That night whipped through my mind.
My stupidity. Jace wanting to give me everything. Me cracking open the window, gliding it up, giggling as we snuck inside.
The bedroom upstairs.
Our bodies twisted. Sweat on our skin.
The police waiting for us outside when we’d snuck back out.
When Jace had shown at our spot the next day, I’d thought it was all right. That it was all gonna be okay. That we weren’t in trouble, after all.
We were just stupid kids.
Chasing a dream.
Then he’d shattered my heart.
“How is it possible I didn’t know?” I begged.
There was a part of me that was wishing he would tell me that he couldn’t have stayed. That he’d left because he needed to find himself the same way I’d always believed.
Not that he’d been stolen away.
“It was the one thing I asked of Ian and Joseph. To spare you knowing.” His teeth ground hard. “I didn’t want to make you wait through that.”
Instead, they’d let me believe he’d left me behind.
Anger swelled. At Joseph. At Ian. At Jace for putting them up to it. At myself for being too ignorant and naïve to understand there were true consequences to our actions.
“I would have waited,” I whispered, hurt spreading fast.
His expression shifted.
So soft.
So soft.
The boy I’d loved.
His thumb brushed across my chin.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
“I know you would have. And that was exactly the moment I finally accepted that you were so much better than that. That you deserved more than that life, more than what I could give you.”
Something brittle filled his voice when he edged back to look at me. “I’d warned you, Faith. Warned you that I’d do anything to protect my family. To see them survive.”
A frown stitched up my forehead, confusion winding through my spirit. “What does that mean?”
He blinked as if he were blinking away what he was going to say. “It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that I was protecting them. Protecting you. And that’s what I’m going to do now. Whatever it takes.”
“I—”
My response was cut off when I saw the emotion streak through his expression. The pain. The devotion. The love.
It sucked the oxygen from the room, replacing it with him.
Too big.
Too much.
I struggled through the tightness in my chest.
“I don’t want to live in the past. Not anymore.” His voice was sharp. Jagged and harsh.
My words were a wisp. “And I’m not sure how to move on from it.”
“Kiss me and see.” It was a growl, his mouth an inch from mine.
He was all around. His presence thick. Consuming in a way that only this boy could be. Trembling and shaking through me.
Like the first time I’d seen him.
Something that vibrated through the air that I could taste.
An omen.
A premonition.
My world about to change. For the better or worse, I couldn’t be sure.
All I knew was this man stripped me bare. Peeling back the hurt to expose all the love that’d been left there.
My lips parted, and I inhaled, and God, I was such a fool.
Because I rocked, indecision cracking underneath his stare.
“Kiss me,” he demanded again.
There was no resisting his command. My toes lifted as if he were controlling the action. Body and soul arching for him.
I set my mouth on his, our lips barely touching. The two of us just breathed in the splendor. The need and the fear.
I’d never loved anyone the way I’d loved him.
He was a fire that consumed. A strike in the night.
So wrong.
So right.
I tumbled through it, the emotion that knocked me from my feet.
Jace was right there to catch me. He grabbed me by the sides and hoisted me onto the counter. Then the man took over the fragile, tentative kiss.
With both hands cupping my face, he explored me tenderly. Passionately.
His lips soft and smooth, plush where they caught mine in soft, dizzying pulls. He nipped and pressed and sucked.
Tingles spread. Gliding across my skin.
He tucked me closer and wrapped my legs around his waist.
Heat flashed.
Fire.
Desire.
Everything I’d been missin’ for so long.
Oh God, what was I doing? But there was no stopping it. The need that blistered through my flesh. The desperation to get closer. To get lost in this man.
I started rubbing shamelessly against him, the only thing separating us our pajamas.
Part of me wished they weren’t there to keep us apart.
I needed him.
Oh, I needed him.
The love and the pleasure and the release.
Jace pulled me from the counter and started carrying me across the floor, murmuring between his frantic kiss, “I’m going to take care of you, Faith. I’m going to take care of you.”
“Jace . . . I’m—”
Scared.
Terrified.
Desperate.
I couldn’t make any of those words come from my mouth.
“I know, Faith. I know. Slow. Just . . . let me take care of you. Let me make you feel good.”
A gasp jetted from my lungs when he sat me on the edge of the big, round dining table, the air rushing between us as he tore himself away. His stare potent as he looked down at me.