have it. You have all of it, baby. You’re the luckiest thing that has ever happened to me. You are my sweet place, Verity Gwynn, and the only way you’re losing me is if you walk away because I’m not going anywhere. Ever.”
She looked up at him, her eyes glistening but her lips turning up for the first time since she’d gotten home. She reached for his face, drawing it to hers. His lips found hers effortlessly, kissing her gently, tasting the salt of her tears and pledging that he wouldn’t let something like this happen again, hurt her again. He’d known from the very beginning that he didn’t deserve someone as sweet and lovely as Verity Gwynn, but by God, now that she belonged to him, he would protect her heart from knowing pain like today ever again.
She leaned away from him, meeting his eyes, sighing softly with relief and exhaustion. “Tell me what I saw.”
***
Feathering his fingers through her hair, he told her how Sandy had surprised him in the barn, boldly coming on to him and not taking no for an answer. What Verity had seen was Sandy kissing him and him pushing her away. And why didn’t he run after her? Because he turned to Sandy at the last minute and told her to stay the fuck away from him.
She knew he was telling the truth. She could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice, taste it in his kiss, and feel it in the steady pounding of his heart against hers. He loved her. She would stake her life on it.
But today had taught her something both brutal and important—she was no longer a being independent of Colton Lane. She had bound her body to his last night. Today she realized that her heart was inextricably bound to his as well. As long as he cared for her, that was a safe place to be. But if he should stop caring for her, stop loving her, he may as well rip her beating heart from her chest because it would be no less broken. She was past the point of no return now, and it was scary because she’d never loved anyone as deeply as she loved him.
Which is why, as he finished his explanation, her fingers went to the hem of his T-shirt and pushed up, her palms sliding over his chest as she bared his skin to her. He reached behind his neck and pulled the shirt over his head, and she sat up, pulling her hair into a ponytail so he could unzip the back of her dress. Because the bodice had built-in support, there was no bra to unlatch, and Colton’s rough fingers trailed up her back, pushing the sleeves over her shoulders and down her arms as his lips landed softly on the skin at the base of her neck. He nuzzled and kissed as the sleeves drooped to her wrists, baring her breasts.
“What about Ryan?” he whispered close to her ear, still kissing her neck, his hands reaching from behind to cup her breasts.
Verity leaned back against his shoulder, releasing her hair so it trailed down his back and covering his hands with hers. “I told him I wouldn’t be up for a while.”
“He won’t come looking for you?”
His thumbs and forefingers pinched and teased her nipples into tight points, and she gasped at the sensation, pulling the sleeves from her wrists and leaning forward slightly to slip the rest off her body and onto the floor.
“I don’t . . . I don’t think so,” she said, her voice breathy and thin.
“Give me a second,” he said, releasing her breasts and crawling to the edge of the bed. He made it to the door in three steps, locking it securely before turning to face her. He watched her as he unzipped his jeans, hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his boxer-briefs, and pulled both down his legs to the floor. Completely naked, he stared at her from several feet away in the dim light of his room.
Without a word, she stood up and pushed her panties to the floor, where they landed on top of her princess uniform with a whisper. Then she raised her eyes to his and stared back.
“This is as vulnerable as people get,” he said.
She nodded. “Naked.”
“In every way,” he said. “This is me. And I belong to you.”
Her eyes filled with tears, but for the first time today, they were