I wouldn’t be hisfather that used him for needs Ezra shouldn’t have had to meet. I wouldn’t beElena that didn’t understand his drive to be successful, or the relentless pushinside him to carve out an empire. I wouldn’t beLilou,orSarita. Or Bianca, or any other girl that onlywanted to use him for what he had to offer: his money, his connections, his…business know-how.
I would be me—abroken, lost, terrified woman that didn’t know if she could tolerate her jobfor a second longer, or if she would ever be able to check her oil or change atire, or cook. I would be honest with him and let him decide.
It was the onlything I knew how to do.
His fingers movedinside me and mine curled into his shoulders, desperately holding on forstrength, needing him to anchor me to this place. To him. To us.
His free arm bracedhis body over my head as our mouths pushed and pulled in a kiss that wasachingly tender. His fingers moved in, out, deeper, slower until I was gaspingfor breath, hovering at the brink of internal combustion.
My leg wrappedaround his hip, giving him better access to the hidden, secret parts of me. Hepulled his head back and gazed down at me, studying, watching… worshiping.
“Do you know howbeautiful you are, Molly? God, I could watch you all night.”
I was too close tothe edge to respond coherently, my eyes shut as I chased that delicioussurrender. My head dropped, my forehead landing on his chin. So close…
“You’re unexpectedand lovely, and something that very much feels like salvation,” he murmuredagainst my hairline, his scruff-shadowed jaw scratching my overly sensitiveskin.
His last, whisperedwords were my ruin. I fell apart in his arms, his capable fingers doingsomething magical inside me. I dropped my defenses and let go with a man Irealized I completely trusted, respected. With his hard, beautiful body pressedagainst mine in a restaurant he had named after a woman that had hurt him, Icame undone.
And I knew,I just knew, it was because I feltsomething for this man that I had never felt in my life.
He kissed me again,slowly and tenderly… reverently. “Don’t stop,” I pleaded. “I don’t want you tostop.”
A wolfish grinflashed, greedy with the promise of more. Tugging me off the wall, he laid medown on the sheets covering his floor and hovered over me. My heart kicked inmy chest. His skin was perfect, muscular, smooth and so enticing. I wanted totaste every inch of him and return his most recent favor.
But I knew I wasn’talone with those feelings as his dark, rich chocolate eyes moved over my owntopless body, drinking in the sight of me. I was drowsy with desire, my bodylimp with experienced pleasure and pooling heat. But fear curled too,whispering truth and realization and the very real possibility that this mancould destroy my heart.
I was too far gonefor him.
“Please don’t namea restaurant after me,” I whispered as his hot skin touched mine.
He must have seenthe terror in my eyes, because his gaze softened and he bent down to nip at theswell of my breast. Lifting his head for only a second, just long enough for meto catch the raw plea, he countered. “If you left Molly, one restaurant would neverbe enough. They would all be you.”
It shouldn’t havebeen a compliment. I shouldn’t have felt cherished at that moment, adored. ButI did.
And because ofthat, my fears disintegrated and I found him again hovering above me. He hadbeen waiting patiently for me to give into it, to him. He had been watching asI decided that I wouldn’t hurt him, that I couldn’t walk away.
Whatever hadstarted between us as a seedling of angst, had blossomed into a tree with rootsand stretching branches. I wouldn’t leave him.
I couldn’t.
This was what mymom had meant all those times she’d told me not to quit. It wasn’t the job thatwas the most important thing in my life, or the life I’d imagined myself. Itwas this. Ezra.
It was the thingbuilding between us that I wasn’t quite ready to name.
Which was amazingwhen you considered how different we were, how unalike. He was successful andconfident and maybe a little tragic. I was floundering and boring. Not tomention insecure. He had a complicated past with womenlandmarkingthe way. I hadn’t been in a serious relationship since college, and my onlybooty call option was spin class. He had known he was interested in me thesecond he saw me and I’d waited this long to realize I should not let him go.
I should hold on tohim for the rest of my forever and trust that he would do the same to me.
So that’s what Idid. Or at least for tonight. I clung to him as we explored each other’sbodies. We kissed and touched, finding creative ways to lose ourselves in eachother. Beneath my mural, on his restaurant floor, we found new, exciting waysto push and pull. And when at last we collapsed next to each other satisfiedand yet savoring every second of it, I knew I had lost myself completely inEzra Baptiste.
And I wasn’t scaredof that at all.
ChapterTwenty-Three
I closed anotheremail from Henry and resisted the urge to scream at my computer. The importantthing was that I was able to keep all of my rage and fury and bitternessbottled up. Everybody knew keeping the angry feelings inside was the best wayto handle tough situations.
Although,apparently I needed to practice because Emily immediately lifted her head andgave me a funny look. “You okay, Slugger?”
