“You know I do.”
He closed the space between them and cupped her cheek. “Then itisthat simple. I love you too. I love you so much that I would give up everything I know for you, and none of it would feel like a sacrifice.”
She leaned into his hand, her eyes closing, more tears falling down her cheeks.
He leaned in and kissed a tear. “You, Indie Reed, are my wife. You’re my entire world. And youarestrong. You’re the strongest woman I know. And you’re mine.”
Her chest rose and fell. “But—”
“No buts. You are all I want. You’re all I’ve ever wanted.” Then he dropped his head and kissed her.
CHAPTER 15
The room quieted. The kind of quiet that silenced not only the world around her but those voices in her head. The ones telling her—screaming at her—that she wasn’t enough. That she wasn’t strong enough or brave enough. It all went away at the feel of his lips on hers.
He cupped her other cheek, his tongue slipping between her lips. He tasted sweet and deep and familiar.
When he suddenly lifted his head, she wanted to groan. To grab him and pull him back. Instead, she looked up at him. Traced the lines beside his black eyes. The curve of his hard jaw.
There was so much emotion in his expression. A mixture of need and desire and pain.
She swallowed hard, trying to calm her racing heart. “What are you thinking?”
“I need to know that you want this,” he whispered, sounding almost scared, an emotion that was so out of place on a man so powerful. “I choose you, Cricket. In the small easy moments. And the big hard ones. I’ll always choose you.”
The big hard ones…there’d been so many.
“I choose you too. Tonight. Tomorrow. Forever.”
His eyes darkened. And he dipped his head again and kissed her, his tongue slipping straight inside, curving, almost dancing with hers.
The peace and fire and desire…it filled every hollowed-out part of her.
He lifted her into his arms like she weighed nothing, but she still didn’t feel close enough. She needed skin against skin. She needed him, all of him, right now.
Quickly, she reached for the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it up.
With one arm, he helped her, yanking it over his head. Then his lips covered hers again, and suddenly he was everywhere. He was all she could feel and his scent surrounded her.
He slipped the straps of her dress down, and cool air brushed the tips of her nipples. But only for a second, before he took one between his lips. Then he was sucking and she was gasping, grabbing the short locks of his hair.
Her head was back, her eyes closed. He swirled the bud in a circle with his tongue, and all she could do was try to breathe. Draw the air into her lungs even though it was difficult.
With desperate fingers, she reached for the bottom of her dress, Colt helping her.
Then all she wore were panties. And there was something so safe about wearing almost nothing in Colt’s strong arms, held in place by his body.
Hewasher safety. He’dalwaysbeen her safety.
He found her lips again, kissing her slowly, deeply, as he moved to the bed. The soft mattress dipped as he laid her down. His weight over her felt warm and familiar.
He lifted his head, his gaze searing into her own.
“It’s been so long,” she whispered.
“And yet, it feels like no time has passed at all.”
It was so true. This strange in-between of feeling like both a lifetime and a blink.
