“I wanted you all to myself,” Riley admitted. “Sneaking around… it was exciting. Thrilling. I loved the way you looked at me. I’d never had that before. And I guess—” She bit her lip again, searching for the words. “—I didn’t want to do anything that would change that.” She let out a ragged breath. “And, truthfully even more than that, I worried that if we fell apart, if everyone knew, then I would lose my new home. Everyone would rally around you, and I would be the outsider.”
Riley reached out to rest a hand on his arm, and now he knew he could feel her Shadows drifting around his.
“I let my fears drive a wedge between us,” she admitted. “I’m starting to realize that I probably did that a lot.”
James didn’t even know where to start. “I wasn’t going to move on. I’m not good at this, but I know….” He swallowed, desperate to reach for her but not sure if he should. “My Shadows chose you.Ichose you. All I ever wanted was to be with you.”
Riley looked at him, her gaze so clear and open that it almost hurt to look at. “That’s what I realized,” she murmured. “I heard you talking to Elizabeth earlier”—he winced and she rushed to continue—“it made me see the truth. You’ve been telling me all along that I was important to you, I just didn’t understand…. And I never made it clear enough thatyouare important tome.”
She lifted her free hand to his chest, and warmth spread out from her fingers, through his skin, all the way down to his heart.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, settling his hand over hers, holding it there. “I did everything wrong. Supporting Gordon. Hiding things. Lying. Not trying to get back to you as soon as I was able…. I regret it more than I can tell you.”
She shook her head roughly. “You’ve apologized enough, James. I forgive you. And I’m sorry that you went through all of that alone.” She smiled, although it was a little wobbly, her eyes shining too brightly.
“What are you saying?” he asked quietly, hardly daring to breathe.
“I want to try again. Can we do that? With no more secrets. Just our real selves?”
“Yes. God. Please.” He moved then, daring to run his palms up to her shoulders and thread his fingers through the soft curls of her hair.
She didn’t pull back. She didn’t run away. Instead, she leaned forward. “Can I kiss you, James?”
He didn’t waste time with a reply. He simply pressed his lips to hers.
Their kiss started gently. They sipped at each other, comforting each other, taking their time. It was like their first kiss over again. Except this time, she already knew his darkest fears. It was like sunlight shining into his soul.
Riley’s body melted into his. So soft and yet so strong. He could drown in her warmth, in her subtle scent, in the feeling of her hands on the nape of his neck, holding him as tight as he held her.
He pulled back slightly, inordinately pleased when she moved closer, kissing him again before he could whisper against her cheek, “I need a moment. The door’s still open.”
She lifted her hand, and a flurry of jade-hued Shadows swirled toward the door. It slammed closed, her Shadows pouring into the lock, and he heard a distinct click. Riley twisted her fingers, her smile growing smug as a screen of ivy climbed the wall and over the door, sealing them in. “Not anymore,” she whispered.
“Fuck, you’re amazing.” James stared down at her, telling himself that this was real. Thatshewas real. In this last moment before they faced the man who had stolen so much already, Riley was offering him the most precious gift of all. Herself.
He slid his hands to her cheeks, cupping her face as he kissed her again. But this time, he let his need for her rise up, growing harder, more desperate. He poured all his love, all his yearning, into their connection.
Riley was his home. She was everything.
He kissed a line down her throat, whispering against her skin, “Do you know how many times I wished for you? How much I dreamed of this?”
Riley shivered. “How much?”
“All the time. I closed my eyes and pretended we would be together again.”
She arched her back, her breasts brushing against his chest. His blood pounded through his body in time with her heartbeat beneath his lips.
“I imagined that we would go camping in the Yorkshire Dales, and you’d show me the places you grew up, and then I’d make love to you among the grasses beneath the blue sky,” he whispered. “I would teach you to surf, and afterward we would have to speed back home because I would be so desperate to feel your skin against mine. I’d kiss every part of your body, touch you everywhere. We would finish the day wrapped up in each other and wake side by side. And, in the morning, you would teach me to identify the birds calling out the dawn.”
She chuckled softly. “You’ve thought about this.”
“Every day. Every hour. I missed you so much.”
He closed his mouth over hers again, and she opened for him. Their breaths grew faster as they lost themselves in the smooth glide and sweep of the increasingly heated kiss.
James let his Shadows surge forward, wrapping around her, holding her tight against him. And hers responded. Tendrils of sensation slid over his back, over his buttocks, twining around his legs, surrounding him as the rest of the universe fell away.
Their bodies rocked together in a slow and perfect dance. Their music was the rough gasp of their breaths and the rasp of his palm over her soft skin. His moan as she ground against his growing erection, sending sparks of sensation through his abdomen. Her sigh as he pulled her even closer.
