“You’re my dream come true wrapped in a nightmare. The only thing you’re willing to give me is your body, and that’s not enough.”
“Are you saying I’m using you?”
“I’m saying I feel used. And I hate myself for still wanting you. For wanting that to be enough.” He yanked her back against his thighs, and with a dip of his knees, he lined his arousal up between her legs and pumped viciously against her as if they weren’t separated by their clothing. “I hate myself for wanting to fuck you like this now when I know it doesn’t mean the same to you.”
“You don’t know that,” she cried. “You don’t get to take your mommy-daddy baggage out on me. Your parents sucked. That wasn’t your fault. But what you choose to do now is just that. Your choice. You don’t get to paint me with the same brush you painted them. You could have had me! I could have loved you. I could have been the best thing that ever happened to you!”
“Yes. Until it was over for you. Until you were ready for your next adventure. Your next city.” He wrapped her ponytail around his hand and tugged. “Look at you. When you walked in tonight, my heart fucking stopped. It still hasn’t restarted. You don’t look like you. You don’t look like the girl who sank my goddamn snowmobile or the one who cries every time she watches Father of the Bride. You look like Alessandra Ballard.”
“I am Alessandra Ballard. And Remi Ford. They’re the same damn girl. They’re both me.”
“You want things I can’t give you. I’m never going to be happy living in a city surrounded by strangers. I don’t want to get dressed up every night and go out for the attention.”
He was hard. So fucking hard against her. It made her needy sex throb.
“So I tried to find my own happiness. I picked a nice girl who didn’t scare the hell out of me. Who wouldn’t ask me for too much. Who would make sure that I never had a shot with you again.”
The truth fucking hurt.
“Why?” she asked, as his fingers kneaded her hair, as his hips ground against her.
“Because I love you. I’ve always loved you.” His voice shook. “Because I won’t survive it when you leave.”
She froze.
“But you were always going to leave,” he whispered against her ear. “You’re still going to leave. Even after what we found together. You’re going to get on a plane or a ferry or a goddamn snowmobile and you’re going to leave. Me. You want a big life. You want adventure, novelty. You want to be great. How are you going to do that from here?”
Just like his mother.
It struck like the diamond point of lightning right into her heart.
“I don’t fault you for that,” he said, moving his lips over her neck. His beard abrading her skin. “I want people to look at what you’ve created and be dazzled by it, just like I’m dazzled by you. But this place is my home. The only place I’ve ever belonged. You gave that to me and you’re the only one with the power to take it away. Because I’d follow you if you let me. I’d go with you. But you’re not even going to ask. You’re going to stay here long enough for me to put Vorhees behind bars and then you’re going to leave.”
Tears rolled silently down her cheeks as it all sank in.
Brick Callan loved her. And he was terrified of her.
“You wanted to know why I married Audrey? You should be asking why we divorced. Because of you. Your name is the last word I breathe every night. Your face is the one I see when I close my eyes. I couldn’t hide that from her.”
She let out a broken sob and sucked in a breath. “Oh, fuck that. And fuck you, Brick. You let me think I wasn’t good enough for years. You purposely hurt me just so you could keep yourself safe.”
“So much for safe! I’m going to go to bed every night for the rest of my life thinking about you, and where will you be, Remington? Will you even remember me? Every fucking time I make you come, I feel you getting farther away from me. But I still can’t stop myself.”
“Because I don’t want you to hurt me again! I can’t take another rejection from you. Not after…”
“What? Not after what? Sex? Not after we fucked a few times? That’s the only reason I’m here, isn’t it? Because I make you feel good. That’s why you’re pushing that tight little ass against my dick, isn’t it?”
She spun around and let her closed fist fly. Darlene Ford’s daughters didn’t slap. They cold-cocked. Brick dodged the blow easily and pulled her in tight so she couldn’t put a knee in his balls. They struggled, wrestling each other to the hard floor. When they landed, his hand manacled hers over her head as she squirmed under him.
She knew they were fighting. Knew she was furious with him. But being restrained like this, being pinned by his heavy body, muddied things. She needed more, and so did he. Remi bucked her hips against him, an invitation as much as a challenge.
He gritted his teeth before kissing his way down her neck. “I hate myself for wanting one last time with you. One last chance to make you need me. Because that’s all I’m good for. That’s all I have to offer you. A place to feel safe. A way to feel good. It’s not enough,” he said, even as he loosened his belt.
Her chest heaved as she dragged in a breath.
“Open your legs,” he ordered.
She reared up and bit his lower lip. “Make me.”
She saw it in his eyes. The glimmer of excitement. The thrill of the line she was asking him to cross.
“You’re proving my point, and I still can’t help myself,” he said, levering up to free his swollen erection from his pants. “I still can’t say no to you.”
His weight was on her wrists, making them ache, but watching him work that thick shaft with brutal strokes blocked out any pain except for the empty trembling of her inner walls.
“Open your fucking legs, Remington.”
Biting her lip, she shook her head against the floor.
He let out a low growl as if he were in pain. “You tell me to stop if this goes too far.”
A nod was all she’d give him.
With permission granted, Brick inserted a knee between her thighs. She fought it, squeezing against him and loving the illicit thrill of being restrained.
She was no match for his brute strength.
“This is the last time,” he promised, gritting out the words as he used his hips to pin hers down.
She wanted to argue with him. Wanted to stop him and be the one to walk away. She wanted to prove him wrong. But all of those things fell a distant second to the need inside her. The need to be dominated by him. Taken by him. Marked by him. That took precedence.
She bucked against him, half-heartedly trying to twist away. But he simply spread her thighs wide and yanked her thong to the side.
Digging her heels into the floor, she tried once more to dislodge him and was thrilled when he didn’t budge. His hand connected with the back of her thigh, delivering a stinging slap.
Their gazes locked a split second before he lunged into her. Claiming her.
“Brick!”
He didn’t answer her cry of ecstasy. Just drove into her tight sex again and again, forcing her to take more of him each time, until finally every inch of him was sheathed inside her. Their bodies slid and scraped across the floor.