“You talk as if you’re a hundred years old. You’re only ten years older than I am, Roan.”
“A decade is a long time.”
She mumbled something under her breath that he couldn’t quite make out, but the wordstubbornseemed to be in there.
He pressed his palm to the nape of his neck.
“Am I making you uncomfortable?” she asked and arched an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” he said. “Kind of.”
“Is it my positive outlook that has you worried?”
“What? No? I love your upbeat personality.”
“Really? I’m not too much sunshine and rainbows?”
“That’s some crap Danny fed you, isn’t it?”
She shrugged but looked embarrassed.
“Jazzy Walker, you are a damn magical unicorn and I adore that about you and anyone who can’t appreciate you for who you are isn’t worthy of your time or worry.” He took both of her hands into his and peered deeply into her. “Got it?”
“Got it.”
He saw a glimmer of tears in her eyes, but her big smile told him they were happy tears. He moved his hands up her arms to her shoulders, then he cradled her face between his hands, holding her still so she couldn’t look away.
“You hear me?”
“I hear you loud and clear, but how about we stop talking now.”
Roan opened his mouth to say something, but she put a finger to his lips and shook her head. “Shh.”
“I—”
“Shh.”
He pressed his lips together tightly and stilled, wondering what she would do next.
Jazzy went up on tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck. “You may kiss me now.”
“Oh, I can, can I?”
Nodding, she slowly licked her lips with her sweet pink tongue and Roan was a goner. He didn’t even try to argue with himself. She wanted him. Lord knew he wanted her. He captured her mouth with his and that was all she wrote.
He meant to keep the kiss soft, exploring, but Jazzy dragged him into fresh territory in sixty seconds flat. Increasing the pressure. Hungrily shoving her fingers through his hair, moaning low in her throat. Inviting him to let go.
And then she whispered, “Take me, now.”
He heard the urgency in her voice, felt it in his own hard body. She was singing his song. They were both gasping and wide-eyed.
“Please,” she said.
“Not here. It’s too cold and there’s no soft place to land.”
“So, take me to that soft place.”
“You got it,” he croaked. He scooped her into his arms and carried her into the house toward the bedroom he’d once shared with Claire.