CHAPTER 27 (2)

He kissed the corner of her eye, the tip of her nose, then her lips. He wanted to give her the promises she needed to hear, but he

couldn’t lie to her. The only thing he knew for sure was that he couldn’t walk away.

“You’re the most important person in the world to me, Kelsey.”

Her smile warmed him, a smile that came even though he hadn’t given her the word love, as she’d given it to him.

“I know I am.” Her hands moved to cover his. “But I love hearing you say it out loud.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without you. I can’t stand to even think of that.”

“Then don’t.”

She made it sound so simple.

Was it?

Could it be?

Simple or not, he hauled her up until she could wrap her legs around his waist, locking her bare ankles behind him.

“I love it when you do that,” she said. “When you act like you can’t get enough of me.”

“I can’t.” Nothing had ever been more true. And there was so much more truth she needed to know. “I love that we were friends first

before lovers. That I know you so well. That you’re part of my family.”

She kissed him as he carried her into the bedroom, then he let her feet down until she was standing before him.

“I want you so badly, need you so much.” He couldn’t believe what he was about to admit. But he could be honest with Kelsey.

Always. No matter what. “I don’t know where to start to show you how much I need you.”

Whatever he expected her to do or say in response, it wasn’t the way she scrambled back onto the mattress and grinned up at him.

“Where do you want to start?”

Sex had never been fun. It had been a minefield like all the other minefields in his life. But even after a harrowing confrontation,

after tears, Kelsey was full of life and playfulness. Damn if he didn’t need that. Badly. They both did, needed to banish the darkness

once and for all. Together.

He climbed over her, straddling her body on hands and knees. “Here.” He slid his hand up under her sweater and cupped her breast

through the lace of her bra.

“Or,” she said in a naughty voice that revved his engine hotter and faster, “you could start here.” She drew his hand out of her

sweater…and over the hot, damp apex of her thighs.

“You always were the smarter of the two of us.” He enjoyed teasing her with his words as much as his touch. “You have too many

clothes on.”

She gazed up at him, her eyes hot. “Let’s see who can get undressed the fastest.”

He’d never seen her look quite so free before. He was proud of her for standing up to her sister, for having the courage to cut her off.

But he’d tell her later, after he ravished her.

“You’re on,” he said, whipping his shirt over his head while he kicked off his shoes.

She simply started tearing everything off right there on the bed, throwing clothing every which way.

“I beat you.” She lay dazzlingly naked in the middle of the bed, completely unabashed.

“That’s only because you were barely dressed from the last time I devoured you.”

Had it really been only an hour ago that they’d fallen on each other in her entryway? It seemed like a lifetime.

He started to climb back onto the bed, but she held up her hand. “Wait.”

He stopped, one knee on the mattress. “What?”

“I want to look at you.” Her gaze stroked him like the touch of her hand. “You’re like a Greek statue. You always have been.”

He worked out every day to get this way. He and Perseus had been the puniest of the Baddricks when they were younger. “Back in

college, I didn’t have nearly enough time to work out.”

She reached out, running her fingertips over his pecs, his abs, his muscles leaping beneath her touch. Wanting more. Always more

when it came to Kelsey.

“Even in college, you were magnificent. And now I know how you feel, how you taste.” She licked her lips. “Even in my dreams, it

wasn’t this good.”

“I dreamed about you too. When we were in college.”

“You did?”

“How could I not? And then this week, I couldn’t stop dreaming again, couldn’t stop fantasizing.” He came back over her, kissing

her mouth before raining kisses down over her neck, her shoulders, the swells of her breasts until she gasped. Moaned her pleasure.

“You made all those hot little sounds in my dreams.” He slid a hand down between them. “I touched you here.” He stroked up,

gliding over her aroused flesh until she arched, her breasts caressing his chest. “Then I did this.” He rolled her to her stomach

beneath him, brought her up to her knees.

Sliding down between her legs, he parted them and breathed her in. Her hair fell over her back, and he brushed the silky locks aside

to kiss her spine, loving the way she trembled with need.

He licked and kissed and nipped, then rose up over her. “You’re so ready. So hungry. For me. Only me.” He rubbed his hard length

along the slick folds of her sex. “Just like you were in my dreams.”

He poised at her entrance, held himself there, glorying in her heat. Then he slid home inside her.

“Ares.” His name fell from her lips as she took him deeper than he’d ever thought it possible to connect with another person.

“I kissed your neck just like this.” His words were raw, overwhelmed with desire as he peppered her neck with kisses. He pushed

deeper, and her hands fisted on the sheets. When he pulled out, he forced himself to go slow, to tease her, stroke her. “I told you how

gorgeous you were.” He buried his face in her hair. “I told you how you filled up every empty space inside me.”

She cried out, her body shivering around him. And he almost lost it. Lost himself completely in her. But he needed her to know what

she did to him. How much she meant.

“In my dreams, I told you how much I loved the sound of your voice.” He groaned as she let go of the sheets and laced her fingers

with his. “I told you how I loved talking with you, just sitting, just being. Loved the way you listened.”

He tried to hold on, but he couldn’t help spinning out of control, rocking them both across the bed, keeping her hands tightly laced in

his, the spasms of her body turning him mindless.

“I told you—” Then he couldn’t remember anything else.

Except that he’d made the wrong choice long ago. At long last, he’d finally made the right one.

Kelsey was everything he could ever want, everything he could ever need. He was the luckiest guy in the world that she could still

want to be with him after all the ways he’d screwed up.

But would the heat, the joy, the power of their connection, be enough to erase the mistakes—and the darkness—of his past?