“Yes, miss,” she said before slipping away, back to the house.
We were alone. Jack. Me.
Alone.
That was all I could think as he stepped inside my little shaded getaway, looking like he’d just stepped out of my favorite fantasy.
“You’re done shooting?” I asked. Oh crap, why did it sound like I’d just run a mile?
He never stopped moving toward me, and I stood up to face him.
“I’ve got a few days off.”
“Good,” I breathed. “That’s good.”
“Lila?” He moved so close. So close I could feel the heat of his body. So close I could smell that delicious scent that was so singularly him. So close it felt like I might cry or laugh or scream if he didn’t touch me.
“Yes?”
His lips curved up ever so slightly, his eyes glinting with laughter and… something else.
Something freakin’ hot as hell.
“I’m going to kiss you now,” he said. “I’m going to kiss you. And if that’s not all right with you, I suggest you let me know right now.”
His voice held me in a trance. My lips parted and my heart pounded. Yes!
He took his sweet time leaning down, his strong arms wrapping around my waist and tugging me close until I was pressed against his body.
Home.
This was home. Forget what I’d said earlier. It might have been trite, but this was what home was supposed to feel like. Safe. Warm.
Perfect.
And then he kissed me. Finally. The heat of his lips seared me as he slanted his mouth over mine. The kiss was crushing. Bruising.
And I kissed him back just as hard.
A bomb seemed to go off inside me. A ticking time bomb I hadn’t even realized was counting down until just this moment.
Embarrassingly enough, my eyes teared up at the rush of emotions that flooded me as his arms held me tight and his lips moved over mine like he couldn’t get enough.
Like he could kiss me forever and still not have tasted enough.
I knew the feeling because that was how I felt. When his tongue met mine, I sighed at the sweet relief. The desperate agony. This hungry, needy, overwhelming sensation that went so far beyond lust and into passion. Desire.
Love.
The word slammed through me, and his hands on my back clenched, fisting my T-shirt as he held me so tight I could feel the pounding of his heart against my chest.
“I missed you.” He whispered the words against my lips, and I got the sense they’d been torn out of him. Like he hadn’t even meant to say it.
My heart felt like it was being wrung out in the wash. “I missed you too.”
He rested his forehead against mine as we both fought for breath. His grip on me was so strong. I felt so safe. For the first time in a month, I felt like I belonged somewhere. Like I was safe and wanted.
Loved.
There it was again. I closed my eyes tight against a rush of emotion so intense I couldn’t tell if it was painful or sweet. It was both, I supposed. This rush of happiness was painfully sweet. Agonizingly good and right and… perfect.
My arms were wrapped around his neck, and I buried my fingers in his hair, holding him to me like he was crushing me against him. Like we couldn’t get close enough.
“Lila.” My name was a groan on his lips. A prayer. A plea.
And I knew what he wanted. The answer he needed to hear.
“I need to know,” he said. “Was any of it real?”
My heart swelled until it felt like it was choking me. “All of it,” I said. “Every second.”
He kissed me again, and this time his lips were sweet. Tender. His kiss made me feel cherished, like I was some fragile, breakable treasure in his arms.
“I’m sorry,” I said, when his lips moved from my mouth to my jaw. I gasped when he reached my neck, my ear. “I’m sorry I left like that.”
“I know,” he whispered. He paused with his lips tantalizingly close to that sensitive spot behind my ear. “Brandon told me everything.”
I nodded. Thank you, Brandon. My hands clutched at his shoulders, my breathing coming too fast, too erratic.
How embarrassing would it be if I fainted at his feet? But he had to know… I had to tell him. I gripped his shoulders and pushed. He got the message and moved back slightly so his gaze met mine and held.
Intense. So freakin’ intense. It had always been there, every time he’d looked at me. I hadn’t recognized it for what it was at first, but now I knew. From that very first moment when he’d looked up at me from the street, when I’d stood at the window in that dingy old apartment…
This connection. This recognition. Like his eyes were telling me, I see you. I see all of you.
“Jack, I—” I licked my lips as words failed me.
His brows came down, and he dropped the lightest, sweetest kiss on the top of my nose. “Talk to me, Lila. I need you to talk to me.”
It was the plea in his voice that nearly broke me.
He wanted honesty. He wanted me.
He wanted all of me. Just like I wanted all of him. The thought of giving him that was terrifying, but I knew now what it was like to be away from him. To lose this connection, and losing it again was even scarier than being real.
“I wanted to stay,” I said. A wave of horror hit me as tears filled my eyes. I pulled a hand back to wipe them away, but he beat me to it, making a soothing sound like I’d heard him use with his horses.
That should have annoyed me, I guess, but it was still kind of sweet.
“You wanted to stay,” he repeated the words, and I could have sworn I could feel his relief. His joy. He closed his eyes tight, and the mix of emotions on his face was excruciating to watch. “Oh God, Lila, I wish I’d known that.”
“Why?” I asked.
He opened his eyes, and his gaze slayed me. It cut me open and laid me bare. Or maybe he was laying himself bare, but whatever… the feeling was mutual. His hands at my waist gripped me harder. “I wouldn’t have let you go.”
I shook my head. “Even if you’d known, it wouldn’t have changed anything. I had to go. Brandon needed me and—“
“I would have talked you out of it. I would have gone with you. Or I could have talked to Brandon and—”
“Don’t you see?” I cut off his rampage by placing my hands on his jaw, forcing him to look at me. “That’s why I couldn’t tell you. If you’d tried to talk me into staying…” I shook my head. “But that’s the thing, Jack. That’s what I need you to know. I left because Brandon needed me, but also…” I blew out a long breath as I searched for the words. My gaze roamed over his face, taking in everything, drinking him in as I tried to explain what he meant to me.
How he’d changed me.
“I wouldn’t have done that if I hadn’t met you,” I said.
He stilled. His gaze held mine, and I felt like he was reading something in me. Trying to understand. I saw the moment he did. His eyes flashed with realization.
“Meeting you, getting to know you…” Words failed me again. I licked my lips and gave my head a little shake. “I’m better for having met you.”
Ugh. Ew. How cheesy was that?
But it was the truth.
His expression turned infinitely tender. The love in his eyes made my knees weak, and when he crushed me to him, I leaned into him. His voice was a husky growl as he held me so tight I couldn’t have moved away if I’d tried. “Well, that’s good news, babe. Because you’re stuck with me. I can’t let you go again. I tried to let you go once, and it nearly killed me.”