Those words whispered inside her, offering just a glimpse of hope. A hint of safety.
Still, she fought it, her chest heaving as rational thought seemed impossible. “He’sdownstairs, Cody! He’s—”
“Kayden’s sending him away, and he and Barry are finishing the evening. I’m not leaving your side, and I’m not letting him near you—not tonight or any of the nights after this one.”
“He’ll be back.” The words were spoken so quietly, she wasn’t even sure they reached him. “They all will.”
Warm lips touched her ear. “Trust me to look after you.”
She hung her head, wanting to trust this beautiful man. But how did she learn to trust when every person who’d come before Cody had hurt her?
A gentle kiss touched her cheek before he whispered the words, “Don’t leave me.”
Her heart beat recklessly in her chest, and for a moment she couldn’t move. She couldn’t think. All she could do was feel. Cody’s breath against her cheek. His heat against her back.
A wild panic built inside her, the knowledge that if she left, she’d lose that. She’d losehim.
Slowly, she turned and looked up into his ocean-blue eyes. So much strength. But also, under the strength was something else. Something that almost aligned with her own emotions—fear.
It looked so out of place on him. He never looked scared. Because he was on the verge of losing her?
A tear trickled down her cheek. “If I stay, my battles will become your battles. And that’s not fair to you.”
“Your battles alreadyaremy battles. And I want to fight them with you.” He swiped the tear away. “We haven’t known each other for long, and you still have a ways to go with trusting me. But I have this reckless hope for our future. That you were meant to end up here with me. That we were meant to end up together.”
The beats of her heart stumbled over each other. “I’m starting to wonder if maybe hope’s not as reckless as I thought.” Needing more of his comforting warmth, she slid her hands up his stomach, then chest. But it wasn’t enough. She needed more. “Kiss me, Cody.”
His eyes turned a darker shade, his gaze shifting between her eyes. Then one of his hands slipped through her hair and he lowered his head.
The second his lips touched hers, she felt it. The calm. The release of fear and panic. It was as if his touch, and his touch alone, pulled her away from the ugliness of the world around her and transported her somewhere else. Somewhere just for them.
Almost desperately, she slid her hands over his shoulder and around his neck. When his hands lowered to her ass and lifted her, she gasped at the sudden elimination of any space between them. The cascade of emotions that his closeness brought.
Air whipped around them as he moved out of her room and into another. When he stopped and lowered them to a bed, his mouth never left hers. And the weight of his powerful body over hers…God, it was everything. Her cage of safety. Her temporarily perfect world.
He lifted his head, and she wanted to cry. To tug him back to her and seal them together once again.
She opened her eyes, realizing she was in a room with masculine shades and a dark bedspread.Hisroom. But what really stole her attention was the way he looked at her. Like she belonged to him—and tonight, he was taking what was his.
“You sure you want to do this, Storm?”
She traced the lines beside his eyes with her gaze. The flecks of black hidden beneath the blue of his irises. “You’re theonlything I’m sure of.”
His eyes darkened even further, the muscles in his neck flexing. Then his head dropped again, but this time he kissed her cheek. Her throat. His hands trailed down her sides, then taking hold of the hem of her shirt and tugging it over her chest.
She didn’t have time to feel self-conscious because his mouth was already returning to her body, his lips kissing the skin above her bra. He pulled one cup down and took her pebbled nipple between his lips.
A cry slipped out, and she arched as his tongue flicked over the hard bud, desire rippling through her core, catching her breath and stalling the rhythm of her heart.
When he switched to her other breast, she arched again, allowing his hands to slip behind her and unclasp her bra before pulling it away. Harper barely noticed as she pushed herself farther into his mouth, weaving her fingers into his hair and pulling at the strands. She wrapped a leg around his waist, grinding against him.
She panted as he released her and his mouth moved down her body, his fingers slipping into the waistband of her skirt and panties and dragging both down. Suddenly, she was naked beneath him. But again, she didn’t feel anything but safety and a desire that ran so deep it was a part of her.
His head moved between her thighs, causing her breath to stutter. When his mouth lowered to her core, his tongue against her clit, she cried out, instinctively trying to snap her legs together, but his arms were wrapped around her thighs, his shoulders making movement impossible.
She didn’t recognize the sounds that rumbled from her chest as he continued to lick and suck. Or the way her body twisted and arched.
The torture was relentless.
