“I loved her, Vi. She was the only pure thing I had in my life, and she wasn’t the same person after he took what he wanted from her. I knew something was off in her letters, but I didn’t want to believe it, thinking she was just down because of everything with her nan and I was away.”
“I know you loved her more than anything. Every time you talk about her, I can tell. That’s why I stayed. If anyone could help me get to know my mum, it’s you.”
“I did, but not anymore.” I brush the hair back from Vi’s face and hold her between my palms, gazing into her hazel eyes, swelling with sorrow. “It’s you, Vi. You’re the one thing I care about more than anything in this world.”
My lips press against hers, my tongue slipping through the barrier, licking her from roof to lips with long, sensual strokes.
“I care for you, too, Kane.” A tear falls from her lash when she smiles, forcing another tear to gather and hang like a pearl in the corner of her eye. Belle nuzzles between us like she always does when she senses anyone is upset.
Vi giggles and strokes her black and white fur. “I have to get going. It’s late.”
“Stay. Stay with me. You can go back tomorrow. Just stay the night, and we can discuss you moving back in tomorrow.”
She sighs. “If I stay, are you going to sleep in the bed with me?”
My chest tightens. I want to, but there’s a brick wall preventing me from saying yes, not to mention going through with it. “You can’t ask that of me. You know I can’t.”
“All I’m asking is that you try. I don’t want to be alone tonight.”
“And what if I hurt you?”
“You would never hurt me.” She kisses my lips again.
I can’t let her walk out that door. The need to keep her with me is stronger than the need to sleep alone. “All right, petal. You get your wish.”
42
VIOLET
Ishoot a text off to Gareth, telling him I’m staying with a friend. In the bathroom, my toothbrush still sits in the cabinet where I left it. I clean my teeth, then take a quick shower.
With nothing but a towel wrapped around my body, barely meeting, I pad into Kane’s room. The sight of his inked torso sitting up in bed reading Jane Eyre, steals my breath. Butterflies take flight in my stomach and my heart thrums.
I pull back the covers and straddle his naked body. My forehead rests against his, and I quote the words from the book in his hand.
“There is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow creatures, and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort.”
His knuckles graze my cheek. He lifts the book with his other hand and reads a passage.
“Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear. Your mind is my treasure, and if it were broken, it would be my treasure still.”
“I love it when you read to me.”
“I wanted to read what was so damn special about this book.”
“Do you like it?”
He shrugs. “It’s all right, though I prefer science fiction.”
“I like a good sci-fi, too, ones with big blue aliens preferably.” The joke is lost on him, though I think he’d have a comeback if he knew the books I was talking about.
My lips kiss his bewildered face. Then I take the book, freeing his hands, and place it on the bedside cabinet.
“Do you still have the knife under the bed?”
“No, I put it in your old room. Just in case I have a nightmare, but if I lash out, you grab anything you can and hit me with it.”
“You’re really gonna do this for me.”
