“For months, I’d felt as if you were near. My missing you was at an all-time high. I never wanted to be with anyone else but you. I’m a terrible person for using David when I never stopped loving you.”
He made a sound as if I’d kicked him in the gut. “Della—”
“I don’t say any of this to be cruel, Ren.” I shook my head, wet strands clinging to my shoulders. “I’m telling you out of pure honesty because you never truly accepted that I could love you as much as you love me. You are my entire world. You ran because of me. And in some part of my mind, I’m worried you’ll run again if this is too much to accept.”
Sick, sick shame filled his face. “God, Della. You let me take you so roughly—you have cuts and bruises all over you—and it was only your third time?” He dug fingers into his hair. “Why didn’t you…I don’t know…?” He looked at me with pain and self-disgust. “I should’ve taken you gently. I should’ve remembered you are so youn—”
“If you call me young, we’ll have a problem.”
His lips thinned. “But it’s the truth. I raised you, for God’s sake. I should’ve been more careful.” Backing away, he wiped his mouth with a trembling hand. “I pushed you into losing your virginity by being an asshole, and I’m the reason you did it a second time by watching you instead of having the balls to admit I was back in town. I-I don’t know what to say.”
“I don’t want you to say anything. Words only get you into trouble.”
“But I should have—”
“What? Waited until we were in some motel and gone slow? Ren, I love you. But when you start second-guessing yourself, you’re really a pain in the ass, you know that?” Holding up the back of my arm where a pretty decent scratch had scabbed over, I said firmly, “I wear these with pride. Every second of last night was better than any fantasy I’ve ever had of you, and believe me, I’ve had a lot.”
A twisted half-smile decorated his face.
“I was only able to come because you gave me exactly what I wanted, when I wanted it. Your strength. Your aggression. I need that because all my life you’ve been strong and aggressive in keeping me safe, and somehow, I’ve come to associate that with you loving me. If you dare touch me with kitten gloves and feather kisses, I’ll just rile you up until you snap again.” I chuckled under my breath. “And we both know how easy I can spark your temper. Don’t make me prove it.”
He rolled his eyes, tension slipping down his spine. “I always knew you were trouble, Della Ribbon.”
“And I always knew you were it for me, Ren Wild.”
He closed the distance, tugging the ends of my dripping hair, his knuckles brushing my nipples. “How is it that you turned out like me when I did everything I could to prevent it?”
“How is it that you see that as a bad thing when it’s the best thing in the world?”
“It’s not a bad thing.” He gathered me close, one hand going between my shoulder blades and the other on the top of my bare ass. “It’s a miraculous thing. We’re so similar that I swear if I didn’t have memories of being sold that day, or vague images of my mother, I’d be terrified we were actually brother and sister, and Mclary was my father, too.”
I fake shuddered. “God, can you imagine it? A lifetime of lying about being siblings only to find out we actually are?”
His face darkened as troubling thoughts filled his gaze. Bringing me flush against his nakedness, he whispered against my ear, “Even if that were true, now I’ve had you, I wouldn’t be able to stop.”
Molten heat swelled between my legs.
“Now I’ve been inside you and found the girl of my dreams, I don’t care if our blood runs the same. We share the same heart anyway. I’d live in sin and go to hell because I literally could never give you up.” Ren tugged my hair, arching my neck so he could latch his lips and teeth onto my throat. “I thought I was sick before—wanting you after so many years between us—but I truly must be the devil if I can admit I would fight every law, rule, and enemy if they ever tried to take you away from me.”
His lips made their way to mine, planting firm. A swift, dominant tongue slipped into my mouth.
My knees gave out as I surrendered absolutely. In that second, I felt entirely like a girl and not a woman. I felt young and being kissed by a much older, braver, purer person than I could ever be.
“Ren…” I moaned against his lips as his hand trailed down my body, dipping between my legs and finding how wet I was.