Chapter Twenty-Three
Kieran nudged the door to the bedroom shut and carried Georgia to the bed. His legs were none too steady, the shock of all that had happened difficult to process. One thing at a time. And the most pressing situation was Georgia’s well-being.
“Breathe, sweetheart.” He set her on the bed. “In and out. Look at me.” He caught her head in his hands, rubbing his thumbs over her cheeks. Her pupils were dilated, her skin the color of bleached parchment. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.” That was the biggest shock of them all.
She wrapped her hands around his wrists, her fingernails biting into his skin as she followed his directions. After a minute, she was calmer but still pale. “That really happened? All of it. With David and your father?”
“Yes.” If it was difficult for him, he couldn’t even imagine how hard this was for her. At least Sam’s and Alex’s ladies had been aware of their true identities before all this went down. Georgia had not only been attacked by her ex, but she’d had to deal with a situation no one would ever believe.
What if she doesn’t want to be with me? Kieran broke out in a cold sweat. Leaning forward, he pressed his forehead against hers. “I’m a selfish bastard.”
Her head jerked back, her scowl fierce. “Don’t say that.”
“Why not? It’s the truth. No one asked you what you wanted? Not my father, not me. I’m no better than him, assuming you’re okay with all of this because it’s what I want. Like father, like son.”
“Don’t do this to yourself or to us. I understand your bitterness.
My parents had me later in life. My mother never knew quite what to do with me, and my father ignored me.
I could’ve allowed it to make me resentful and cynical, but that would only have hurt me.
They did the best they could. He went about it the wrong way, but your father does care. ”
“How can you be so understanding?” Anger burned in his belly.
She ran her hand over his head. “Maybe because I’m not as close to the situation as you are.
I haven’t lived your life. I’m human. Dying was inevitable for me, but it was something you’d never had to consider before.
You were trying to come to terms with that when everything between us changed.
” She bit her bottom lip. “Are you upset?”
“You’re damn right I’m upset. He had no right to play with our lives like we were no more than chess pieces on a board.”
Tears welled in her eyes. One escaped and trickled over her cheek.
“Don’t cry.” It was breaking his heart to see her so distraught.
“I can—” She broke off and took a deep breath. “I can call him, your father, if that’s what you want.”
“What? No.” The horror of losing her was still fresh. “Never.”
“But you’re upset.”
“About what my father did.” He was missing something.
“Taking me out of the timeline. I don’t understand how that works or how it’s even possible. It’s…” She trailed off and licked her lips. “He’s assumed you’d want to be with me forever. That’s…well, a really long time. I can’t really imagine it.”
Now he understood the problem. “I’m upset that he didn’t give you the choice, that he did it without asking.”
“But he did give us a choice, an out.”
She was right. It was an after-the-fact escape route, but it was there.
“What do you want to do? Wait.” He pressed his fingers to her lips before she could speak.
“We’ve both been through a lot. You should take a few days to think everything through before you decide.
” A voice in the back of his head was screaming at him to shut up.
His abilities and immortality had been returned, and Georgia was safe.
So were his brothers and their women. Everything he wanted was within his grasp.
But he couldn’t force her to be with him.
She had to want it. When it came down to it, he was powerless. His fate, his future, lay in her hands.
“There’s only one thing I know for sure that I want right now.”
“Whatever you need.” Whatever it was, he’d move heaven and earth to make sure she had it. A vast fortune lay at his fingertips now that all his worldly goods had been returned. He could take her anywhere she wished to go through a portal.
The tips of her fingers played lovingly over the harsh planes of his face. “You. I want you.”
Groaning, he swooped down and captured her sweet lips.
He’d come so close to losing her, not once but multiple times.
Her lips moved under his, her tongue gently teasing.
He drank her in, unable to get enough. Exercising restraint was tearing him apart, but the last thing he wanted was to do something to hurt her or make her afraid.
His lungs were heaving when he managed to yank himself away. “Are you sure?”
In reply, she pulled her top over her head and tossed it aside.
When she reached behind her and undid her bra, his nostrils flared.
The scent of her skin was intoxicating, a delicate blending of vanilla and cinnamon sugar.
Beneath that, however, lay an even more potent perfume—desire.
Georgia wanted him, and her body made no secret of the fact.
Her breasts hung full and heavy, the milky white of her skin a sharp contrast to the deep pink of her nipples.
She was a feast for his preternatural senses.
Laughing with delight, she pressed her hands against his hard pectoral muscles. “You’re so strong.” Arousal had brought a blush to her cheeks, driving out the sickly pale of earlier.
“I’ll always use my strength to protect you.” It was a heartfelt vow, one that melded to his very blood and bones.
“And I’ll protect you,” she said.
He closed his eyes, overcome with emotion. Other than his brothers, no one had ever considered he might need protecting, not until Georgia.
Her lips cruised over the hard planes of his chest and down his abs. Her hands skated over his back. Like a sponge that had been left in the desert, he soaked in her caring as if it was life-giving water. And maybe it was. He hadn’t known he’d needed it until she’d given it to him.
The throbbing in his dick matched the heavy pulse in his temple, and the tendons in his neck tightened when she skimmed her teeth over them. “You’re so hard.” Her breathy whisper coupled with the tips of her breasts brushing against him almost had him coming in his jeans.
“You have no idea.”
Her hand pressed against the outline of his erection. “Hmm, I think I have an excellent idea.”
Every muscle in his body tensed as he fought not to come. He shook with the effort it took to maintain control. When she released him and stood, he almost lunged for her, fearing she was leaving. Instead, she kicked off her shoes and unbuttoned her capri pants.
“Let me.” After getting a nod, he grabbed the zipper tab.
Like opening a much-anticipated present, he eased it down.
The first glimpse of her white panties had his blood thickening and his balls aching.
With a hum of pleasure, he slipped his hands inside, burrowing beneath both layers of fabric.
“I love your ass,” he told her as he cupped the firm flesh.
He pushed the fabric down her legs where it pooled at her ankles.
He didn’t deserve her, but he planned to do everything in his power to make her happy.
She pulled on his arm until he stood. Then she went to work on his jeans and had them open and down to his knees in the blink of an eye. He got rid of his boots and clothes. Naked, they stood before each other.
“I won’t break,” she told him when he hesitated.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” He’d already done enough of that.
“You won’t.” Her faith in him shook him to his core. Then she went up on her toes, slid her arms around his neck, and dragged him down. “Love me,” she whispered.
“I do.” He slammed his mouth down onto hers, the heavy beat of his heart driving him forward, urging him to hurry, to make her his once and for all, to bind her to him in any and every way possible. He took her down onto the bed, his entire body covering hers.
When she arched beneath him, the tethers holding him back snapped.
…
This was a side of Kieran she’d never seen.
He was tentative, almost unsure of his welcome.
It seemed she wasn’t the only one struggling with their changed circumstances.
There was a lot to figure out—understatement of the century—but this was one thing she was certain of—he wanted her as much as she did him.
The feel of his big body pressing against hers was both arousing and comforting.
He was all hard muscle, tough sinew, and bone.
He was also badass in ways she’d never anticipated.
The son of the Grim Reaper. He’d told her.
Heck, she’d seen it with her own eyes, but it still seemed surreal, like a dream that had happened to someone else.
All she knew for sure was that her Kieran, the flesh and blood man, was here with her.
They were both alive and miraculously healed.
There was no sign of any of their previous injuries, nothing to hold them back.
She returned his kiss with equal fervor, their tongues tangling as they came together again and again.
Curling a leg over his hip, she rubbed her pelvis against his, moaning when the slick folds of her sex brushed against his erection.
She couldn’t get enough, touching him wherever her hands reached, stroking hard muscle.
For the first time in her life, her size didn’t bother her.
When he’d gripped her buttocks, she’d gotten self-conscious—until she’d seen the heat in his eyes. He delighted in her curves.
He nibbled his way across her jawline, detouring to her ear long enough to tease the outer shell before working down to her collarbone.
Her nipples were hard nubs, begging for his attention, which he gave without hesitation.
He swirled his tongue around one and then the other before sucking one tip into his mouth.