Tears burned my eyes. “Beckett.”
He slowly climbed to his feet. His fingers ghosted over my scars until they reached my shoulders, and then he turned me around. There was so much in that gaze—pain, relief, desire. It was the flare of need that had my heart pounding against my ribs.
Beckett’s hands came up to frame my face. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. But how you look is just one part of that. You are so much more. How you see the world, how you see me. You don’t realize what a gift that is.”
A tear escaped my eye, sliding down my cheek. Beckett caught it with his thumb, wiping it away. I searched the eyes staring back at me, wondering a million different things, but only one mattered. “What’s happening?”
I had to ask it straight out. I didn’t want to misunderstand what I thought I might be reading in Beckett just then. My heart had already filled with a reckless hope, one that was more dangerous than anything I’d ever experienced before.
“I’ve never felt the way I do when I’m with you.”
My mouth pulled down into a frown.
Beckett lifted a brow. “That makes you scowl at me?”
I tried to blank my expression, but Beckett only ran his thumb over where the frown lines had been. “Don’t hide what you’re thinking from me. What you’re feeling. I want to know it all.”
“I just want to be normal.” The words tumbled out before I could stop them. “I want that first date and butterflies. I want you to see me like any other woman.”
It was Beckett’s turn to frown down. “Addie, you could never be just any other woman to me. You’ve been more since the moment I laid eyes on you. Something tugged at me, making me want to lean a little closer. You wove a spell around me, and you didn’t even know it.”
His thumb caught the edge of my lip. “Why would you want to settle for normal when you’re extraordinary? Everything around you is gray, and yet you’re cast in every color I could ever imagine.”
The rattling in my ribs only intensified. “Do you want me?” It was more than asking if he wanted my body, and Beckett knew it.
His eyes blazed, a swirl of need and fear. “Never wanted anything more.” He let out a shuddering breath. “But I’m terrified I’ll mess this up and lose you. Or worse, hurt you.”
I moved in closer, my bare torso clad only in a bra brushing against the soft flannel of Beckett’s shirt. “You will hurt me, but you’ll never lose me.”
I knew Beckett’s heart well enough to be able to say that. He’d never hurt me intentionally. He didn’t have that kind of mean in him. That meant I’d never walk away. Maybe this wouldn’t work. Maybe it would be a disaster. But even if the romantic piece of our relationship ended, the friendship never would. It would hurt to lose that, the promise of the amazing man in front of me, but I wouldn’t abandon him because of it.
I slid my hands around Beckett’s neck and into his hair. “Life is full of pain. We’ll hurt each other. But I trust us both to make it right when that happens. I trust that we’ll learn and grow and do better next time.”
Beckett shuddered as his arms went around my waist. I should’ve been self-conscious standing there in only my bra and jeans in the full light of the kitchen, but I wasn’t. I felt nothing but safe in Beckett’s arms. His lips trailed over my shoulder. “I don’t think I could make myself stay away from you much longer if I tried.”
A pleasant shiver trailed down my spine as his lips moved back towards my neck.
“We’ll take this slow.”
“Slow,” I said, my voice coming out embarrassingly breathy.
“What’s the code word? Say it, and everything stops.”
“What if I don’t want it to stop?”
Beckett lifted his head. I swore the blue in his eyes went molten. “Addie…”
“Do you want this?”
“Yes.”
It was all I needed. I closed th
e distance between us. I could’ve found his lips if I’d had no sight at all. It was as if an invisible tether pulled me in. They were even softer than I imagined, the slight scruff around his lips only driving the sensations higher.
Beckett’s tongue delved between my lips. Teasing. Coaxing. His hands slipped from my waist to my butt, pulling me flush against him. The hardness that pressed into me had me moaning softly.
I moved on instinct, wrapping my legs around Beckett’s waist as he lifted. I didn’t lose his mouth once as he strode through the house and up the stairs. We bumped into a wall as we rounded the landing, but after a muttered curse, Beckett’s lips came right back to mine.