CHAPTER SIX
Savage
I step into Candace again, removing the space she’s just placed between us, aligning our legs. “You think I don’t trust you?”
“I know you don’t trust me.”
“Then I guess we better fix that problem because I’m here to stay and, baby, we’re going to get old, fat, and boring together whether you like it or not.”
“Old, fat, and boring?” She laughs that sweet musical laugh of hers.
And just that easily, I’m hot and hard, and hungry for her in a way only this woman can make me hungry. My mouth closes down on hers, my hand sliding under her hair to her neck, and when my tongue strokes deep she’s right there with me, all in, kissing the hell out of me. The anger that had sparked between us minutes before fades away, but her promise that she’s not mine, not yet, does not. It burns in my mind, taunting me, even as need burns in my body.
I catch the hem of her T-shirt and pull it over her head. Her bra follows and with her prodding my shirt is off by the time I’ve turned her back to my front. I cup her perfectly perky breasts, flicking her nipples, my lips at her ear as I vow, “You are mine, Candace.” An image of Gabriel touching her has my voice roughening as I say, “Just mine.” I don’t give her time to argue or bring up Gabriel and that damn party Saturday night. Fuck Gabriel and that party.
I turn her around to face me again and go down on my knee. My fingers work her jeans, hands sliding under the soft denim to her softer skin, my eyes lifting to her eyes. “Mine,” I murmur, not giving a damn how caveman I sound, my lips caress her belly where she trembles under the press of my mouth and tongue.
Her teeth scrape her bottom lip, and I swear my damn cock twitches. I want to lay her down and fuck her. I want to be inside her. I want and want and fucking want with Candace, but there is so damn much more than just sex in this room, between us. There has always been more to us than sex. From the moment I met Candace, she was under my skin. From the moment I met her, she was a part of me.
That bond we share pulses in the air, but somehow as real and right as it is, she still doesn’t know I’m in this forever. Hell, I’d propose all over again, right now, but I won’t give her the chance to call it in the heat of the moment. And I need a ring. A ring worthy of her waiting on me for all these years. A better ring than dickface Gabriel gave her.
I drag her pants down her legs, taking her panties with me. She leans into me and catching her slender waist with my arm, I lift her, fully undressing her. I toss her clothes and shoes, settling her on her feet. She stands there in front of me, naked, and some might say vulnerable, her hands on my shoulders, no attempt to hide or shy away from me. I have one of those moments she was talking about. She’s pissed. She’s scared. She’s nursing a broken heart. All of these things are true, but she inherently trusts me, even as her mind cautions her to protect herself. And after everything that’s evolved between us, that’s a hell of a lot of love.
She loves me.
I push to my feet and cup her face. “You asked me why I came back now and I told you that was the wrong question. We never finished that conversation.”
“And I asked what the right question to ask was.”
“Why didn’t I come back sooner? That’s the right question.”
“Why didn’t you come back sooner, Rick?”
“After that first brutal mission gone wrong, I hated what I’d done. And then I hated how much easier it got to keep on killing.”
“Why didn’t you come back sooner?” she asks again.
“It was easier to have you hate me for not coming back than to hate me for who I’d become.”
“I don’t hate you at all. I never hated you. I worried about you. I missed you. I really missed you. I hurt without you. You hurt me.”
“I’m not going to hurt you ever again, never again. And to be clear: you’re stuck with me. The only way I leave is if you tell me you want me to leave.”
She wraps her arms around me, her soft curves pressed to my body. “I want to grow old and boring with you, too, Rick Savage.”
“Not fat?” I tease.
She smiles. “Not fat. I like your muscles too much.”
I laugh but the light moment burns instantly hot, and I’m not sure if it’s her or me that moves, but our mouths collide, desperate and hungry—a wild turbulent hiss of lust and love, unleashed. Her hands on my body. My hands sure as fuck on her body. She strokes the hard line of my cock and tugs at my zipper. I cup her sweet little backside and lift her, settling her down on the mattress, and tugging her to the edge.