He brushed his fingers across my cheek, sending a shock through my skin.
“Then I’ll die,” he said.
“Menace.”
The word was a prayer and a plea.
“Savannah.”
Hearing my name on his lips sent a shiver through me.
“Don’t run.”
“You’re asking too much.”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“It would be easier for you to just let me go,” I said, everything raw.
“No.”
“Please.”
He pulled me to him, crushing. Consuming.
The force of it left me breathless.
“Youcan’t do this.”
His grip tightened, leaving me helpless and comforted. Leaving me exactly where I wanted to be.
“Yes,” he said. “I can.”
He kept me there, unwilling to let me slip away.
We stayed like that as the night surrendered to dawn, as my fear gave way to hope.
I felt the warmth of him against me, felt the tremor in his breath. He wouldn’t let me leave, not even for a moment.
The rising sun caught in his hair, a burnished light that made him glow.
I’d never seen anything more beautiful.
“Not gonna lose you.”
I shook my head, overwhelmed by the force of it.
“You’re risking too much.”
His hand traced a path down my back, sending sparks down my spine.
“That’s the point,” he said.
He moved us to the bedroom, each step careful and measured.
“Don’t know what I’d do,” he said, his voice a low rumble, “if you left.”
He laid me down, as gentle as I’d ever known him. As loving.
