Opening the door, I guide us into the room. The door shuts with a soft click, and all I can think is... finally, finally, we’re alone.
“Do we really have to stay here? This is wrong. Something feels off.” Concern is etched into her delicate face.
“Only for tonight. Tomorrow we will figure this out. Everything can wait until then because the only thing that matters to me right now is making sure you’re okay and reminding you of how much you mean to me.”
“I thought I lost you,” Dove says. Her voice is clogged with emotion.
“You’ll never lose me,” I tell her, pulling her into my arms. I squeeze her tight, wanting to melt our two bodies into one.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“That you are William…”
I peel her away from my chest just enough so I can look at her face. “You remember?”
“Yes. How could I forget you?”
“You told the therapist that you didn’t remember that time. She even said it was normal, considering what you’ve been through. Your mind is trying to protect you and all that shit.”
“I told everyone I didn’t remember because I never wanted to talk about it. Losing you hurt so bad. Saying it out loud just made it worse.”
“Oh, baby.” I pull her back into my embrace. “If I had known you’d remembered, I would have told you. That would have made things a whole lot easier.”
For a long moment, we just stand there holding each other. Then Dove breaks the silence, whispering, “You came for me…”
“Of course.” Does she doubt I would have? She should know the extent of my obsession by now. “No matter what happens, I’ll always come for you. I’ll always protect you. I’ll move heaven and hell to make sure you’re safe. You’re my number one and always have been. Nothing will ever change that. I love you, Dove. Always...”
31
His words hit me like a freight train. I’m overcome with emotion. Drowning in it. I’m uncertain about nearly everything at this point, everything but Zane.
I need him. Need to feel his hands on me, to press my lips against his, to carve out a piece of my heart and give it to him. It hasn’t been that long since I last saw him, but it feels like years after everything that’s happened. Pushing at his chest, I make him walk backward toward the large bed. I want to lie down and curl up on top of his chest.
“Can we please just go to bed? I’m so tired.”
“Whatever you want or need, we can do it.”
I nod, finally feeling free, safe, and secure. I haven’t felt even a sliver of safety since we left the hospital that day.
Zane starts peeling off my clothes until I’m in nothing but a pair of panties. His eyes roaming over my body as if he is inspecting every inch of it.
“No one touched you?” he asks again as if he didn’t hear or believe me when I told him earlier.
“No. I promise, I’m fine.” I tug on his shirt, wanting his skin to touch mine. He raises his arms, and I help him out of his shirt.
I gasp when I see the fresh bullet wounds. “You were shot!” Three times?” I knew he had been hurt, but nothing prepared me for seeing the wounds up close.
Zane chuckles. “I’m fine, Dove. I’m not that easy to kill.”
“I know, but you almost died.” Staring at his chest, I can’t bring myself to look him in the eyes. I feel immense guilt for those three wounds. Almost as if I was the one that pulled the trigger. Had I not begged to go and see Donna…
Zane’s gentle voice cuts off my train of thought, and two fingers lift my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes. “Almost isn’t the same as did. There was no way in hell I was going to die in that parking garage, knowing that Christian had you. I was put on this earth to protect you, and I don’t care if I have to die to do that, Dove. In my eyes, you’re the only thing that has ever mattered.” The look he’s giving me right now says he’s telling the truth.
“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. Sorry that I tried to escape, and tried to hurt you…”
“You were only trying to protect yourself.” Zane moves his hand, his knuckles grazing against my cheek while tucking some loose strands of hair behind my ear. “I don’t blame you, and that’s why I never really punished or tried to hurt you. All I wanted to do was keep you safe.”
The agony that coats each word reminds me that he, too, feels as if he let me down. Jesus, we’re a mess.
My head starts to throb, a migraine from hell, no doubt forming there.
“We have so much to talk about, but all I want to do is crawl into bed and sleep for days.”
Zane smirks, his gaze darkening as he drops his hand from my cheek. “I can think of a couple other things we can do besides sleep or talk.”
Even though it’s probably messed up, that’s all I want right now. To be close to Zane, to solidify what we were building before everything exploded in our faces.
Reaching for his already hard cock between our bodies, I look up at him. “I want you. Inside of me. Our bodies skin to skin. I need this. Need to feel every inch of your body blanketing mine.”
“Me too, baby, me too.”
And that’s all he says before he guides me back to the bed. My knees hit the edge of the mattress, and I fall onto my back. Zane crawls up over my body with a predatory glint in his eyes, causing me to shiver, and my nipples harden.
All my worries and fears evaporate in an instant. All that matters is Zane and me. Our bodies and hearts, becoming one.
Like fire and gasoline, we come together, igniting a fiery passion that burns hotter than the sun. Zane peppers every inch of my flesh with hot open mouth kisses, his tongue gliding over my flesh, making the muscles between my thighs clench.
“I can’t even put into words how much I missed you.” He kisses a path across my collarbone and down between my breasts. Lifting my hips, I try and draw him closer to the place that is aching, pulsing like it has its own heartbeat. “How afraid I was that something bad was happening to you. Since that night that you saved me, I vowed to protect you. I watched you, snuck in your apartment, killed assholes that only wanted you for sex, and guess what?”
He pulls his mouth away, but his tongue still flicks out against my diamond hard nipple, teasing me, tempting me.
“What?” I ask breathlessly, my chest heaving.
A devilish grin tugs at his lips. “I’d do it all again. Over a hundred times. Again, and again because you’re mine, Dove. All mine, and the next time someone tries to take you away from me, I won’t fail you. I’ll kill them with my bare hands, and make you watch just to prove to you that I will never let you down again.”
I nod my head, letting him know that I know and that I understand. He rewards me by sucking my nipple into his mouth, tugging on the tip hard until my back is arching off the bed, and I’m holding his head against my breast.
A ravenous need that only he can satiate tightens, swirling around inside of me, and I have to have him; need him with a desperation that is way too embarrassing to say out loud.
Releasing my nipple with a pop that reverberates through the room, he takes a step back and reaches for my hips. His fingers run along the edge of my cotton panties, and I’m half tempted to shove them down my legs and pull him forward, forcing him to take me, but I know patience is a virtue, and Zane needs this almost more than I do.