“Be better?”
At last, Nelly blinked. When her eyes opened again, they did so slowly, until she was staring up at him with a look of pure astonishment. “Clark Wilson, how could you bebetterwhen you’re already more than I ever could have dreamed of?”
“…What?”
Nelly closed the distance between them once more. Laying a searing kiss to his cold skin between every word, she gasped out, “The kindest fucking heart. Always putting other people first even when it hurts you. Rescuing all those animals. All the horses. Every time you broke a girl’s heart it was only because you didn’t want to hurt them worse later. Always trying to keep the peace between your brothers. How you used to crawl into bed with your little sister when she was sick. Every little, tiny thing you did to make lives easier and no one ever noticed.”
Clark tried to will away the sting in his eyes, but it didn’t work. Speaking in a choked voice, he replied, “I’m no saint, sugar. I’ve done shit I’m not proud of. You must have seen that too, right?”
It was important to him that she seeeverything.The real Clark, not just the good neighbor, the dutiful son, the respectful boyfriend.Her Clark.
“Yes.” She whispered the word against his lips. “I saw every test you cheated on. I saw the time you broke a boy’s nose. I saw when you were fifteen, got drunk, and drove your dad’s truck into a shed. I saw you lose your temper with your mom and I saw you regret it. I saw how often you felt like you weren’t enough. I saw all the times you were passed over because everyone just assumed you’d be happy with what you got. I saw how much that hurt you. I saw, Clark. Isawyou.”
His throat felt almost too tight to speak when he asked, “And you still want me, sugar?”
Nelly pulled back just enough to look up at him. The air wheezed his lungs when she caressed his cheek and whispered, “More than I did before, and I didn’t even think that was possible.”
A full body shudder of relief moved through him. “Thank the gods.”
Clark crushed their lips together. This time, Nelly met him with equal desperation. Her fingers wove into his hair, nearly dislodging his hat, as their tongues tangled. It was a hungry sort of kiss unlike any he’d experienced before. Their teeth clacked. Their noses bumped. They gasped for breath and clutched at one another like they might disappear.
It was ravenous and a little bit messy and entirely perfect.
That was, right up until he felt her shiver.
ChapterSixteen
Regainingat least a few of his brain cells, Clark slowed their kiss down enough to start moving his feet in the direction of his house, where he already had the heating pump below the floor going. He’d get a fire started as soon as possible, too.
“Gonna peel you out of these stupid wet leggings,” he growled against her lips. Snow crunched under his boots with every hurried step toward the house.
Nelly wound her arms around his neck and huffed a breathy laugh. “I didn’t bring you a present. Maybe that’ll count as unwrapping something?”
His feet moved a little bit faster. “You bet your cute little ass it will.”
He’d walked briskly before, but it was nothing compared to the speed at which he moved with his mate in his arms. Despite the snow, he somehow managed to make it back to his house in record time.
“I thought you lived with your parents.” Nelly whispered the words between gentle nips to his jaw and throat. Her hands were everywhere — in his hair, stroking his chest, fluttering over his shoulders. He wanted to drown in her touch, but onlyafterhe got her warm.
Dipping down to open his front door with the hand that supported her back, he took the opportunity to press another hungry kiss to her lips. Even with the urgency of making sure she didn’t freeze to death pressing on him, Clark couldn’t help but stop every few steps to indulge again and again.
“Same land,” he muttered, fumbling to push the door open, speak, and kiss her all at once. “Built the house myself.”
“I saw.” Her lips curved in a smile under his. “You nearly lost a finger sawing the wooden beams.”
He huffed a laugh. “You’ve seen all my greatest, stupidest hits, huh?”
“Yeah.” She did that sweet nose wrinkling thing he loved before adding, “My favorite currently is that time you went skinny dipping and—”
“We don’t speak of that!” Clark stumbled over the threshold to the sound of her twinkling laughter. Slamming the door shut with his boot, he breathed a sigh of relief when the warm air began to bring some life back into his cheeks and hands.
After jogging down the steps into the sunken living room, he carefully deposited Nelly on her feet. He couldn’t resist cupping her cheeks and tilting her head back so he could look into her eyes when he asked, “So you know everything about me now, huh?”
“Does that bother you?”
His thumbs stroked the curves of her cheeks, sweeping back and forth to bring some warmth into her chilled skin. “No, sugar,” he answered. “It’s a relief, actually.”
Nelly’s eyes sparkled in the low light. “Yeah? Why’s that?”
