Tears fall down my cheeks, and I wonder how my body has any left to shed.
"All these years I felt like the only thing I've ever wanted was revenge," I tell him. "That's it. It was all I could see. But then today I thought I'd lost you, and my world crashed. That was the worst pain I'd ever felt. Worse than losing my mom. You know why?"
Captain leans in, kissing one of my tears. "No, kitten. Why?"
"`Cause I was happy. I don't think I've truly been happy until I was with you. You made me light up inside. Made the real me come out. No walls or mask. I could just be me, and I knew you loved the real me. Faults and all. I'd never had that before. Someone who would do anything for me without a thought for themselves, and then I thought it was gone. All a lie."
"Kitten." The word comes out pained.
"But I saw you tonight. Heard the words you said to my father. You said you'd do anything for me. I'd do anything for you, too. I love you more than anything. I don't think I can breathe without it," I admit. When he was gone, the walls had started to close in.
"No more secrets, no more lies," he says. Everything is out in the open now. All of it.
I throw myself into his arms so hard that it topples him onto the floor. His lips connect with mine as he rolls us over so that I'm under him. He puts his weight on me, and it's a welcome pressure. The knowledge that he's here with me and that I'm safe allows all the years of worry and sadness to leave me. It's like he's chased away all my demons and I have a new beginning.
His lips are fierce and demanding as I give him what he wants. The kiss is desperate, and we cling together as if it's been years since we've held each other.
"I love you," I whisper through kisses, and his mouth echoes the same. The three words are repeated like a chant over and over in the space that separates our lips. With every syllable, we are one step closer to leaving our ghosts behind and righting the wrongs between us.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ryan
"NAKED. Now," I growl against her mouth, and start tearing at her clothes. I hear the sound of cloth ripping, but I can't be bothered to slow down and check.
Everything is in the open, and we've both come clean. Now I need to bind us together to seal this deal. I want inside of her more than I want air in my lungs. She fists my shirt, and I lean back to let her pull it off me. I've pushed her hoodie off her and torn her sports bra away. She kicks off her leggings, and I open the front of my pants, pulling out my steel-hard cock, throbbing with need. She looks down at it and widens her thighs for me, moving her ankles around my waist. The aggressive look in her eyes has me wild with lust. In a flip of a switch, she's gone from tender, sweet kissing to wild passion, and I'm right there with her. We've made sweet love, and it's earth-shatteringly beautiful. But right now we need to reconnect, and our primal needs are the loudest voices in the room.
There's a perfectly good bed right beside us, but we don't have time for that.
I push her legs off my hips and move quickly down to her pussy. I give her one long lick before moving back and lining up my cock with her opening. I want the smell and taste of her on me as I take her. I thrust fully into her in one hard stroke, and her nails dig into my shoulders as she cries out in pleasure.
I blanket my body over hers, giving her some of my weight. The flavor of her pussy on my tongue makes me act savage as I grunt on top of her. Her hips move in time with mine, our wild lust fueling the need. She moans my name, and she doesn't take her gaze from mine as she rakes her nails down my back.
Taking her mouth, I let the flavor of her desire pass between us, and it ratchets up my need for her. I slip my arms around her back and hold her closer to me as I thrust. With Paige, it's always like the first time, given how perfect she feels. I can't ever get close enough, but I keep trying. Moving inside her deeper and harder, feeling her clench around me. Our passion is building and it's going to break me in two when we finally explode.
I've waited so long to have her like this. To have no secrets and both of us truly exposed. It makes every kiss sweeter, every touch more tender, and my want for her that much stronger. Everything that happened led us to this, and I wouldn't change a thing. The feel of her under me is raw and real. I've never experienced a connection so strong that it literally brought me to my knees. But Paige does that to me. She has me wrapped around her finger, and one look can bend me to her will. One day she will understand the power she holds over me, but until then, I'll try every day to show her. To let her see what she does to me, and that I will never, ever stop fighting for her.
"Ryan," she breathes against my lips, and I feel her shudder under me.