Page 68 of Run

The thing that’d struck him the hardest as he spoke was the knowledge that he wouldn’t survive losing Elle. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever truly loved Celeste. He’d felt affection for her, sure, and enjoyed being with her. But love…

Whereas he very much suspected he was falling deeply in love with the woman in front of him. She’d become as essential to him as water. As air. With every shared breath, every touch, her presence seeped into him. They were intertwined now. She didn’t only occupy a place within him that could be ripped out. She was in every cell of his body.

He feared there would be no David without Elle. And if she was taken from him, if she died, the world would turn bloody with his grief before he joined her.

“I’d very much like you to kiss me now,” she whispered.

He couldn’t help but smile as he gave her a line from one of her favorite movies: “As you wish.”

His hand moved from her chest to her face, cradling her cheek as she closed the scant distance between them. Her lips were as soft as satin and tasted of tears. There were no words to comfort her. None he could give anyway. All he could do was show her she wasn’t alone. For her, he’d live up to the knight in his name by doing everything he could to spare her pain, to vanquish her enemies, to prove his adoration.

Their kiss was a gentle joining, a languorous exploration. Two people losing themselves in each other, giving up more of themselves with every touch. It was the kind of kiss that left only longing behind when it ended, which was always far too soon.

As they slowly separated, Elle’s eyes opened with effort, as though her eyelids were too heavy. She blinked at him, and he watched their color shift from blue to gray to lavender in the light. Extraordinary eyes on a woman who more than lived up to them.

“I don’t want to stop,” she confessed.

“I don’t want to either, but you’ve had an emotional day, and I’d hate for you to do something you might regret.”

“Idiot,” she whispered. “This isn’t a spontaneous decision. I’ve been trying to get you into bed for years. I know the timing isn’t perfect, but I…I need to feel…alive. I need to feel something good, something real.” Her shoulders moved in a tiny shrug. “I need you,” she said, as though that explained it all.

“You humble me,” he told her.

“I don’t mean to.” Her brow furrowed slightly as she tried to figure out what he was telling her.

David didn’t need her to understand. All he knew was that Elle was laying herself bare before him. Allowing herself to be vulnerable because she saw the reward as too great not to risk everything. It was a gift he would always cherish—that this remarkable woman wanted a broken soldier such as him.

“As long as I’m able,” he vowed, “I will always do my best to give you what you need.”

The way her eyes softened, darkened, made his chest swell with pride.

His.

More importantly, he was hers. Always hers.

He was so lost in her that he couldn’t see an exit. He didn’t know when it had happened, and he hadn’t recognized the feelings when they’d hit him. But he knew them now. He was madly in love with Elle Roberts.

“You’ll need to be quiet, Ellie Blue,” he said. “The house is full, and unlike your teammates, I want what’s between us to be only for us.”

“I can be quiet.” She frowned. “I think. I hope. How about we see how this goes?”

With a chuckle, David rolled Elle onto her back and leaned over her. “You’re too damn adorable for your own good.” He brushed back her blue hair from her tear-stained face.

“And very horny, so less talking and more moving.”

His lips twitched again before he grew serious. “I’m clean, Elle. I promise I’d never lie about something that would harm you.”

It took a second for her to catch his meaning. “I know you wouldn’t. I’m clean, too, and on the pill. Now, can we stop chatting?”

“As you wish,” he said again as his hand slipped between the mattress and the small of her back.

He pulled her to him, their bodies flush against each other as he nuzzled the crook of her neck, breathing deep. Sherbet-scented Elle.Delicious. He ran his tongue up the side of her throat to nibble on her earlobe, hearing her gasp as she pulled him closer. Her soft, full breasts pressed against his chest, making him want nothing but skin between them.

Patience.

He’d waited so long to have his hands on Elle, and he wasn’t about to rush it.

Swirling his tongue around the shell of her ear, he pushed up her shirt until it sat just under her breasts. She moaned in frustration. David smiled as he caressed her smooth, soft stomach while whispering against her ear, “I’m going to make you desperate for me, Blue.”