Chapter 18 #2
I chuckle. “Yeah, I did. You touching my bare skin one more time tonight would have put my engine in the red zone. This is safe. This is cozy.”
Her fingers creep down my chest toward the hem and I grab her hand. “Someone's naughty. If you're not careful Santa will leave you a lump of coal.”
She tugs her hand free and goes for the hem again. “Santa doesn't know where I am.”
“But I do.” I grab her hand and bring her palm to my mouth for a kiss.
She moans softly when I dance my tongue over the soft skin.
“Is that helping your cause, because it's not helping mine. Your tongue is dangerous, big guy.”
I groan at myself. Idiot, but I don't stop. As a matter of fact, I lick between her fingers, earning a gasp from her.
“Oh my god, that feels so erotic.”
“Tomorrow,” I say, my voice husky and full of promise, “I'll taste every inch of you. Every soft, sensitive place. I'll eat you like you're my last meal. I'll make you come so hard you'll scream until you're hoarse.”
Her whole body trembles. “Cozy just became a forest fire.”
She's not wrong.
I'm kicking myself for teasing her. Now I'm going to have balls as blue as the Atlantic ocean.
“Enough teasing,” I rumble, rolling her so she's the small spoon, tugging her snugly against me. “You good with me holding you like this?”
“I like it.”
Finding her hip, I squeeze. “Sweet dreams, angel. Enjoy the anticipation.”
She growls but wiggles closer and I grin at the ceiling.
“You're part devil aren't you?” she asks.
“My middle name might be Saint, but when it comes to you, I'm definitely not thinking pure thoughts.”
“Neither am I. And I almost can't believe this is me.”
There's gravel in my throat when I speak this time. “Thank you for being here. For giving me this.”
She tips her head back to look at me, and in the low light, her eyes are luminous. “Thank you for making me believe I could have it.”
Wrapping my fingers around her jaw, I kiss her, taking my time. It's about cherishing her. Memorizing the way she meets me with little teases and twists of her tongue.
I'm falling harder by the second.
Waiting to feel all over pressed against me also getting harder.
When we break apart, she's smiling and I'm so happy I could start purring any second.
“Tomorrow's Christmas eve,” she whispers.
The thought of spending the next two days alone with Liberty definitely ramps up my adrenaline. “How do you want to usher in Christmas?”
“With you.”
There is no other answer I could love more than that.
I nod because speaking is a losing battle right now.
For a beat, she goes serious too. “Is it really this easy?”
Stroking her hair back, I focus on the way the strands slip through my fingers.
Fine like silk. The color is magic in the low light.
“It can be. If we communicate when we need to. If we respect each other. If we...” I swallow roughly, unfamiliar emotions pressing against the cords of my neck.
“If we treat the relationship like a seedling that needs our attention, tend to it like a plant that needs water and sunshine, and space to grow.”
When I finish, her eyes are misted.
She whispers, “I've never heard anything so beautiful.”
It's her.
Liberty's beyond beautiful, but it's the soul that grabs me. The strength wrapped in a tender, sweet package.
“You inspire me,” I say tracing my thumb along her neck, letting it rest in the hollow between her collarbones.
It's as if spending these hours with Liberty has sharpened my awareness. Brought my friendship with Justice into clear focus. Shown me the thirty-thousand-foot-view of the things I did wrong and right with Lena.
All of it is there, laid out in front of me. A lesson. A gift.
I'll never take Liberty for granted.
“Life taught me a lot of lessons,” I say quietly, “The most important one is love can never be taken for granted, it's earned every single day.”
Life would never be a hardship with her.
“I've never thought about falling in love,” she confesses, leaning her cheek against my palm, gently rubbing her face against my hand. “It felt too dangerous.”
How could someone hurt this woman? Fucking hell. And they did it when she was just a teenage girl...
Energy crackles inside of my head.
No one will ever hurt her again.
“Understandable that it feels dangerous.” My thumb strokes over her cheek as a dark vine twists around my stomach, anger at her abuser surfacing for the thousandth time. “You know I would never touch you in anger, right?”
If there's one thing I need her to know, it's this.
She wraps her hand around my wrist, pulling me tighter against her. “I have complete trust in you.”
A profound sense of relief settles in my bones alongside something powerful, destructive, and so primal that there's no way to fight it.
I would do anything to keep this extraordinary woman safe and happy. That's my job now.
I wrap my arm tighter, pulling her close. A fierce protectiveness tightening my spine. “Sleep angel, you're safe.”
She presses closer, sighing softly as my mind goes into tactical mode.
A strategy is first order.
Deal with her brother. Buy a house to make into a home with her.
Liberty softens, her breathing growing deeper and I lock myself into stillness. I will not disturb her.
It's an extremely bad time for my phone to ring, but that's exactly what happens.
Shit. I calm her by pressing kisses to her cheek. “Shhh. Easy. It's okay.”
“Who is that?”
“The ringtone says it's one of the team. Sorry, I need to take this.”
Reaching for the phone on the stone nightstand, I growl with frustration. “Better be important.”