One to Love (One to Hold #4) (31 page)

His fingers curled through mine, sealing our connection where the little hearts mirrored each other. His brow lined, and his voice was low.

“I told myself I didn’t need love. I didn’t deserve it. That that part of my life was over—just like so many other parts. I was resigned not to look for it or even expect it. Then out of nowhere you appeared. You needed me, and I helped you.” He leaned down and pressed his lips against mine briefly, his warm breath flowing over my cheeks as he spoke. “The thing that had ended my life, my ability to fight, saved yours. You gave my worthless life meaning, and when you looked at me with those beautiful blue eyes... I might as well have carved out my heart and handed it to you. You owned me from that moment forward.”

Sliding his fingers into the hair behind my neck, he claimed my lips again. Mouths opened, our tongues met as a little noise ached from my throat. His arm went around my waist, and I was off my feet, holding him, chasing his mouth in a hungry, desperate kiss.

We moved together as desire and happiness flooded my body. Nothing could change the fact that I loved him, too. Wholly, entirely, and with everything in me.

Breaking away for air, I lifted my chin to look up at the grey sky overhead. He lowered me to my feet, and our eyes met again as he slid a hand between us, capturing my jaw in his palm. “I’m glad Doc’s here, and I wish he were gone.” Confusion lined my face, and he smiled. “I want to make love to you. Now.”

Glancing around, I noticed a couple walking down the shore and cursed their hideous timing. Looking back, I ran my finger down that line in his chin. “Lane’s with my mom. I need to get back and check on him.” The frustration in his expression mirrored mine. “Come to my place tonight. I’ll ask Mom to keep Lane for me, and I’ll feed you turkey, fresh cranberries, and you can tell me all about life at sea.”

“After we catch up with life on land.” His gaze was so intense, heat flared between my thighs.

“Tonight.” I stepped forward cupping his cheeks in my palms, kissing his warm lips. His elbows bent, and he crushed me to him again as our mouths opened and he kissed me deeper.

His lips traced a line from my cheek to my jaw the up to my ear. “I won’t be late.”

It had been so long, and I wanted him so badly, I couldn’t bear to leave. I stepped forward and held him against me, my arms around his neck, his around my waist. We didn’t move as our hearts beat together, our bodies again melting together. With my eyes closed, it was as if we were suspended in time.

“I can’t wait.”

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A
gain it was raining as I walked up to Kenny’s door, only this time there was no guard. She had forgiven me. Pain flashed in my chest at the memory of her crying and hitting me with all of her strength. It was a memory I’d do anything to purge from our past, yet at the same time, it was a memory I knew would make us stronger. Our scars would make us stronger.

She opened the door before I knocked, sliding her arms around my neck and meeting my mouth with her small one, parting her lips so our tongues could unite. She still wore the orange tunic, but the leggings were gone. I discovered everything was gone when I slipped my hands down and felt the soft skin of her body. Tracing my fingers up, I lightly touched the curve of her perfect ass and a ravenous hunger ignited in me.

In one swift movement, she was off her feet. Feverish, I carried her to the bedroom. I’d dreamed of this so long, every night, I wasn’t sure if I’d make it. Her legs wrapped around my waist, and when we kissed, we consumed.

I lay her back on the bed and pushed the tunic all the way up, catching a tight nipple with my mouth, giving it hard pull before teasing it with my teeth. Noises came from her throat, and I held her narrow ribcage in both my hands, kissing the base of her sternum, inhaling deeply as I worked my way down.

She moaned and threaded her fingers in my hair as I licked her skin. Sugar and mint. It had haunted my dreams, my waking hours. She was a flavor that energized me, delicious and hypnotic. Lifting her thigh, I kissed my way down to the crease and lightly ran my tongue along that line.

“Slayde, oh god,” she gasped, squirming in anticipation. Covering those lips with mine, my tongue circled her swollen clit before sliding down into her wet opening. I couldn’t get enough of her taste, all of her. She cried out, and I knew I couldn’t wait much longer. It seemed she couldn’t either. Her muscles were clenching, and she pulled my shoulders.

“I need you in me,” she begged, as if I had to be asked twice. Condom out, I opened it with my teeth, and it was on in record time. Slipping deep between her thighs, I closed my eyes and ascended to heaven. We rocked together, rolling so that she was above me. Her dark hair spilled around us in soft, flower-scented curtains, and she placed her hands on the headboard behind me, rocking her hips.

Shoving the tunic all the way up, I leaned forward and pulled a taut nipple into my mouth again. Her entire body convulsed, and I went off.

Breaking free, I leaned back and groaned loudly. “Oh, fuck.” I couldn’t stop the blinding orgasm taking me over the edge. Rolling us over again, I held her hips and pounded it out as she cried beneath me.

“Don’t stop,” she begged, and I didn’t. I couldn’t. She worked me hard, holding me as her body trembled with her climax.

Slowly descending back to this planet, I opened my eyes to my beautiful love. She was panting and lovely. Her dark hair spread over the pillow, and I lay my palm against her cheek tracing my thumb over her lips, her chin. As if waking from a dream, her bright blue eyes fluttered to mine, and my heart melted.

“I’m in love with you, Kendra Woods.” I smoothed her hair back from her face. “Every night on that ship, I swore that if I ever got the chance again, I’d tell you how much I love you. How badly I need you to be mine. Forever.”

She reached up to hold my cheeks, wonder in her eyes. “Every day you were gone I tried to make myself forget you. I did everything in my power to move on.” Her words hurt, but she cancelled out all the pain with what she said next. “It was impossible. You’re like air and water and everything I need to survive.”

Kissing her once more briefly, I held her against my chest. “I wish I could give you some noble reason for what I did. I wish I could tell you it was self-defense or it was to save someone’s life, but it wasn’t. I was just a broken, lost asshole with too much money and too many people telling me I was the shit.”

She touched my face. “You don’t have to tell me anything. You’ve already told me enough. I know what you faced growing up.”

“Still, I wish I could change what I was before I knew you.” My eyes closed, and I felt the bitter pain of regret.

“And if you had, we probably never would have met.” She traced her beautiful fingers over my brow. “I’m going to feed you Thanksgiving dinner, and you’re going to tell me about being at sea.”

“Deal.” I rolled in the bed and quickly disposed of the condom as she stood.

“I never went off the pill.” The twinkle in her eye about had me going again, but I shook my head.

“We won’t do much talking if you keep that up.”

“Okay!” She skipped out in only that orange tunic.

Smiling, I sat forward in the bed alone in that room. I thought about what Doc had said about making up for the shit heap I’d made of my life. I’d wasted all of my gifts, but it was possible this woman could help me find a way to at least try to make restitution.

When she returned, we had a spread of turkey, stuffing, cranberries, and bread. She leaned beside me against the headboard holding a glass of red wine.

My arm was on her shoulders, and I twirled a lock of dark brown hair around my finger. “Every night, I dreamed in violet, and now it’s gone.”

She leaned into me, kissing my cheek. “It can easily come back if that’s what you like. Now tell me about being at sea. Did you see whales?”

“We saw sharks.” Her eyes went wide as she set the wine glass on the nightstand and pushed a large pinch of roll into her mouth. I laughed. “And a lot of dolphins.”

Next, she picked up a strip of white turkey and held it to my lips. I couldn’t help remembering the first night we’d shared steak. “I’m so lucky to have you back.”

That got me another greasy kiss. “Tell me a story.”

“First...” I stretched off the bed, reaching for my pants and feeling deep in the pocket. “One of the sailors made these.” I pulled out the small sailboat. “This is for Lane.”

Her eyes warmed. “You got something for Lane?”

“And this is for you.” The heart ring slid perfectly onto the third finger of her left hand. The little doll I’d save until the time was right.

She studied the twisted silver. “I love it so much,” she whispered, catching my neck and kissing me. Holding her hand up, she tilted it side-to-side, and then she paused. “What about the necklace I bought you?”

I kissed the side of her jaw, taking a deep inhale of her sweet-flower scent. From there my lips moved behind her ear, and she shivered. “I love how your breathing changes when I touch you.” 

She reached for me, and we kissed deeply, tongues uniting. We held each other in an awkward embrace around the Thanksgiving dinner spread in front of us, and I wanted to be inside her. I wanted to make up for all the time we’d lost. “I have my necklace,” I spoke against her skin, “but it’s not accurate. I’ll never be free as long as you’re in the world. Even after.”

Her hand moved to my cheek, her thumb tracing the line in my chin. “I want you free from those old scars. I’ve forgiven you.”

Kissing her once more, I turned my back to the headboard and pulled her against my chest. For a few moments, I only held her, feeling our hearts beating as one. “We need to finish this dinner so I can make love to you.”

She sat up facing me, eyes shining in that gorgeous way, and rested her head on her hand. “First tell me more about being at sea. Did you run into any storms? I’ve heard they can be really scary.”

Taking a deep breath, I told her the news I’d been holding onto since I’d found her. None of it would’ve mattered if we hadn’t made it to this place.

“We ran into a pretty significant storm on the way back.” Her hand dropped, her blue eyes full of concern. “Yeah, it was a big one. McKinney guessed we hit thirty-foot waves.”

“Slayde! Oh my god!” She sat straighter in the bed.

Reaching for her hand, I lifted it and kissed it. “You see I’m here, right? Still, conditions got pretty critical.” Looking down, I decided just to tell her. “I wasn’t sure you’d ever see me again, so I didn’t think I had anything to lose.”

Her voice was touched with fear. “What did you do?”

“The waves were so strong, the ship was in danger of breaking in two. They needed someone to lighten the load, cut some of the bigger boxes free so they’d wash overboard.” Clearing my throat, I looked at the fresh, new scar across the back of my hand. “I volunteered.”

Her eyes slid closed. “Oh my god.”

“They tied a rope around me to help stabilize. I made it out to the bow, and I had to cut the lashes of the largest boxes on each side—enough so they’d slide off and lighten the ship.”

“Oh, Slayde.” Her shoulders dropped and I collected the plates from in front of us. Setting them on the side table, I slid down in the bed, pulling her tight against me.

“The first box was hard, but I got it free. The second one threw me back, and another of the crates flew forward and hit my head. I had a concussion.”

Her head snapped up, eyes wide. “No!” She smoothed her hands on each side of my face, and I couldn’t help but reassure her.

My voice was low and strong. “I’m fine. I was out for a few hours. We took a few days, the ship’s medic was more than prepared.”

“Why do I feel like you’re holding something back?”

“Ahh,” I growled, dropping back against the pillow.

She was on me in an instant. “What is it?”

Slipping my palms to her beautiful face, I held her. Then I rolled her onto her back. I kissed her left cheek, her right cheek, her nose. I moved higher to her right eyebrow, her left, then back down. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”

She flushed soft pink. “Are you going to tell me?”

I kissed her mouth once more, tasting her. “They want to give me an award—I think it’s a medal. They’re saying I saved every man’s life on the ship.”

“There were no women?” Her dark brow arched, and I laughed.

“No, and trust me, you’re glad.”

“I think it’s amazing that you’re a hero. I’m so proud of you.” Her voice was quiet, and I knew she was serious.

“Will you be my date to the award ceremony?”

“I hope to be your date to everything forever as long as we both live.”

When she talked like that, I couldn’t help myself. I leaned down to cover her mouth with mine. I might never deserve the gift of this woman I was sent to protect on the beach one stormy fall night. The truth was, I’d spend my life doing my best to protect her, and to love her, and to try and prove to her I was the one to love. As long as she lived.

I smoothed my hands in her hair, thinking about what Anders had said. “I have a new idea for matching tattoos.”

The corner of her mouth curled. “Okay, what is it?”

“Have you ever heard of the Red String of Fate?”

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The End.

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T
he scene I left in Montana was heavy on my mind as I rode in the car from the Wilmington airport. Stuart was battling some serious demons, and I wasn’t sure Patrick and I were enough to help him beat them.

Leaning forward, I rubbed my palms over my eyes thinking of Melissa and Dex. I had my own fucking demons to sort out, and the more time that passed, the harder it would be to negotiate a compromise solution. If there even was one.

Picking up the folded
USA Today
from the black leather seat, I flipped through Section A, not looking at anything until a small, black-and-white photograph under the headline “Hero at Sea” caught my attention.