Chapter 40 #4
Tears dripped from her eyes and met her lips.
I wiped those offensive little shits off her face.
Nobody had a right to her skin except me.
“You want to avenge and protect other women? Fine. You want to be a fucking superheroine? Good for you. You want to jump into danger? I’m right fucking with you.
But the moment you fucking get hurt, I’ll burn this world down.
The moment you stop breathing, I fucking stop breathing.
So be very fucking careful with your life if you don’t want to make Shadow a fucking orphan. ”
A wet chuckle escaped her lips at my last sentence, as tears kept flooding her eyes. “Will you please untie my hands so I can touch you?”
I grabbed her knife that I’d dropped by my knee and sliced off the tape from around her hands and legs.
Tara lunged at me with the force of a hurricane, pushing me on my back, drowning me in her scent, and pulling me into her warmth.
Her arms wrapped around my neck like tight bands of steel, as if she’d never let me fucking go.
I closed my arms back around her, needing her to stay just like this forever.
“I love you so fucking much.” She kissed the side of my throat. “I knew you would come for me. I knew you would be so mad at me for getting caught.”
She held my face in her hands as if I was precious to her.
My heart squeezed in my chest as if all it needed was Tara to keep pumping.
Keep breathing. Her love was the only thing keeping me sane.
“But I also knew that if I never saw you again, that I was loved. That I loved someone with all my heart. That I got to play with you, fight with you, got to feel the warmth of your body, the heat of your gaze on me. I would’ve died happy today knowing that I got to spend the last few weeks of my life being the happiest I’d ever been.
I realized that if going through the agony of my attack brought you into my life, I’d suffer through it a thousand times over. ”
“Stop,” I growled, emotions clogging my fucking throat.
“You will not talk about getting hurt. I forbid it.” I ran my nose along hers, breathing in her words, embedding them in my soul.
“I intend to love you for the rest of my fucking life, and for every life we get after. I’m following you through heaven or hell, wherever you end up. ”
“Probably hell.” She giggled.
“Most definitely,” I said, pulling her back into my arms.
Her tears coated my neck as her lips pressed on my skin, sending waves of arousal and relief rushing through my body. I grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her head back, taking in her face, looking at the bruising under her eye and the redness on her cheek.
Softly, I placed a kiss along her bruised skin, apologizing for not being there for her. “Never again,” I promised.
“Never again what?” She ran her fingers through my hair, scratching the back of my neck, pulling a loud groan out of my chest.
My body heaved with the overwhelming need for more as I remembered her question. “Never again am I fighting on a mission away from you. I go where you go.”
She chuckled. “We’ll see.”
Her laughter was a beacon to my soul. I couldn’t wait a second longer.
I clutched my girl’s face and slammed my mouth on hers, finally tasting her on my tongue, reminding myself of the warmth of her skin, feeling her heart pounding against my chest. I nipped at her bottom lip and rubbed my forehead against hers. “We will see, my Tara.”
A long, wet tongue lodged itself in the small space between Tara and me, dragging against my cheek. “C’mon, man. Now is not the time, buddy. This is Mommy and Daddy time. Go out to your aunties.”
Tara chuckled at that, wiping Shadow’s drool from my cheek with her long sleeve. “We should probably go outside.”
“Yes, you definitely should.” Samaira’s loud voice came from outside. “I wanna go home.”
“Don’t make me hate you,” I yelled back, wrapping my arms around my girl. “Give us five fucking minutes, will you?”
“You’ve been in there for ten. Get out, you two. We gotta walk quite a bit to reach that damn chopper.”
“I hate your friends,” I told Tara, who was smiling like a fool.
“I heard that,” Lena yelled.
At the same time, Naomi shouted, “No, you don’t.”
“You so don’t hate them,” Tara teased, a soft smile on her face, her eyes stuck on me as if she didn’t see anyone but me. Just the way that deep, desperate part inside me liked it. Demanded it, in fact.
Reluctantly, my girl got up from my lap and dragged me outside with Shadow right between us.
The moment we were outside, Tara pulled Shadow into her arms, crying in his fur. “Thank you, baby. You saved Mommy.” She pressed kisses on his face, mumbling, “You’re my hero, aren’t you? Who’s my hero?”
“I am,” I grumbled.
All the women laughed as if I’d said something funny.
I looked at Shadow, who was still clutched in Tara’s arms, and mouthed, “Mine.”
As if the little fucker understood every word out of my mouth, he licked my girl’s face, making her giggle. So much for the partnership in fighting.