
“So beautiful,” he murmured, sliding between her thighs. Then he grasped her hip and the tip of him found her, and he entered her with one swift stroke. She was ready for him, so wet and warm, and she began to move with him. “All mine,” he growled.
“All mine,” she growled back.
Slow and gentle, his mouth returned to hers as they moved together, no longer fighting what their hearts wanted. He was hard and deep inside, and every stroke of his cock sent pleasure skyrocketing through her. She held onto his strong shoulders, digging into his flesh, riding him while he worked above her.
Until it wasn’t enough.
She slid her hands down to his sculpted buttocks, feeling the hard muscles working with every thrust. “Make me yours, Rowan,” she breathed. “Give me what I need.”
His eyes flashed with something primal and possessive as he growled, then rocked harder into her, his kiss slowly becoming more demanding.
She answered that need and kissed him back harder, shifting her hips beneath him in the rhythm he set. When he growled again, this time deeper, he latched an arm around her waist and then flipped their positions.
“Go on,” he grunted, reaching up to hold her breast in his tight grip. “Take what you want.”
And she did.
She took all of him, as deep as she could take him, feeling connected in ways she never dreamed of. She rode him. Hard. He held her breasts, squeezing them tight as she rocked back and forth, the hardness of him giving her the perfect fullness she craved.
Over and over again, she moved and rocked and bounced, and took and took, until she was quivering and moaning, her head tipped back with the soaring pleasure. And then he groaned deep from his chest, a sound that was all hers, belonging only to her. She broke apart, the pleasure spilling out over her until she was boneless.
“Do that again,” Rowan grunted, flipping her onto her back, hooking her leg onto his arm before he rode her hard. His face was buried in her neck, his deep moans brushing against her ear. She began moaning, the pleasure making her mindless to anything but the way Rowan ground against her, every place he touched her. But then those moans from her mouth became screams, and that’s when it became clear that wherever they’d go, even if that was crashing over the edge, they’d always go together.
CHAPTER 15
One month had gone by since the women were rescued from the mine, and Alex was only too glad she didn’t live in New York City. The news held onto what Lewis had done for the entire month. The story was everywhere. Luckily, her face wasn’t anywhere near the news, nor was Rowan’s, but Ryder, as the face of Blackwood Security, was all over the television. Which had been exactly as she hoped. He got the press and the credit for their hard work, which would only be good business. And Rowan got his justice against Lewis, and the knowledge that he’d helped take down the man who terrorized his sister. Just thinking about Lewis again made the scar on her arm tingle. She ran a finger down the reddish mark that still hadn’t completely healed yet and shivered at the memory of the blade dragging through her flesh.
“You look like you need a beer.”
Reminded she wasn’t alone, Alex dropped her hand and smiled at the familiar voice. She looked up to meet strong hazel eyes and dark messy hair. Gabe O’Keefe, owner of O’Keefe pubs, a chain of Irish pubs across North America, and also one of Ryder’s closet friends. He wore a black T-shirt with O’Keefe’s lime logo across his chest. “A beer sounds great,” she said.
He grabbed a bottle from the fridge and cracked it open. “Long day?” he asked, offering her the beer.
She accepted it with a nod. Her head hurt. Her fingers hurt. Today they’d worked an identity theft case. Sometimes those were easy cases. Today’s case was daunting and draining, and her brain needed a break before it fizzled out. “How’s McKenna?” she asked, inquiring about Gabe’s wife.
“Very pregnant,” he said with a sweet smile that spoke of his love for her. “And very miserable too. She’s a week overdue.”
“That sounds uncomfortable,” Alex said with a laugh. “Tell her I say hi, and that I hope the baby hurries up and gets here soon.”
“I’ll make sure to do just that.” And maybe knowing she wasn’t really in the mood to talk, he added, “Enjoy the beer. Let me know if you need another.”
“Thanks. I will.” She watched him walk away to the other customers at the end of the bar. The noise in the pub engulfed her—chatting, laughing, even the man next to her burped—washing over her and letting her know how much she’d been inside her head. There was not an empty table in the room. Wood panel walls surrounded her, with the bar off to the right and tables scattered throughout, and even a pool table at the back where an obvious double date was going on.
When Gabe grabbed another beer for the customer he served, the front door opened, and Ryder’s entire inner circle walked in. Micah and Allie. Darius and Taylor. They were laughing about something but paused to give Alex a wave. She’d done some work for some of them over the years, and they were Ryder’s closest friends. The people he trusted above all else, including her and his team. She returned the wave, then focused on her beer, not wanting to bring any conversation her way. She wanted quiet for a little while before she went back to headquarters and kept digging for the slime ball that stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from a person who had the money to find him.