words had evoked from within. “You don’t know what I’m thinking,” she challenged, practically sneering the words. “And my thoughts are no longer your business.”
“Yes, I do. You’re spouting a bunch of crap in your head about who you are. Wondering if you should have played the role of helpless female, asking for advice you don’t need just so you could stroke my damn ego. But that’s not what my leaving was about, and I will not allow you to go there.”
Her chest eased from his statement, but she was too worked up to pull back from the edge and find control. Her fingers curled into fists and she pushed at his chest, squirming with pent-up raw emotion. He didn’t budge, just moved closer, invading her space and her mind and her body, taking her back to the sizzling connection they always shared, the intensity of their lovemaking an image never far from her mind. “Oh, so you know it all now?” She shot him a furious glare. “You think you have the right to interpret our past the way you see it, and suddenly everything’s okay? Well, screw you, Owen. You never gave me a chance! You broke my heart and left me believing I wasn’t good enough, so you don’t get to tell me anything!”
Pain ravaged his features. His grip softened, his forehead lowered to hers in a humbling embrace that tore her into tiny pieces. A sob broke from her lips. “I’ll never forgive myself for hurting you,” he whispered. “That’s something I’ll have to live with.”
Her fisted hands opened and slid around his broad shoulders. Her breasts pressed against the hard rock of his chest, causing her nipples to tighten. “I can’t do this again. I think I hate you.”
She waited for him to retreat, but he pressed a kiss against her temple, ruthlessly gentle while she burned from the inside for more. “I can work with hate. I can dedicate the rest of my life to gaining your forgiveness and trust. I can show you in a thousand different ways how I’ll not only treasure you, but push you to be the most magnificent woman you can. Because I’m not afraid of loving you anymore, Chloe.”
She gasped, the words tormenting, punishing, and giving her a mad, wild hope he didn’t deserve. “Don’t you dare.”
He cupped her chin, his lips an inch from hers. “I dare. I’ve dreamed of coming back and doing anything possible to make you love me again. I’m never going anywhere again and I’ll prove it. I swear, I’ll prove it, babe.”
He gave her a few beats to protest.
Chloe got ready to shove him away and run without a glance back.
Instead, she surged forward and pressed her mouth against his.
Shocking heat exploded between them as his lips moved, explored, claimed, with a confidence and power she’d never experienced. This was no shy boy asking permission or the sweet intent of first love morphing into passion. No, this was a determined assault of her senses as his big body pressed against hers, his hands holding her head still while his teeth nipped at her bottom lip with delicious seduction, tempting her to open. She moaned, digging her nails into his shoulders, and his tongue surged forward, possessing her completely.
He kissed with purpose, on the raw edge of control, his tongue tasting, tangling with hers, then plunging deep, not allowing her to hide anymore.
Chloe didn’t want to.
She surrendered to the moment and gave in, battling him with her own demands, tilting her hips so his erection notched between her thighs, sliding her fingers up into his hair to tug, pull, and hold him close as he plundered her mouth. The past faded into blurry edges of memory, replaced by a new sexual need screaming for release, and she fell into the kiss with everything she had left, everything she’d always kept only for him.
Slowly, he pulled away, sliding his lips against hers over and over in tiny nips and kisses as if he couldn’t stand to leave her. He whispered her name, caressed her hair with slightly trembling fingers, then stared into her eyes.
The truth exploded between them in all its bitter, biting glory.
It was still there.
Worse, it was stronger than before, as if the years between them had allowed the hunger to grow to monstrous proportions. Heart slamming against her ribs, she gazed back at him, too stunned to do anything but utter the first words in her head.
“This is too much.”
Heartbreaking tenderness