He was cloaked in shadows, much like herself. His past was nebulous and questionable. So was his present. And yet he’d opened himself to her in a way she’d never imagined him opening himself to another living soul. That more than anything told her that she meant something to him. Not something. Everything.
“I feel too much!” she nearly shouted, the words bursting free before she could call them back. “There, are you happy? Are you satisfied? Haven’t you taken enough pieces from me? Will you not be finished until there’s nothing left of me at all?”
He gathered her tightly in his arms, ignoring her angry protests, her attempts to push him away, her struggles and her tears of helpless rage and frustration. “Was that so hard?” he asked gruffly. “Baby, I don’t want to take you apart piece by piece. I don’t want to take until there’s nothing left. Never that, my love. I want to give you everything in my power to give. I want to put all those pieces back together so you can be whole again. So you can be mine. My Eliza. Not this shell of her lying in my arms right now. I won’t rest until I have all of her back.”
“She isn’t there,” she said sadly. “She’s never been there. She isn’t even real. She’s a role I’ve played for years while I’ve hidden like a coward from who and what I really am.”
“No baby,” he denied. “You became who you weren’t meant to be. And just so you know, you sealed your fate when you told me you didn’t hate me and that you cared for me. When you thought to protect me because I’m important to you. I’m not a patient man in any sense of the word. Except when it comes to something I want and something that is worth waiting for. I’ll wait for fucking ever if that’s what it takes, but you’re mine, Eliza. Mine. And I don’t give up what is mine without one hell of a fight. So prepare yourself for fucking war. Fair warning, I fight dirty and I don’t fight fair. I’ll do whatever I have to in order to make you mine.”
“I’m not yours!” she said in desperation. “I don’t belong to anyone.”
The last was said with sadness heavy in her heart. Once she would have given anything to have belonged to someone. To be cared about, cherished, loved. But she’d given up those fanciful, unrealistic dreams a lifetime ago because they weren’t real. Would never be real. No matter how hard she wished otherwise.
His gaze swept hotly over her naked body, possession glittering in his eyes.
“No?” he asked in a dangerously low voice that should have sent her bolting from the bed as fast as possible. But the steel bands around her body held her firmly in place. “I think perhaps another demonstration is in order.”
Panic swept through her, but before she could react to his sultry statement and the glittering determination in his eyes that told her she was in way over her head, his mouth descended on hers. Hot, passionate and oh God, loving and so very tender that it brought the sting of tears to her eyes.
His tongue swept inside her mouth, delving deep until he tasted her and he was all she could taste. She tried to insert her hands between them, to push him away, but he merely held her more firmly, telling her without words that she wasn’t escaping.
She let out a moan that was part desire and part despair. His kiss gentled and then he feathered his lips over her cheek, down her jawbone and then upward, pressing his mouth tenderly over both eyelids. He licked away the tiny evidence of moisture at the corners of her eyes even as his arms fully enveloped her, anchoring her body to his.
“You matter, Eliza,” he whispered against her skin. “You matter to a lot of people, but you matter to me. To me. And I’m not letting you go now that I’ve finally gotten you where I want you.”
He rotated, rolling until he was solidly atop her, his warmth and strength seeping into her very bones. When was the last time she truly felt safe? When was the last time she felt free to just . . . be? He overwhelmed her. Made her feel all the things he’d attributed to her. In his arms she truly felt precious. Important. Loved . . .
She shook her head in