Something flickers across his face. Possession, maybe. Or surrender.
“Then you keep me,” he murmurs. “You hear me, darlin’? You keep me. I’ll be your protector.”
My throat tightens. “Knox…”
He kisses me again, quick and hungry, like he needs to anchor it into bone.
Gray’s voice cuts through. “Sutton. Let’s go.”
Knox guides me into his truck like it’s an altar and a bunker at the same time.
The door shuts.
The locks click.
And I start shaking.
Not from cold.
From the aftermath.
Knox turns toward me, reaching like it’s instinct now. “Hey. Look at me.”
I do.
His eyes are wrecked. Controlled, but wrecked.
“You’re here,” he tells me. “You’re with me.”
I swallow, throat raw. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
His hand slides to the back of my neck, steady. “That’s never gonna happen. You’re not leaving my sight again.”
The way he says it makes something in my chest go soft and scared.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“For what?” His brows knit.
“For leaving. For believing him. For walking away from you.”
Something breaks across his face for half a second.
Then he presses his forehead to mine. “Darlin’, stop apologizing.”
A sound leaves me that might be a sob.
He kisses me again, slower this time. Not frantic. Claiming. Real.
When he pulls back, his voice is rough. “We’re going back to the cabin.”
My breath catches.
He watches me, always reading. “If you want.”
“I want you,” I say immediately.
His jaw flexes. “Yeah?”
