He’s here.
Rick is standing right in front of me, bigger than life, and so damn him, in that him kind of way that I couldn’t explain if I tried. He steps closer and I drop my bag on the counter. He will hurt me again, I remind myself, but like that first night, I don’t seem to care.
I step toward him, but he’s already there, already here, right here with me. I can’t even believe it’s true. He folds me close, his big, hard body absorbing mine. His fingers tangle in my hair, his lips slanting over my lips. And then he’s kissing me, kissing me with the intensity of a man who can’t breathe without me. And I can’t breathe without him. I haven’t drawn a real breath since he sent me that letter.
My arms slide under his tuxedo jacket, wrapping his body, muscles flexing under my touch. The heat of his body burning into mine, sunshine warming the ice in my heart he created when he left. And that’s what scares me. Just this quickly, I’m consumed by him, the princess and the warrior, as he used to call us. My man. My hero. And those are dangerous things for me to feel, so very dangerous. Because they’re not real. He showed me that they aren’t real.
“This means nothing,” I say, tearing my mouth from his, my hand planting on the hard wall of his chest. “This is sex. Just sex. This changes nothing.”
“Baby, we were never just sex.”
“We are not the us of the past,” I say, grabbing his lapel. “I just need—you owe me this. You owe me a proper—”
“Everything,” he says. “In ways you don’t understand, but, baby, you will. I promise you, you will.”
I don’t try to understand that statement and I really don’t get the chance. His mouth is back on my mouth.
The very idea of forever with this man is one part perfect, another part absolute pain. Because there is no forever with this man. But he doesn’t give me time to object to a fantasy I’ll never own, that I’m not sure I want to try and own again. I don’t need forever. I need right now. I need him. I sink back into the kiss and he’s ravenous. Claiming me. Taking me. Kissing the hell out of me and God, I love it. God, I need it. I need him.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE SAVAGE SERIES HERE:
https://www.lisareneejones.com/savage-series.html