building creaked like it was going to topple, and I suddenly realized that this could be it. The building could collapse, another explosion could go off, or Kyle could burst into this room and shoot us both. The horrific scenarios flew through my mind unchecked, and I couldn’t hold my words back anymore.
I gave him all I had. “I love you, Ronan Conlon.”
His nostrils flared, his chest rose, and his hand landed on my hip. His fingers squeezed hard enough to leave their mark.
For one terrifyingly vulnerable moment, my admission, my love, my hope, my heart—it hung suspended between us.
Then my dominant, quiet, war hero Ronan surfaced. “You remember those words, Songbird. Because the next time I’m deep inside you, making your body sing, you’re going to tell them to me again. Understood?”
I couldn’t help it. I smiled. “Understood.”
“Get dressed,” he commanded almost harshly as he let go of my hip.
I let two words I had never said to him, never thought about saying, cross my lips. “Yes, sir.” As soon as they were out, I had a moment of panic, but then my Ronan, he came out to play.
He brought his mouth almost to mine as his hand landed on my ass with a sharp slap. “Remember that too, Songbird.” He pressed my clothes against my chest and brushed his hand across my hardened nipples.
My body hummed and my smile stretched my face even further as I took my clothes. Thankful he had brought me pants instead of a dress, I quickly pulled the leggings on and slipped the sweater over my head before stepping into my shoes. No socks, no underwear, I didn’t even care. I was so thankful to have clothes, it had almost felt like we’d passed the worst of it when a violent rumble echoed through the building a split second before a harrowing thud.
The entire floor shook, and I lost my balance.
Before I could fall, a strong arm was around my waist. “Easy.”
Fear eclipsed all else. “What was that?”
His eyes were already scanning past the makeshift tent, and I could feel the tension in every one of his muscles. “Back under the mattress. I’m going to take a look.”
I grabbed his arm. “No.” I couldn’t lose him. Not again. “Stay here. The emergency people will find us.”
Sparing me a glance, he kissed my lips once, then lifted the mattress. “I need to alert them to where we are.”
He was lying. “They know where we are. Vance, or someone else will tell them.”
Taking my arm, he gently but firmly coached me back under the mattress. “In a situation like this, if they’re doing an evac from air or the roof, exactly where we are matters.”
Oh dear God. “The roof?” The air? “I’m not going on the roof, Ronan. I can’t.” I was terrified of heights. He knew that. I hated being up twenty stories as it was.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
How could he promise me that? “The winds alone could blow us off the roof.” They’d been getting steadily worse since yesterday. The news said it was a tropical depression. I was from the Caribbean, I knew what that meant. At any moment, those winds could whip up into a frenzy and we’d have a hurricane on our hands.
“I won’t let that happen.” He took my dress off the floor where I’d dropped it and pulled his knife out. Quickly slicing the silk as if it were a paper napkin, he made a rectangular section and doubled it, then reached under the mattress. “This will be easier.” Covering my nose and mouth, he pushed my hair back, then with his strong muscled forearms reaching on either side of me, he tied the material behind my head.
I lifted my hand to adjust it, but he caught my wrist.
“Leave it. I want it tight. I don’t want you inhaling the dust.” He checked the knot he’d tied.
“Okay.” It was tight, but it wasn’t painful.
“I’m going to do a quick check. Five minutes. Stay under the mattress.”
I grabbed his wrist again. “Please. I’m asking you. Can you just stay here? Call or text someone, tell them where we are, then come under the mattress with me?” I knew it was futile, but I had to ask.
In a rare show of emotion, and one that I was not expecting, he simply reached in the front of shirt and grasped the pendant of the necklace I’d given him.