“You’re not.” She took the cigarette from my fingers before it burned dangerously low and stamped it out on the grass. I only realised my hands were shaking when she linked our fingers and squeezed tightly. “We’re not doing this shit anymore, remember? You don’t shut me out, and I don’t return the favour. We agreed to share. You said you’d let me help, nightmare.”
I sighed, a tightness in my throat at the name, the sincerity and care in her voice. I didn’t deserve her, but I would never let her go. I pulled her closer, fitting her chest to mine and burying my face in her neck. Her hand came up to the back of my head, scratched along my nape in a way that made me melt into her.
It was an unspoken rule that we were discreet, our friendship public but the rest secret. Yet here we stood in the garden, in the open, where anyone could see and know the truth: I loved every inch and atom of this woman.
“He’s dead,” I said, and cleared my throat when it came out thick. “The—him.”
Her lips skimmed my temple. “That’s good… right?”
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat, my voice rough, thick. “It’s good. I can stop looking over my shoulder, stop flinching when I smell chocolate, stop thinking he’s gonna find me and drag me back there.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face, my eyes burning, skin tight.
“Why do you look so miserable?” she asked, hooking her fingers into the belt loops of my jeans.
I shrugged. Pulled her closer and dipped my head until her scent overwhelmed everything else. “It doesn’t feel real.”
“It’s over,” she said, giving me the words I’d heard her tell herself so many times. “It’s over, Cobra. He can’t ever touch you again. And if anyone gets any ideas about hurting you, they’ll have to go through me.” Her voice was fierce, thrumming with violence. “It’s you and me against the whole fucked up world, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I agreed, stealing a kiss and a little in awe at the ease of kissing her. She held my gaze, a wealth of words passing between us. “You and me against the world. Or.” I glanced across the garden. “You and me against the side of that shed.”
Her grin was instant, but it dimmed. “Are you sure you can handle it after today?”
“Can I handle being inside you? Can I handle you feeling like absolute heaven and pure sin around my cock? Let me think…”
She shoved my shoulder. “Don’t be a dick.”
I smirked, sliding my hands up her back, my fingers tangling in her long hair. “Can you handle it?”
“I’ve been trying to handle it all day, but you pretended not to notice.”
I rolled my eyes. “Forgive me for trying to put your mental health first.”
“No, I won’t forgive you.” She grabbed my dick through my jeans, and I laughed, grinning. She kissed the smile off my face, turning my dick rock hard.
“There were other things I wanted to talk to you about,” I groaned, the taste of her fucking divine on my tongue.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. I want you in my room all the fucking time. Fuck your old room. Move in with me.”
She gave me an odd look. “I already did.”
“Not officially.”
A dark eyebrow arching was her only response.
“Move officially in with me, Lynn.”
“Okay. Officially. I’ll bring the rest of my shit over tonight.”
A giddy thrill went through my stomach. “I want to see you so much I get sick of you. I want the cliche, domestic shit. I want everyone to know you’re mine and I’m yours. I want to take you to meet Dad and Em. They’ve been nagging me about meeting you.”
“Me?” She blinked.
I made a throaty sound, tightening my grip on her. “Who the fuck else? You’re it for me, Lynn, forever. Just you and me.”
A smile transformed her from dangerously pretty to fatally beautiful. I had a feeling true happiness would be a deadly look on her. It was up to me to keep her safe, to keep that glitter in hereyes, the fire burning in her heart. No one would ever touch her without her permission again.
