softness entered his hard eyes. He turned for the bed, my gaze moved to his ass. He climbed on, lying in the middle. I moved to him, wanting so badly to kiss him, to straddle him and take him deep into me, but we had to do this. I closed the one cuff around his wrist, fed it through the slat of the crisscross headboard and caught his other wrist. Hot eyes looked at me. Heat pooled between my legs, seeing the dominant Kade restrained, but that he trusted me to give me this…I fucking loved him.
“You can break free.” I gestured to the headboard. “We both know that.” I moved to the foot of the bed, his eyes followed me like the predator he was.
“You’re angry with me,” I said, walking to the other side of the bed, settling on the edge. My hands itched to touch him, even just a stroke over his cheek, but I didn’t touch him. That’s not what this was about. “There’s a part of you really fucking pissed at me because I walked away from the table that night.” His arms flexed, the headboard squeaked.
“That’s not what’s fueling the rage, though. You’re pissed at yourself because you weren’t there. Someone shot me, and you weren’t there.”
The bed shook, his body flexed, his muscles hard.
I stood, reached for my shirt and pulled it over my head. My bra followed. I had a scar; it ran down my stomach about four inches. One he was careful to avoid when he touched me. I saw the pain in his eyes now, his gaze drifting over the souvenir of that night.
“I almost died,” I said. “And for six months, you had to watch me straddling the line between life and death.” I touched my scar. “I can have it removed, get plastic surgery to cover it up.” My gaze met his. “But I survived. And I did because you wouldn’t let me go. I don’t know how to get you to understand that. I was lost in the darkness, and then I heard your voice. You were there with me, right there with me, Kade. I’m out of the dark now, but you’re still there.” I touched the cuff. “Sometimes bad shit happens, and you aren’t always going to have control. You weren’t the one who left the table that night and you weren’t the one who put the gun to my back. But you were the one who called my name in the dark, the one who didn’t stop calling, until I could find my way back to you. You saved me. You brought me back to life.” Tears were rolling down my cheeks; his eyes were wet. “It’s your turn to hear my voice, to follow it, to come out of the dark, because I’m waiting, and I miss you so fucking much.”
He pulled on the cuffs. “Unlock them.”
My heart dropped, but I reached into my pocket for the key and undid them. He moved from the bed, stalking away from it. Every muscle in his body was tense. His hands fisted. I waited because this was the calm before the storm.
Just his head turned, one dark eye looked back. “I almost lost you.” His voice was nothing but gravel. He was across the room in a heartbeat, had me up against the wall in the next. His hand curled around my throat, his eyes locked onto mine. “You brought color to my world, not going back to black and white.”
His hand moved down my body, his eyes followed his hand. He touched my scar, ran his finger down the length of it and then he kissed it, before running his tongue along it. He moved back up my body, grabbed my hair, pulled my head back and looked into my eyes. “I want forever.”
Before I could draw a breath, his kissed me. Not hard, not rough, but slow, like it was the first time. He nibbled at the corner of my mouth, ran his tongue along my lower lip. He pulled back, brushed his thumb over my cheek, and then he was kissing me again, deeper, longer. I moaned, parted my lips, my hands moved to his chest, moving down and around, over his ass. He kissed me breathless, before he lifted me and walked across the room. He pulled my jeans and panties off, before he drew me close, and climbed onto the bed. He lowered me back onto it, ran his hands