Page 51 of Their Stormy Reunion

I wanted to say yes. I knew she needed me to say yes. My fingers tightened around hers, willing her to stay with me, even with what I was about to say.

“I’m still not sure what made me do it,” I said at last. “All I knew at the time, is it seemed like the most important thing in the world to save you from me. To get you as far away from me as possible.”

“Do you still feel like that?”

“No!” The word burst out of me. “This time I can tell you straight that I know I want us to be together, that I want us to last forever. I love you so much, I ache.”

Fallon rubbed her thumb over the back of my hand. “But you still don’t know why you thought I was better off without you before?”

I shook my head, scared shitless because I knew what she was going to say next.

“If you didn’t know why you threw me away last time, what’s to stop you from doing it again, Michael?”

I untangled our fingers and lifted my hand to cup her cheek. “Because I’ve lived nine years without you, and every single day was hell. I can’t stand the idea of ever being without you again.”

Chapter Fifteen

I closed my eyes and nuzzled my cheek into the palm of his hand.

“Fallon?”

I opened my eyes and saw him watching me. I hadn’t imagined everything he’d said to me on the way to the hospital. He did love me.

My Michael loves me.

Tomorrow would be soon enough to try to untangle everything else, but tonight I wanted to bask in his love and be held by him. Have him touch me again… the way he used to, and not have it just be a dream.

“Kiss me.” It wasn’t a request, it was a demand.

Michael slid his hands into my hair and tilted my head. I watched in suspense as his head lowered and I felt the first brush of his lips against mine. It was just a tease, or perhaps it was just a hesitant hello. Whatever it was, it wasn’t enough. I pressed up, opening my mouth in welcome, and that was all it took. Michael ripped off the blankets covering me, and swept me up, then he settled me back down so that I found myself lying flat, looking up at his hungry gaze. Somehow, he still managed to put my injured foot up on the pillow. He was such a Boy Scout.

“Hello, Sunshine,” he murmured. His mouth crashed on mine, and a world of color rushed in, bursting through all my defenses, reminding me of what life had been like and what it could be like again.

Lips, tongues, and teeth collided in a frantic effort to get closer.

To taste.

To lick.

To bite.

Michael was driving me insane with his voracious need. I needed to touch him. I felt the skin of his back beneath my fingers, then felt his palm on my naked breast.

I moaned with pleasure against his lips.

He lifted his mouth from mine. “Quiet, Baby.”

I dug my fingers into his scalp, forcing him back to my lips. Damn, my man could kiss. He tasted of peaches, mint and a flavor that was all his own, and I felt it right between my legs. The man had better be ready to deliver the goods, otherwise I was going to kill him.

Michael bit my lower lip as if he could pluck my thoughts from my head and was punishing me for them. Then he licked away the little bit of pain, and I realized he was playing with me. I snuck my fingers further up his t-shirt, glorying in the freedom to finally touch his body. But it still wasn’t enough, and I whined.

He lifted his head again. “What?”

“Take off your shirt.”

He pushed into a sitting position, then whipped his shirt over his head and threw it on the floor. He looked across the room, then got up off the bed, walked over to the bedroom door, and turned the lock.

“Your mom never knocks.” He answered my unasked question.