“I’m scared, Shades,” she whispered. Obviously reality was crowding her head also.
“Of the DKs?” he murmured against the top of her head into her silky hair.
She nodded against his chest.
“I’ll take care of it, honey. You don’t worry about it. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”
“I messed up big time.”
“No you didn’t.” He grinned. “Except maybe your choice in men.”
She lifted her head to look at him.
His eyes studied hers. “You try so hard to better yourself, and you are, Sky. You deserve better, you deserve that good life.
“But then, babe, gotta say, you seem to have one fatal flaw.” He shook his head. “You always seem to choose the worst men for you. Men that can do nothing but bring you down.”
“Not always. Not you.”
“Babe.”
“Maybe after you pushed me away, maybe I didn’t think I deserved good, deserved what I wanted. You get pushed away enough, you stop expecting anything good. All my life I’ve been passed from home to home. Do you know what that makes a child feel like inside? Unwanted. Unloved. Why should I expect that pattern to change? It’s been engrained in me my whole life. Don’t get attached. Don’t let yourself care, because the moment you do, whatever it is you care about will be ripped from you. That’s just life. That’s just my life.”
He took her face in his hands. “Not anymore, Skylar. Not anymore.”
Her arms tightened around his gut.
He kissed her forehead, then murmured with a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth, “You’re not off the hook for this, though.”
“I’m not?”
“I’m gonna think up some ways you can pay me back for all the trouble you’re causing, woman,” he teased.
“Payback, huh?”
“Um hmm. And you can start with this.” He slid his hands in her hair and pushed her head slowly down towards his crotch.
She lifted up and looked at him with a smile. “Oh, for starters, huh?”
“Yup. I’ll come up with some other stuff while you’re down there getting busy.”
She slid lower. And then she got busy.
****
Shades looked down at Skylar.
His fingers threaded through her hair as she worked him. She looked so beautiful, her mouth worshipping him, taking him. He thought back to the events of the day, the DKs showing up at the gate. He knew she wanted to run. It was always her first response, her mode of operation. She got scared or nervous and bam—she took off. But not this time. This time he wouldn’t give her a chance to get skittish. This time he’d make sure she didn’t run.
His eyes slid closed as she worked her magic, and he relaxed back, letting go of all the problems weighing down on both of them, and he rode the high, stroke after stroke, until his jaw clenched, he growled and exploded into ecstasy.
When he slid back to earth, and she slid up to lay on his chest, his arms wrapped around her, rough palms stroking her satin skin, he murmured in her ear, “It’s all gonna be all right, Sky.”
“You don’t know that,” came her soft response.
One hand slid into her silken hair, fisting gently at the back of her head. His arms tightened. “Baby, you gotta have some faith in me.”
“I’m scared I’m going to lose you,” she murmured into his chest.