“You’re not.”
“But I am,” he whispered. The way his voice cracked shattered my heart. I pulled back, taking hold of his face and forcing him to look at me. That drowned expression in his pretty eyes was overwhelming. I hated seeing what he’d become. He deserved better than the broken version of himself that the world had carved him into.
“You’re not alone, Harley,” I repeated, soft and gentle. My forehead tipped against his as he trembled under my hands.
The storm rumbled overhead, drifting in closer in a quiet cascade of thunder. Despite the growing darkness, neither of us moved. Rain fell harder. Drops slid down his pretty face and caught on his long lashes. He looked wrecked, like the weight of everything he’d been carrying had finally cracked something open inside him.
“I need you to… stop looking at me like that,” he whispered.
“Like what?” I asked, though I knew. I knew what I was thinking as I dragged the pad of my thumb over his bottom lip. It was so damn easy to fall back into this with him.Too easy.
“Please, Mav…” Harley said, his breath catching in his throat. “You once told me that you respected my decisions but asked that I respect yours… I need you to not, Mav.”
The words should’ve been enough to stop me. Once upon a time, I would’ve stepped back without hesitation. I would’ve respected the boundary he laid down without question.
But this was different. This was us standing on the precipice of something life-changing.
Stepping back wasn’t an option anymore.
“Why?” I pushed him. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I did. I wanted to know what he’d say.
“Please…” His voice was barely audible as those blue eyes collided with mine, a million fractured emotions building within them. I waited. I didn’t push it and just silently hoped to hell he’d find his way back to me. “Because I want to kiss you.”
The confession settled between us like a spark just waiting for the chance to explode. Everything inside me stilled. Six years of distance, of anger, of regret, of missing him more than I’d ever admit aloud had led to this.
We teetered on the edge of something dangerous—something that carried the potential to destroy us all over again. But thewhat-ifhung there too. What if we didn’t pull away? What if we did give ourselves a chance all over again?
What if we were meant for this?
I watched the careful expressions shift on his face as he braced for the backlash. Whatever my response was, it’d change everything between us.
For a fraction of a second, I just stared at him. I memorized the way his eyes searched mine, the way his breath stuttered in his chest, the way his lips parted slightly.
And suddenly there was no choice. The answer was obvious, hanging right there between us, just waiting to be taken.
“Then kiss me, princess.”
CHAPTER 58
maverick
The first touch of his mouth against mine was almost hesitant, as if testing the conviction of my words. Everything slowed—the wind, the rain, my heart. Harley’s lips were warm, despite the cold around us. The familiarity hit me in a wave of memories clawing their way back to the surface. My hand tightened around the back of his neck before I even realized I’d moved, afraid that he might pull away before I could be sure this was real.
Something inside me broke. All the restraint I’d been clinging to collapsed in an instant. I kissed him harder and deeper, trying to make up for every second we’d lost in six years. Things I didn’t know we needed to make up for. The storm roared over us, but I barely heard it over the blood pounding in my ears and the way Harley breathed my name against my lips repeatedly.
It was blissful destruction, tearing through all the doubts and fears I’d had about us.
His hands found my face, gripping my cheeks in a heated touch that scorched my skin, as he pushed me toward the house. I went willingly, my boots stumbling backward over the slick patio stones, until my back hit the solid wood of the back door with a jarring thud. He didn’t give me a chance to recover as his body crowded mine, pressing me flat against the unyielding surface.
“Mav,” Harley rasped before his mouth crashed into mine once more. It wasn’t gentle or questioning. It was hot and demanding, full of a need that mirrored my own. His tongue pushed past my lips in an explosion of sugar and coffee. I groaned and grabbed the waistband of his jeans to drag his body as close as I possibly could. Any amount of distance between us was too much. My dick strained against the zipper of my jeans as his hips rolled against mine with the kind of urgency that only six years apart could breed.
We were all hands, teeth, and tongues as we made out against the wall, both of us desperate and chasing the high of being together again. My body was a live wire. Every touch and every kiss threatened to undo me.
Harley broke the kiss, his forehead resting against mine as his eyes squeezed shut. Droplets of water from his hair slid down my skin in a cold path while I watched the conflicted expressions cross his pretty face. Confusion, worry, fear… and something I couldn’t quite put a name to.
Was he already regretting this? Regretting me?
“Hey, we don’t have to,” I whispered, trying to soothe whatever was plaguing him. I could walk away—at least, I told myself I could. It’d kill a part of me to do so, but I’d do it. I’d rather he be all in than regret me. “We—”
