I lift my head and look up at him. The way his green eyes seem to twinkle with a combination of fear and affection squeezes my heart almost painfully. “I know enough.”
“I’m glad you say that because I talked to my brothers today.”
My back stiffens, my shoulders tensing in his hold. “About what?”
He twists a lock of my hair around his finger. “About what happened this morning. I know I told you I wouldn’t push you to tell me what all of this is about—what happened to you and why you’re here.” His gaze holds mine immobile even when I want to look away from the intensity there. “But I can’t protect you if I don’t know, and I can’t risk Willow and Niall’s safety if something’s going to come looking for you that could be dangerous for all of us.” He drops my hair and grazes his fingertips across my cheek. “I don’t want to push you. I don’t want to force you to talk about something you’re not ready to. But I don’t know how much more time I can give you.”
I swallow through the burn in my throat that threatens tears.
Because I know he’s right.
“I could just go.”
His eyes darken, and I thought I knew what his reaction would be before I said the words. It surprises me when he dips his head and presses his lips to mine, inhaling all of my oxygen and becoming my sole focus for a few moments. Long enough that my breath is gone by the time he pulls away from the kiss that felt an awful lot like he was staking a claim.
“If you think I’m going to let you leave McBride Mountain, you’re fucking crazy, woman.”
Maybe I am crazy for ever getting involved with him. For ever thinking I could get away with having a few days, or hell, maybe even a week or two, with this man and then walk away later with my heart intact.
We’ve only spent one night together, and I’m already hopelessly falling for him in a bad way. I’m in deep, and there is no hope of finding a way out of it.
All that’s left is to open myself up, to completely come clean. To let him see all of me and all the reasons I didn’t want to stay. “Can I tell you tomorrow?”
He trails his fingers over my cheek and nose like he’s counting my freckles. “Why?”
“Because I just want one more night where you don’t look at me differently.”
His mossy gaze softens. “I already told you, Lucky, I’m not afraid of anything in your past. It’s not going to change anything between us.”
“You say that now, but?—”
“No buts.” He shakes his head. “Will it make you feel better if we do it in the morning?”
I nod.
“Okay.” He feathers his lips across my forehead. “Let’s eat and go to bed, and in the morning, I’ll fuck you…and then we can talk.”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, a chuckle climbs up my throat. “That sounds like a good plan.”
He grins at me. “I thought so.” His stomach rumbles, and he laughs. “Now let’s eat. It smells incredible.” Dipping his head, he kisses the side of my neck, up to my ear. “And then, when I’m done with dinner, you’ll be my dessert.”
Fuck.
My knees wobble for a second, my pussy clenching at the promise in his words, and suddenly, it doesn’t seem so important to have dinner. But I know he’s been out all day and barely touched his breakfast, so the needs of my pulsing body will just have to wait.
I squeeze my thighs together to dull the ache there and try to pull away from him, but he holds me steady. “What is it?”
“You think I didn’t feel that?”
“Feel what?”
“The way your body just twitched.”
Shit.
Heat floods my cheeks.
He kisses my earlobe and gently pulls it between his teeth, grazing them along the edge, sending a shudder through me. One hand softly brushes across my chest, cupping my breast, and even through my bra, my hyper-sensitive nipples twinge as he flicks his thumb across them.
