feel your smile was anything but beautiful.”
The sob caught her unaware, rising from her chest and spilling from her throat. She wanted to back away, to hide in solitude until the storm passed, but Daniel wouldn’t let her. He pulled her back into his arms and held her tightly, whispering words of love and understanding while she cried until she felt empty. He lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the bed that dominated the room. He sat on the mattress, cradling her in his lap.
“I had a couple of glasses of wine the night before, but I’m pretty sure he drugged me.”
“Most likely,” Daniel agreed.
“I was already…” It was too easy to remember. The feel of the sun on her skin. The smells. The ropes against her wrists and ankles.
“No,” Daniel whispered, cupping her chin again. “Stay here with me. Just the two of us. You don’t have to tell me. I’d never ask you to relive a single moment of that day.”
“I dream about it. About him. About them.” She’d been wrong. Another tear spilled down her check. She wasn’t quite as empty as she’d believed. “They…broke me.” Not physically, though her body had taken time to heal, but mentally and emotionally, where the scars lay deep beneath the surface. That’s where she was still shattered. They’d taken an act that should have been one of passion, of love and turned it into one of terror and shame.
“No,” Daniel denied. “You’re far from broken. Look at me, baby.”
It took all she had to meet his gaze this time. She felt laid bare before him. No secrets left. He knew things she’d never told another. The guilt and shame she carried with her. Everything.
Daniel appeared conflicted for a moment then shook his head as he slid her from his lap to sit on the mattress while he went to his knees before her. He took her hand and squeezed it between his. “Fuck it. It’s not the time or the place I wanted. Not the way I planned in any shape or form, but I think it’s past time I said this to you. Past time I assured you of how I feel. You’re my mate, baby. My other half. The one person I’ve prayed my whole life to find.”
Her heart lodged in her throat, preventing her from saying anything.
“In the name of the Great Creator, who has blessed us, by the life that flows within my veins and the love that flows within my heart, I take you as mine for now and always.”
“Daniel—”
“To my heart, of my spirit, as my life’s mate unto death and beyond. I shall possess you and be possessed by you, so that none may come between us. I am yours,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “I’m not asking for the words back from you. Not yet. Someday. When you feel them. For now, I offer you my vow and stand by it. I am yours. However you’ll have me. However you need me.”
His words washed over her, mending fully what she’d worried could never be healed. This amazing man stood before her, offering her everything and asking nothing in return. In doing so, he made her want to give him everything.
“Daniel, I…” She paused this time. The words stuck in her throat. Instead, she reached for him, leaned into him and met his lips with hers. “Show me.”
“What?” he whispered across her lips.
“Show me how to be your mate. I want to be your mate, Daniel. I just don’t know how.”
“Ariel, you are my mate. There’s no hoop that has to be jumped through.”
She shook her head. “I want you to make love to me. I… I want to try. Please.”
Chapter Seventeen
Daniel’s hands shook with the desire burning through him. A desire he needed to ruthlessly control. The last thing he wanted was to do something that would send Ariel running from him again. Her golden gaze held his with such trust. Trust he didn’t want to lose. As if she felt his trepidation, Ariel leaned toward him.
“Kiss me,” she urged.
He stared at her for a long moment before rising to his feet and pulling her to stand with him. Slowly, he glided his fingers up her arms, moving across her shoulders then up the slender column of her neck.
“Are you sure?” He needed her to be certain, and her fear showed clearly in her golden gaze.
On a slow exhale, she nodded.
“At any point, you can say