Chapter 12
AIDEN
I wake with a smile on my face for the first time in years. I'm lying on a hard plank floor, with only a quilt beneath me, but none of that matters. Because Dara is sound asleep on my chest, her curves molded to me.
This is better than anything I could have ever dreamed. When I came back from my final assignment, my wounds still healing, grief and failure clinging to me with every step, I was sure I'd never find someone who would see me as I was and not be horrified.
This woman is a treasure I never expected I'd find.
Who knew I'd have to run into a fire to discover her.
My arms tighten around her and she stirs. Her sleepy voice is one I want to hear every morning from now on. "Do we have to wake up?"
"You can sleep as long as you want." I press a kiss to her hair and she looks up at me with a grin.
"Hunt will call us on the radio if there's anything we need to know.
And I figured it would be smart to head toward my cabin today.
It's further up away from the fire. And you can get a shower there. Even wash your clothes."
"Sounds like luxury." She stretches and my cock throbs with the need to be inside her again. She smiles, kissing my chest. "But before we go, I need to have breakfast."
She slides down the front of me, and before I can protest, she takes me in her mouth. I buck up at the feel of her warm tongue and the way she sucks at my tip. I was already hard for this woman, but the magic she works with her mouth has me keening her name in minutes.
She doesn't let up even when I warn her that I won't be able to hold back and when I come, she swallows down every drop.
Dara smiles as she crawls over me, and I crush her in my embrace. "You didn't have to do that, love," I tell her.
"I've been dying to do that." She winks, and adds, "And if you're nice to me, you might wake up to that a lot."
My heart catches in my chest, stalling between beats, and I force the words out.
"I know it's fast, Dara, but please trust me when I tell you I've never felt this way about someone before.
I'm pretty sure I fell in love with you when you didn't panic at the point when I told you we had to jump into a river. "
"I'm pretty sure I fell in love with you when you held onto me and saved our lives by jumping off a cliff into a river. So, I think we're even."
Contentment, something I never expected to feel, settles deep within me, and I feel like I have hope again.
And that means the world to me.