The covers mumbled, “Is he gone?”
“Yeah, sweetheart, he is.”
The covers slowly lowered. Delaney turned to peer at him. “I’m not afraid of your touch.”
She’d gone molten beneath his hands. Certainly hadn’t felt like fear.
“I don’t respond the same way to other people that I do to you.” A stark confession from her.
Good. I don’t want you ever responding like that to anyone but me. “Same,” he said. It was true. He’d never wanted anyone the way he wanted her.
Nash could feel her eyes on him. “You should get some sleep,” he said. “0600 isn’t far away. You need to rest up before we put on the big show.”
The covers rustled. He grabbed a sheet. Part of the comforter. Hauled them over his body.
“Nash…you didn’t…”
“No, I didn’t.” His dick was heavy and aching, and he would love nothing more than to drive into her and erupt. To feel her tight heat clenching around him as he pounded his way to paradise.
But this time was going to be different. He was going to be different. This time with Delaney wasn’t about a quick fuck. It was about forever.
“Do you want to?” Soft. Husky.
The hell, yes. He pulled in a breath. “I will want you until I die.”
“Then…why…?”
Why was he holding back? Clinging to his self-control with bare-knuckled desperation? Excellent question.
“Why did you leave me?” Delaney asked. “If you still want me, if you wanted me then, why did you throw us away?”
Fuck. The million-dollar question. A secret he’d buried. And if he opened his mouth, if he revealed all to her now, it would hurt her more. He didn’t want to hurt Delaney any more than she’d already been hurt.
Bullshit. You’re just afraid if she hears the full truth, she’ll run from you. Open your damn mouth and tell her. Tell her.
The silence had stretched too long. He knew it. Could feel it ticking past as he tried to find the right words. But there were no right words in this situation.
“I will never, ever throw you away,” he swore softly. “I plan to stay by your side. I will help apprehend Wellington. I am not going to leave him out there. I will not let him hurt you.” A promise that he meant to the depths of his soul. “I…” Fuck. “I missed you.” Even softer. “I thought about you every single day.” The nights had been the worst. How many times had he reached for her, but Delaney had not been there? “I want another chance.” There. Done. Said. “I can prove that I won’t ever let you down again. I can prove that I am the man you need now.” No threats would take him away. He wouldn’t be forced from her side again.
But she said nothing.
His heart seemed to squeeze in his chest. “Delaney?” Her breathing had changed. Softer. Steadier. He didn’t move at all as he strained to listen to her, and Nash realized that she’d fallen asleep in their bed. He’d waited too long to speak.
He angled his body closer to hers. “I didn’t want to leave you.” Whispered. “It was like cutting out my own heart. But lives were on the line. People would have gotten hurt. Killed.” Back then, he hadn’t possessed enough power to fight back. Now, he did. Now, he’d fight like hell and never, ever stop. “I watched you over the years. I had to find you. Just see you every now and then. And when I’d see you with another man, it took all of me not to annihilate the bastard.” What did that say about him?
That I could never fully let go. That I always thought of Delaney as mine.
He still thought of her that way.
He wanted to reach out and touch her, but Delaney needed her rest. The coming days would not be easy, but he would get her through them. They would stop Wellington.
And Nash would finally marry the woman of his dreams.
Even if the wedding was just pretend.
Chapter Fourteen
Jacob and Lowell had not checked in. Kurt should have gotten a call or a text from those two idiots hours ago, but there had been nothing.
