Nowhere to Hide(106)

Lia slid her fingers through his short hair. Cav’s face looked so different, so relaxed. “Me too,” she said, her voice wispy sounding. “I never realized it could be this good, Cav. Did you?”

He shook his head, awe in his deep, gruff tone. “No, baby, I didn’t.” He slid his fingers through the curls sticking to the dampness of her brow, pushing them above her hairline. “But it’s you, you know? Us. We’re good together. I always knew we would be.” He kissed the tip of her nose, watching as she grinned with delight.

“You just had to work me up and over that fear of my scar, was all,” she pointed out archly.

He heard the humor in her low, smoky voice and continuing to feather his fingers across her scalp, seeing that she enjoyed it. “We all have hurdles, Lia. Every last one of us.”

“You looked so whole and confident to me when I’d met you, Cav.”

A sound rumbled through his chest, his grin deepening. “That’s because I’d worked through some of my hurdles a little earlier than you did, was all.” His voice deepened with emotion. “You need to know, Lia, that you’ve been healing me ever since we met. I had wounds that were still open and when I was around you, they began to heal.” He kissed her mouth tenderly, easing inches from her wet lips and rasped, “You’ve helped me so much and I don’t think you ever realized what you’ve been doing for me all along.”

“Oh, Cav…no, I didn’t realize it…”

“You do now, baby. We’re slowly healing one another over time. We’ve entrusted ourselves to each other.”

Sighing, she framed his sweaty face, lost in the happiness in his gaze. “Thank you for helping me with that last one…”

“That’s what love is about—helping one another, offering a hand, and wanting to see your mate grow and be happy.” Cav pressed his mouth to her brow, her cheek and then slowly captured her willing mouth beneath his.

Wanting to kiss her with all the love he held in his heart for her, Cav pushed his hips forward to show that he was here for her as long as she wanted him.

As he left her lips, he opened his eyes, holding her glistening gaze. “You’ve done the same for me, Lia. I wanted you to walk free, baby. To be able to be who you really are, not what had happened to you. You’ll never forget that event, but now it no longer holds its former power over you. You had the courage to destroy its power. I wish you could see, from my eyes, how much you’ve grown since we met.”

Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, her lower lip trembling as she caressed his face, never wanting this moment to end. “You loved me enough to be patient.”

“That’s true,” he murmured, moving his thumbs across her cheeks, removing her warm tears. Cav silently celebrated that Lia wasn’t trying to stop from crying this time. He knew how sensitive and vulnerable she was, and reveled in her latest positive step. “I like you open like this,” he growled against her cheek. “Never stop being yourself. I saw who you were, Lia. I fell in love with that woman. And she’s incredibly beautiful, whole and perfect for me. And she always will be.”

Lia was warm. Moving up through the delicious layers of sleep, almost to the edge of wakefulness, she smiled, cuddling into Cav’s body wrapped around hers. The sense of love, of being fully protected, flowed through her. Joy was on its heels as she nuzzled beneath his jaw, absorbing the hard, tensile warmth of his chest, his hair tickling her nose.

Her other hand was draped across his narrow waist. Her one leg was entangled with his, drawing her as close as she could be against his hips. Feeling his erection thickening against her soft belly, she sighed, remembering the other two times that they’d awakened and made urgent, hungry love with one another. Each time it was better and better.

Lia was still floating in that cloud of absolute pleasure she hadn’t know existed until Cav had taken her there with his hands, mouth and body.

Now? Now she knew what real love was. It was more than the physical. It consumed her on every level. She felt so whole right now, more than at any other time during her life. And it was because of Cav, his love for her overlaying her own for him. Her heart dwelled on them as a couple. They had both been terribly wounded. Cav had walked a much harder road than she had as far as Lia was concerned. And he’d had the inner strength and desire to break free of it and become the man who lay in her arms this morning. His courage made tears come to her closed eyes.

Cav had turned around, recognizing her own imprisonment by the past, and miraculously helped her to break free and clear of it.