Hot Protector(84)

“I think so.”

He held the robe open and she got out of bed, slipping her arms into the robe and then turning and belting it tight. When she met his gaze again, his eyes glittered with heat.

“Damn,” he said. “Didn’t think helping you into a robe would give me a hard-on, but it definitely does.”

She reached out and put her hand on his chest. He was warm and solid. “I like this, Chase, this playfulness between us. But I have to know what you’re thinking about us. About this.”

“I’m thinking I’ve never felt as alone as I did last night when I watched you walk away from me. And then I’m thinking I’ve never been as scared as when they took you. I would have taken a bullet for you, Sophie. I would have done anything to stop them from hurting you, to prevent you from going through even a moment of terror.”

She cried out and clutched his shirt with both hands then. “Don’t you ever think I’d want you to take a bullet to stop me from being scared. I’d rather be scared, I’d rather know you were still out there, still breathing, still coming for me even while I was afraid for my life than think for even a second that you’d sacrificed yourself to prevent that from happening.”

He tugged her into his arms and held her hard against him then. “Sophie,” he whispered, his lips against her hair. “Goddamn, baby, you kill me. I don’t fucking deserve you.”

She wrapped her arms around him, held him tight. “I… I care so much, Chase. So much it hurts. I can’t stand the idea of your leaving me. Last night, when you said that you could get pussy anywhere—”

“Honey.”

“I nearly died,” she finished. “After everything we’ve been through…”

He rubbed a hand up and down her spine. The other cupped the back of her head and held her against him. “When I didn’t know where you were, I thought I’d fallen into a hole that I would never get out of again.” He took a breath. “A deep, dark hole where nothing good could ever happen. That’s when I knew I couldn’t give you up. That I needed to be with you. Fuck Tyler—and my mom will understand. She’ll have to. And she’ll love you, Sophie… because I do.”





36


Jesus, he couldn’t believe he’d said that—but it was true. He couldn’t imagine what else this could be, this need to be near her, this overwhelming emotion boiling inside him. This thought that he could never be close enough to her, that possessing her wasn’t nearly the limit of what he wanted from her.

She pushed herself back so she could see his face. “You’re serious.”

“Yeah, I’m serious.”

Her smile trembled at the corners. “I think I love you too.”

“Think?”

She sniffed. “No, I know I do—but I keep expecting I’m going to wake up and find out this was all a crazy dream.” Her fingers curled in his shirt. “Please tell me I’m not dreaming.”

He let his fingers skim over her cheek, her jaw, her neckline. He wanted to go further—so much further—but she’d been through a lot recently. Too much to assume she felt well enough for all the things he wanted to do to her.

“You aren’t dreaming, baby. This is as real as it gets.”

She laughed and hauled him close. “Do you have any idea the kinds of things I want to do to you right now?”

“Honey, you have to take it easy. Androv drugged you, and you’re bound to be feeling the effects—”

“Shower with me. Please. I want to touch you, Chase.”

He let her lead him into the bathroom where she untied the robe and slipped it from her shoulders. It fell in a puddle at her feet and his mouth went dry. So fucking beautiful.

His cock swelled, aching with the need to be inside her. Sophie reached into the shower enclosure and turned on the water. And then she attacked his belt, whipping it open and unbuttoning his jeans. He gave in and ripped his T-shirt over his head with one hand, then dropped the garment as she shoved his jeans and underwear down his hips.

His cock sprang free, and she dropped to her knees, grasping it with both hands. Then she looked up at him, her pretty eyes filled with love and desire, and he knew he wouldn’t last very long if she got her mouth on him.

He tried to reach for her, pull her up, but she shook her head. “No, Chase. I want to taste you. I need to taste you.”

Her pink tongue swirled around the head of his cock, and then she took him into her mouth.

Chase groaned. “Baby, no, can’t do it this way. I want to be in you when I come.”

“Give me a minute,” she said, licking the length of him. “Just a minute.”