Page 118 of Shelter
And when he said that, I never wanted to leave his sight. Where else would be better? I didn’t just kiss him. I crashed into him. Hell, it might have even hurt, but I was terrified. And I was on fire. And it felt like some fickle force in the universe would have exacted revenge if I dared to walk away from him now.
Not that I could.
I kissed Cole with everything I had and then some. I wanted him with me. Around me. On me. In me. And I felt like I’d done all the waiting I’d ever be able to do.
Chapter 26
COLE
The heat of her mouth was all I knew for a long, drunken moment. I lapped… savored… explored… worshipped. I wanted to taste my fill, but I knew that might take decades. Now that I had cast aside all reason, all temperance, the rest of my control gave way. Because this was her kiss, freely given to me. It was forgiveness and welcome and conflagration all at once.
I burned for her. From head to toe my body was aflame, and the places we touched — her breasts pressed against me, her slender torso in the circle of my arms, the tangle of her hair through my fingers — blazed like a wildfire.
In this kiss, her kiss, I had the sudden and holy notion that my life was being given back to me. And I wanted to claim it.
At the edges of my mind, I knew exactly where we were — on the couch in my new home. A home I shared with my sister. And I knew that my Elise would suffocate in shame if Ava found us this way. Hooking one arm beneath her knees and keeping the other low along her back, I stood with her, cradling her against my chest.
The protest I knew she’d raise broke between our lips. “Mmm… wh-what are you doing?” she murmured, and I gave thanks her words sounded as lazy and soaked in bliss as my own thoughts.
I cleared the L of the sectional before whispering. “Stealing you.”
A giggle escaped her lips before I claimed them again, but then her spine stiffened in my arms. “But Ava—” she gasped.
“Will congratulate herself,” I assured. I had no doubt of this, yet Elise’s response still surprised me.
“You’re probably right.”
I carried her through the kitchen and down the darkened hall on the other side of the house. As we crossed the threshold of my room, I already regretted the need to set her down. Carrying her in my arms suddenly seemed to be the solution to any problem.
With my shoulder, I nudged the door closed until it sealed with hushedclick.I dipped Elise’s knees just long enough for my left hand to clasp the lock on the knob and turn it home. I righted her again, but I made no move to take her deeper into the room.
The lamp on my bedside cast a soft glow over the space, but all I saw was Elise. She gazed up at me, questions, apprehensions, and — thank God — heated intentions swimming in those amber pools. I knew I needed to conquer the first two before I explored the third.
“You’re safe with me.”
Unblinking, she tilted her chin down, up. “I know that.” But her expression remained unchanged.
“I’d never hurt you. Now or ever.” One of the fears I’d left unexamined with Elise’s return to my life was if she’d ever worry that I had grown up to become like my father. She’d known me to be given to violence when we were kids. Hell, the first time we met, I’d come straight from a schoolyard fight. Would she ever trust my self-control?
Her eyes narrowed on me. “You mean physically?” she asked, frowning. “Cole, don’t be ridiculous.”
My shoulders slackened at her words, and I hugged her tighter against me. But I wasn’t finished. “You know I wouldn’t take anything from you that you didn’t want to give, right?”
Her lovely brow arched and a sassy smile curved her luscious mouth. “Like I’d let you.”
Laughter shook from me, rocking her in my arms. This was my Elise. The bravado, the show of fearlessness. Two of a million things that made her completely irresistible. But even behind her mettle, the questions and apprehensions remained.
“What is it?” I finally begged.
Her gaze softened, and as tiny as Elise felt in my embrace, she somehow looked even smaller, showing me a side of her that was completely foreign to me. This Elise was vulnerable. She needed protection and vigilance, but — I suddenly understood — not against a physical threat.
“Elise, I’m not going anywhere,” I vowed. She watched me, her expression unchanging, unswayed. I pressed my lips to her forehead, kissing her there before dropping to her mouth. Her lips were velvet soft, yielding to me despite her doubts. If it would have reassured her, I would have stood there, cradling and kissing her, until the sun rose.
I drew back and met her relentless gaze. “Let me be clear. I’ve asked you to stay the weekend, but the invitation has no expiration date. When we part — for an hour or a day — it will be because you have chosen to leave and not take me with you.”
That made her blink, and I congratulated myself on chipping away at her hesitation, if not breaking it down altogether.
“You’d…”
