I never saw her again.
I thought I reached a dead end all those years ago, and knew it was my reality when her father had told me I’d never see her again and if I didn’t let her go I’d be six-feet under the ground. That despair had thrown me into a darkness I didn’t think I’d climb back out of.
Because I hadn’t wanted to climb out of it.
And even if I knew trying to find her was. Alost cause, it wasn’t like I had anything better to do right now, wasn’t like I didn’t obsess about her every damn second of every damn day.
Being alone had that effect.
Falling in love had that effect.
I’d find Nadja, no matter how long it took, no matter who I had to tear down to make that a reality.
I’d probably die in the process by her father’s hands, but I didn’t care. If I could just see her once more it would be all worth it.
She’d be mine, because life wasn’t worth shit without her in it.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Wilder
I tracked Zoey’s movements as she stepped through the front door. I had a set of blueprints in front of me, my forearms on the wooden kitchen table, but my focus was on her. Always. I was supposed to be focusing on the next job we were planning on pulling, but when Zoey was around, there was no chance of thinking about anything but her.
She stepped into the kitchen with a bag of groceries in one hand, a smile on her face as she saw me, and everything in my body tightened painfully.
“Hey, you,” she said in a soft, sweet voice, the only one that set my blood on fire.
It was that voice that always went straight to my cock. The fucker gave a mighty jerk behind the fly of my jeans. I didn’t say anything as she walked farther into the kitchen, her small smile growing as she no doubt saw the look on my face. I was feeling especially predatory in that moment.
“I missed you, baby.”
She chuckled and walked past me, and I continued to follow her with my gaze, my focus zeroing on her ass. I bit my lip and groaned. God, her ass was like a ripe peach.
“I think you missed other parts of me more,” she teased, and I lifted my gaze to her face to see she’d caught me checking her out… again.
I sat there and watched as she finished putting the things away, and when she turned and was close enough to me, I reached out and grabbed her, pulled her onto my lap, and nuzzled my mouth against her ear. “You smell so fucking good,” I groaned.
I pulled back and looked down at her shirt, could see that I was affecting her. Her nipples beaded, and she straightened, her arousal clear. Good, ‘cause I was already there. I shifted her quickly, so fast she had to wrap her arms around my shoulders to steady herself. With her chest to mine, her legs spread on either side of mine, I slid a hand up the center of her back and cupped her nape, showing her my ownership of her. And I knew she got off on that, as did I.
I growled, “I can’t get enough of you. I never will.” I went back to nuzzling the side of her throat, taking her scent into my lungs, running my tongue over her skin, and memorizing her flavor.
Since moving out of the main house and getting our own place, things had been… domestic in a way I never experienced. And I grew addicted to having this always, for having more. Having Zoey in the same bed with me every night and waking up to her pressed against me every morning was a euphoria that could never be matched. I might not have been a good man in every sense of the word, but she made me want to be better.
She was my queen.
My cock was so fucking hard, digging between her thighs. I wanted to be inside her, to feel how hot and tight she was. I knew she’d be wet. I knew she was soaked.
“Fuck, I missed you.”
She laughed softly and ground herself against me, causing a groan from me. “I just went to the store.”
“Anytime you’re not with me is too long, baby.”
I couldn’t contain myself anymore. I slanted my mouth on hers, taking her lips with my tongue and teeth, gently nibbling on her flesh, pulling her flavor into