He motions with his chin to the living room. “I have something to show you, Sunshine.”
I lift a brow. “Oh?”
He takes my hand before tugging me along and leading me to the back sliding door. He opens it, revealing a cute little yellow tent pitched in the backyard.
I gasp, excitement bursting through me. “Where did you get that?”
He smiles affectionately. “While we were out, I had Atlas bring me to a camping supply store. It isn’t Montana, but I wanted to give you a little piece of home. How does sleeping under the stars sound?”
I fling my arms around his neck before smashing my lips to his. He makes a surprised sound before circling his arms around my waist and tugging me closer.
“I take it that you like it,” he chuckles.
“I love it,” I gush before tugging him up the stairs. “Let’s get ready!”
He follows behind me, cheesing so hard his cheeks must be hurting as we prepare to camp out under the stars. An hour later, and we’re lying on our sleeping bags outside the tent’s opening. Rowan built a makeshift fire pit before starting a small flame for us. I rest my head on his bicep and curl up into his side as we stare out at the infinite galaxy above.
“Tell me about your dad,” I say quietly.
He clears his throat before the awkwardness of my statement washes over us, and we both chuckle.
“Of all the things I expect to come out of that mouth…” he muses.
I slap a playful hand over his chest. “If you prefer my attitude, I can arrange that.”
He shakes his head before our laughter settles, and hesighs. “He wasn’t a good person. He started my training when I was only eight. The first test I ever underwent was starvation. He put me in the interrogation shed for three days and didn’t check on me once. While I was writhing with unbearable hunger, I had the realization that my life wasn’t like other kids. I knew what my parents were, but their title had never affected me until that moment. Maybe it was the hollow sensation in my stomach, or the sleep deprivation, but somehow I knew my life was going to change after those three days. I knew I had to be strong if I wanted to survive. Atlas and Thalia were too little to start their training, but I got a good three years into mine before Atlas joined me. By then, I had started picking up on what my father considered ‘obedience’. Atlas struggled a lot with learning the ropes in the beginning. He was falling behind, and Jack was growing angrier by the day. He didn’t tolerate failure, and I knew I had to do something before he hurt my only brother. So, I acted out. I would sneak food from the kitchen in great quantities to make it noticeable. I would laugh anytime Dad would scold me until he was seething with so much rage that I feared for my own life. I did everything I could to take my brother’s pain away…” his voice cracks with emotion, and I feel the bridge of my nose sting with unshed tears. “When Thalia joined us, I had gotten so good at being numb to the torture. When I was with them, I was all smiles, but the moment Jack closed me in the shed’s hatch…”
A tear slips, tracking down my cheek as I sniffle. The pain he suffered all for the sake of making sure his siblings were safe is something no child should ever face. He lost his whole childhood because of thosemonsters.
“Hey, Sunshine,” he says gently as he wipes at my cheeks. “No crying over the past. It was a long time ago—”
“But it still happened to you, Rowan.” I press as I rise onto my elbow so I can see his face. The campfire’s light dances across his strong features, lighting him in an orange glow. My heart swells with something overwhelming as I hold my ground. “You can’t expect me not to shed tears over whathappened to you. You were akid. You shouldn’t have had to face that alone.”
He gives me a soft smile, the weight of a thousand lifetimes behind his stormy eyes. “My sunshine girl. I would do it all again if it led me back here to you.”
My lips part as a low gasp leaves me. Heat spreads through my cheeks as my heart slams in my chest. He cups my face, giving me an expression so full of warmth and devotion that it renders me utterly speechless.
“You’ve seen all of my nasty scars,” he whispers. “I was so scared of you seeing them, then looking at me differently, but you aren’t. You still look like you’re falling irrevocably in love with me.”
“Rowan,” I mumble in a prayer.
“Shhh,” he coos, leaning close until our foreheads touch. “Let us have this. Let me be selfish with you, my sunshine girl.”
I swallow and nod. “Why do you call me Sunshine?”
He chuckles deeply, the sound going straight to my bones and settling into the fiber of my being. “Because when I’m with you, there is no darkness. You take it all away, and that’s why I can’t let you go. I’ve never felt so connected to someone in my whole life…”
His speaking it out loud is like the inevitable being cemented between us. It’s a little frightening just how strongly I feel for this person despite only knowing him for a week, but it’s also exciting and fresh. This whole new life I’ve been introduced to has been like living a dream. It isn’t the future I imagined for myself. It’s far better.
“I know how you feel,” watery laughter leaves me. “We’re insane.”
“Most likely,” he chuckles. “But I wouldn’t trade any of it, Sunshine.”
“Neither would I,” I whisper before my lips find his and we share a slow kiss that’s binding—like a promise of what’s to come for us.
Rowan’s hand curls around my waist as his tonguesweeps over mine. I lift my leg and toss it over his hip as he growls into my mouth. His hand reaches between us before he collars my throat tightly, and he pulls me over him.
He rolls onto his back as I straddle his hips and place my hands on his chest to steady myself. His hard cock grinds into my core from below, and I gasp as his fingers bite into my hips.
