I don’t know when it shifted, this obsession I’d been harboring. When it turned into something more. I didn’t know what to call it, how to define it. Regardless, I was hers for the next hour, the next day, however long she needed and wanted me. For however long I had until Donegal came for me, I was hers.
Or was she asking me for something far simpler? Was she wanting the words, those three magic words that all the women fecking wanted?
It was too soon to confess my undying adoration, even if the heart of me was already grappling with the razor’s edge of words like obsession, devotion…love. What if I fell, and she wasn’t there with me? When an Irishman fell, he fell hard. I could fall alone, I supposed, but it would be hell.
I stopped swaying and moved both hands to her cheeks, turning her face to mine. She pressed the hand that I’d released flat against my chest, resting over my heart. “You speak of purpose. I’ve always known exactly what that is. It’s been to stand in the wings, be King’s muscle. His might. It’s been to enforce his law, ensure his rule, exact his discipline. That’s not my purpose anymore. I don’t know what I’ll be doing in a month. But for today…tonight…as long as you need me and I’m able…my purpose is you.”
“I don’t understand.” Her eyes were brimming, and I used first my thumbs to sweep gently beneath them, and then my mouth to catch the tears that spilled on her cheeks.
“You,” I repeated. “I will protect you. Comfort you. Break you,macushla, with kisses and my hands, until you shatter. And then I’ll love you back together.”
With a sound like a sob, she met my mouth with her own in a clash of lips and tongues and teeth. I held her face in my hands and tried to gentle the kiss, but she pulled back, glared at me, and said, very firmly, “No.” Then she sank into me, biting my bottom lip before drawing away once again. “You will not handle me with kid gloves. I need…” She stopped and bit her lip. “I need to know that it can still be good for me. All of it.”
My heart stopped. I regarded her soberly for a second, then nodded.
I couldn’t stop the bitter curl of my lips as I bent, covered her ass with my hands, and lifted her until she wrapped both legs around my waist.
“I’ll make sure of it.”
