“Walk into a deserted alley behind a bar late at night.”
This time a flash of annoyance shaded her indigo eyes. “I was checking on a friend. I didn’t ask those jerks to follow us.”
“No one ever asks for trouble, but it happens. That’s why you need to be smart.”
“You don’t think I was smart?”
“Not tonight.”
Her lips thinned, voice harder now. “Okay, well. I should get inside.”
She took a step into the house, but he grabbed her arm to stop her. “Clara. Promise me.”
“What?”
“Promise me you’ll keep yourself better protected next time.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“Because Ican’tlose you.”
The annoyance shifted into something else. Confusion maybe, like she was trying to figure him out.
“Holden, you’re not going to lose me.” When he didn’t respond, she reached up and cupped his cheek. “I’m right here.”
That floral scent hit him so hard that it was all he could smell. Paired with the feel of her palm against his cheek…she was everywhere. Yet still not close enough.
“Tell me you know that,” she whispered. “Tell me you know that I’m here to stay.”
Her thumb moved over his cheek, leaving a trail of heat on his skin.
He couldn’t stop himself. With a small growl, he dipped his head and kissed her.
At first, she was still beneath him. So still that he wasn’t even sure she was breathing. Then she melted into him, her lips softening and moving against his.
It was an instant rush of need. A complete obliteration of the world around him.
He wrapped his arms around her and drew her closer, needing her entirely against him. She was soft and warm and everything he craved.
A feminine sigh slipped from her lips, puncturing his chest. When her lips parted, he took advantage, sliding inside. Then he was tasting her. Curving his tongue around hers and making her a part of him.
Gently, he pushed her against the wall beside the door, crowding her. Surrounding her. Memorizing every little sound she made.
She felt like she washis. And fuck, he wanted that.
He was on the brink of losing his goddamn mind when she moaned. And there was something about the sound cutting through the silence that brought a whisper of reality back. And with it came the familiar fear. Fear of needing Clara. Fear of loving her.
It crawled around his chest, wrapping around his lungs and making his next breath feel impossible.
Quickly, he stepped away, and the second that connection broke, he felt cold. The kind of cold that crept beneath the surface of his skin, settling into places that had been on fire moments ago.
“I’m sorry.”
She blinked once. Twice. Three times. Like she was trying to chase away the haze. “You’re sorry? I’m not.”
He took another step back. Right now, distance was his only protection. “You should go inside.”
“Is that what you want?”
