“He’s finally asleep,” I announced, leaning against the bedroom door. Wraith spent the last couple of hours in the room with us as we talked about Zane’s childhood and shared precious memories. It was bittersweet. He wasn’t far away all this time, living a separate life only a few hours from where Zane and I lived. A dangerous life in a motorcycle club. Never in my wildest dreams would I ever consider that reality as a possibility.
Staring up at the man I loved, lost, and was now reconnected with was daunting and emotional. I didn’t know what to say. There were so many questions, but I couldn’t decide where to start. The strangest part was that I still felt like a part of me belonged to him, like we were a couple, and the time apart never existed. How bizarre.
“I’d love to know what you’re thinking,” he murmured, dropping his head close to my ear. “You have that same look you used to give me right before we would kiss.”
My heart nearly skipped a beat with his proximity. “You remember that, huh?”
“You sound skeptical.”
“I am.”
He turned slightly as his palms pressed flat against the door on either side of my head. “I remember everything about you, Tawni. Those pretty blue eyes. The sweet nectar of your lips. The coconut in your lotion and the mint on your breath. The way you used to sigh with happiness when my arms wrapped around you. Should I go on?”
Gulping, I tried not to betray how those words ignited a fire deep in my belly. A desire for something I hadn’t wanted in many years. “Only if you want.”
“I remember how soft your skin was and how beautiful you always looked in the sunlight.” One of his hands lowered as his fingertips ghosted across the bare skin of my shoulder and then brushed down my arm as he reached for my hand and held it. “Still the same. So is the way you smile like you’re holding onto a secret.”
“Maybe I find you amusing,” I teased.
“And there’s another,” he whispered, those hazel eyes branding me with a heat beyond anything I’d ever known. “That allure of yours. The special something unique about you, Tawni. A part of your soul that I long to be near again.”
“Jasper,” I breathed out, “You were always a smooth talker.”
He picked up my hand and placed it over his heart. “If I felt any less for you, I could say that was true. If I never loved you with every breath in my chest, it would be easy to pretend like the last seventeen years didn’t tear a hole in my heart and leave a jagged scar.”
“You can say those words, but we aren’t the same people, Jasper.”
“But we are,” he insisted. “Give in to me, Tawni. Remember how great we are together.”
“I don’t know how to do that.”
“Then let me show you,” he pleaded.
“What are you saying?”
“Give me one night. One single night to prove to you that we’re meant to be together. If you don’t feel it by morning, I’ll back off and give you space. But if you do,” he paused, brushing his lips against mine, “I want it all with you.”
“All?” I asked, clarifying his meaning. Was I able to trust him after all this time? Was he still the good man he was when we were young? I didn’t know, and that was a problem.
“You’re concerned.” It wasn’t an accusation—just a simple observation.
“Yes. You’re a biker now. I don’t know who you are anymore.”
“You say that, but you do. I’m still the same on the inside.”
“I don’t know.”
“Will you pass this chance to find out?”
The hazel of his eyes darkened, and the swirl of emotions within were just as real and tangible and easy to read as they were seventeen years ago. Desire, affection, lust, need. They all waged war within but above all else was something altogether Jasper Cornell. His sincerity. His intensity. His . . . love.
I’d forgotten what it was like to sink into the abyss of his eyes and get lost in the endless pools of color. Inside there was only truth, and the connection I felt between us was as solid and unyielding as the first night I spent in his arms.
“Give me a chance,” Jasper pleaded, and I finally nodded.
“Not here.”
“No,” he agreed, “I have my room three doors down.”