Emotion gripped every cell, that atmosphere charged.
A crack that shifted everything.
Our worlds and our minds.
I sat up so I could sign, a torrent of passion in my hands.
AM I SURE I WANT THIS LIFE?
My head angled in emphasis.
ARE YOU ASKING ME IF I BELIEVE IN WHO WE WERE MEANT TO BE? IF I CAN LOVE YOUR SON? BECAUSE I THINK A PART OF ME FELL IN LOVE WITH EVERETT THE MOMENT I SAW HIM. I COULD FEEL HIM, EVAN, THE SAME WAY AS I ALWAYS FELT YOU. AND HE IS WORTH EVERY SECOND OF WORRY.
My motions tightened, a confession that cut through the tension.
SO YOU WANT TO KNOW IF THIS IS THE LIFE I WANT TO LIVE?
Could feel my brow knitting with the severity.
A LIFE WITHOUT YOU WOULD BE LIVING WITH A HOLE CARVED INSIDE OF ME IN THE SHAPE OF YOU. AND I’M SITTING HERE, RIGHT NOW, ASKING YOU TO FILL IT.
I leaned back on my elbows, begging him to meet me there.
Evan exhaled a harsh breath, the man never taking his eyes off me as he slowly peeled his shirt over his head. The ridges of his defined abs came into view, his chest, his shoulders, that face.
The scar.
Love blistered, a searing heatwave that blasted through my room.
He tossed the soiled fabric to the floor before he kicked off his shoes. He flicked through the buttons on his jeans at the same time.
Energy crashed.
Need rising so fast that I was immediately drenched.
I pressed my knees together like that might be able to staunch the desire that begged and throbbed as I watched him undress. His jeans getting shoved down off his hips and free of his ankles, muscle packed and sinewy, his strength that others had refused to recognize so distinct.
My fighter.
My survivor.
The man the utter breath of existence.
The sight of him standing there in my room stole a gasp from my lungs and twisted my belly into a thousand needy knots.
“How’s it possible you are so beautiful, Evan? How’s it possible that you make me feel this way?”
Planting a knee on the bed, he began to climb over me, coming closer and closer until he was the only thing I could breathe. Those eyes drank me in as he gathered my shirt at the hem. “You are the definition of beauty, Frankie Leigh.”
He slowly dragged it off, the long curls of my hair falling down to tickle my bare shoulders and back.
I was overcome with the weight of Evan’s attention as he gazed down at me as he tossed the fabric aside.
The raw hunger.
The infinite love.
He angled in to brush his lips against the corner of my mouth. “So stunning you make me shake.”
Then he moved to whisper against the shell of my ear. “So sexy and free and stunning my guts get twisted up every time I look at you.”
Edging back a fraction, he let his fingers drift down my neck so he could splay his hand out on the center of my chest. “This heart that radiates goodness.”
He gently urged me down to lie against the bed. Fingertips fluttered over the lids of my eyes. “These eyes that see the world in a way that shouldn’t be possible.”
He moved to trace my lips. “This mouth that speaks beauty.”
I writhed.
He ran his palm over my breast.
My nipples pebbled into hard, needy peaks.
Evan released a groan that sent a rush of goosebumps racing as he ran his hand down to the waist of my jeans. “All wrapped up in the most gorgeous package. This body, Frankie—you made me understand what it means for a woman to bring a man to his knees.”
He flicked the button. “You are the beauty of my life.”
The man leaned back on his knees, every masculine line of his body demonstrating how desperate he was for me.
He edged my jeans down, taking my underwear with them, the slow slide of the rough fabric dragging down my legs nearly driving me insane.
“You are the definition of my joy,” he continued, talking with those grating words that had always been my favorite song.
He tugged the clothing free of my ankles, and I was lying there a quivering, shaking mess.
“How did we get to here?” I rasped, my heart going boom, boom, boom as that boy stared down at me with those eyes that took me in like I was a dream.
“Because this is where we belong.”
Heat streaked over my flesh as he crawled over me, planting both hands on the mattress on either side of my head.
Hovering.
Anticipating.
And I could feel that hole carved out inside of me in the shape of him shiver with need. To be filled and restored and healed.
That energy went wild. Jerking at the chains that had kept us restrained.
Everything getting ready to rupture.
To burst.
To come together.
“I need you, Evan. I need you so bad I can’t breathe,” I whimpered.