“Did you catch him?” I nod but don’t tell her that it was nearly at the cost of my life. A plastic surgeon could have fixed the jagged scar, but I wanted the reminder of my mortality. That I was lucky that day and every day after.
“Everyone was fine. The perp spent a few years in jail. The couple went home to their kids and grandkids, and I got a cautionary tale. I’m fine, darlin’.” Grasping her chin between my thumb and forefinger, I lift her face, so her gaze meets mine. “I’m here, and that’s not changing anytime soon.”
“Are there more?” I had hoped she wouldn’t ask that question.
“Two.” I couldn’t lie to Laken if I wanted to.
“Show me, please.” Her soft voice is shaky with emotion.
Turning around, I present her with my back, where I was shot a few inches from my spine. “I was on a special gang task force for the county while Cass was pregnant with Jesse. We were wrapping the case up when one of the fuckers that got away came back and tried to ambush us.”
“He could have paralyzed you.” Staring at her over my shoulder, I nod. There’s no sugar-coating it. “The other one?”
Dropping my pants, I show her the puckered scar on my thigh. “He was six.”
“Six?” Her gasp releases the tears.
“His mom was murdered. A break-in gone wrong. Mom had the boy hide in a closet. When he heard us, he thought it was the burglar coming back for him. Got my thigh. A through and through.” Last I heard, the boy was thriving with his dad in Tampa Bay.
“You’re so brave.” Laken leans forward to kiss the scar on my thigh, licking across it. Holding back my impulse to throw her on the bed, I let her do the same to my back and hip.
“Not brave, just a decent guy.” I shrug.
Getting to her feet, Laken pulls her baggy shirt over her head, revealing her naked form and making my entire body twitch with the desire to touch her everywhere. “A hero.” She throws her arms around my neck. “My hero.” Kissing along my jaw, she nips and licks as she moves, unhooking my jeans as she continues her exploration. I kick the rest of my clothes off before picking her up and wrapping her legs around my waist.
I wince at her giggle as her wet heat settles on my aching cock. It’s painful and exhilarating to have her touching me. To have her initiating the intimacy. “You’re fucking addicting.” We fall back on the bed.
With legs wide open, cradling me like I’m meant to be living inside her, Laken cups my face in both hands as I lean over her. “I don’t want anything between us.” The words are barely audible, but I hear every syllable she speaks.
“No condom,” I clarify.
“No condom.”
“You could get pregnant.” Obviously, she knows that, but I need to wrap my head around the idea. Sharing Laken. I’m not sure if I want to.
“I’m on the pill.”
“It’s not always effective.” Her legs move up and down my sides seductively.
Laken’s mouth twitches from side to side as she figures out what she wants to say next. “I want children, Hale. I never lied about that. And if it happens, I’ll be terrified. I’ll worry and stress and cry and likely make you crazy.”
“Children. Our children.” She nods.
“I don’t want to actively try, not yet, but I don’t want anything between us either. There have already been so many secrets, so many half-truths, from both of us...okay, mostly me. I want us raw, real, bared to each other.” Shyness grips her, and she looks away for a moment before glancing back at me. “If you want that too?”
I was convinced the moment she asked. “Darlin’, I want everything you want and so much more. But you’ve been through literal hell, and I don’t want you feeling like you have to give me something you aren’t ready for.”Christ,everything for us has moved at warp speed, and if she feels pressured because of it, I’ll back off. For her sanity.
“I don’t. I denied my feelings for you from the moment we met. I didn’t think I was ready, would ever be ready, but you opened my eyes to a world of possibilities, and I want our relationship to be different than before. I want us to be…intrinsically us.” Her frown tells me she’s about to say more, but I beat her to it.
“I want us, too. Bare, raw, real. There’s nothing more I want, darlin’.” Holding her face up so she’s forced to look at me, I reveal to her something I’ve felt for a long fucking time. “I love you, Laken. From the second I met you, I knew, without a doubt, that you would belong to me. Do belong to me in the same way I belong to you.”
Tears fill her eyes, and I nearly backpedal. “You love me?” I reassure her. “Is that what this feeling is? This tightening of my chest? The need to be with you all the time? The way I missed you after I left? Is that love?” It hits me like a lightning bolt, not only how young she is but how little experience she has.
“Yeah, Laken, I think it is.” Brushing the hair back from her face, I kiss each cheek before whispering in her ear, “Tell me. Say the words for me, darlin’.”
I feel her excited breath on my neck as her heels dig into my ass, pulling me closer so my dick rests against her soaked pussy. Groaning, I wait for the words before sliding home. “I love you too, Hale Decker.”
Entering her in one smooth thrust, I clasp our fingers together and hold them above her head, taking up all the space between and around us as my hips start to move. We lock eyes, breathing in each other’s air as we slowly climb to our peaks, where I stop and wait for our bodies to cool down before setting us off again. Over and over, we ascend. I can see when Laken loses control of her impending orgasm, and I release her hands to wrap mine around her back and cinch her close to me. Hanging on as she claws at my flesh and pleads for her release until it becomes too much, and she begs me to stop.