I’d tried. And I’d failed.
And here now, so many years later, was that Lucas. That scary, menacing bad boy who made my panties wet and my heart pound.
“Lucas.” Like all those years ago, my heart smashed hard and fast in my chest. “Please. Talk to m—”
He snaked his arm around my waist and yanked me to his body, fisting his hand in my hair as he crushed my lips with his.
The kiss was brutal. Angry. Savage. He held my head exactly where he wanted it to be, in the position he needed to take complete possession of my mouth. Liquid electricity shot through me, down into the pit of my core. He grabbed my ass, squeezing my cheek as he ground our groins together.
His tongue lashed at mine, taking and demanding.
I whimpered into the kiss, palms flat to his bare chest. A part of my body reacted to the smooth, steely strength beneath my hands; the rest of me wanted to shake some sense into him, to finally get it through to him he didn’t have to hate himself anymore.
Tearing his mouth from mine, he tightened his fist in my hair and gazed down into my eyes. “I came down here to work the anger out of my system, babe. I warned you I wasn’t the kind of person you wanted to be around. But you insisted. So now, I’m going to work it out of my system a different way.”
My pussy contracted. My breath caught. I was scared. Scared and turned on. And scared. Lucas fucking Pratt was here in the gym, the Lucas from our teenage years. The bad boy who’d terrified me.
“L-Lucas…” His name left me on a shaky breath.
His hand in my hair and on my ass tightened. His jaw bunched. His pupils dilated. For a split second hesitation flicked over his face. A split second. And then all his self-hate flowed back into his eyes, etched his face, and he let me go, staggering back a step.
Eyes scrunching shut, he slumped, hands pressing to his knees, back bowed. “Fuck, Ronnie, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
I stood frozen, my throat thick.
He crumpled to the ground, shaking
his head. “I’m sorry.”
Something tore in my chest. I hurried to him, dropping down to the ground, and wrapping my arms around him. “It’s okay, Lucas. It’s okay.”
He clung to me, face buried into the side of my neck, his body trembling.
I held him, murmuring words even now I don’t remember. I kissed the top of his head. I smoothed my hands up and down his back. I had seen Lucas angry, I’d seen him scared for my life, I’d seen him deadly and dangerous, and I’d seen him playful. But I’d never seen him emotionally beaten.
How much did he hate himself to be like this now?
And how did I fix it?
“I never wanted this life for you,” he mumbled against my shoulder, his arms growing tighter around me. “I never wanted you to be living in fear for your life. All I ever wanted was to see you happy.”
“Hey.” I shifted in his arms, pressing my fingers under his chin to make him look at me. “The only time I’ve ever been in fear since the night you climbed into my bed—buck naked, I might add, and covered in blood with a bullet in your side—was the times I thought life was taking you away from me. Do you understand that?”
His eyes shone. He sucked in a deep breath. “If I had my time again, babe,” he murmured, his voice a husky rasp, “I would never have climbed into your bed. I would have stayed away.”
“Then thank fucking God you don’t have a time machine.”
He frowned. “You don’t—”
“Know what I’m saying?” I smiled. “I do. I also know why you’re down here, getting yourself ready to beat the shit out of a punching bag. Because you think, now that gorgeous face of yours has made it onto the internet and the news, someone from your past is going to track you down. And that might happened. But do you know why I’m not scared? Because I believe in you. I trust you. I love you. There is nothing you can’t conquer.”
I paused, giving him a pointed look. “Well, except maybe thinking you’re not good enough for me, and I hate to break it to you, Lucas Pratt, but the ring on my finger says otherwise. Do you think I said yes because I was scared of you? Do you think I said yes because you gave me a puppy? I said yes to marrying you because I love you, and because you are the best thing in my life. Because you are the reason I breathe every day. Because you have made me stronger, braver, fiercer and happier than I have ever been. Because you are wonderful. And because you are mine. Do you understand?”
He studied me, expression unreadable.
“Do you?”
“Fuck me, Ronnie. Will you marry me?”