a reason to live(68)

“Good. Now go take care of our girl. Doctor says we have to wake her up every few hours to keep an eye on her.”

With a smirk, Shane answered, “I think I can handle that.”

“I have all the faith in you,” Maxine giggled, then kissed him on the cheek and left him to take care of Sage.

When he entered her bedroom, he found Sage looking out the window. He didn’t want her thinking about her stepfather, and he sure as hell didn’t want her at a window where a bullet could find its mark.

Pulling the gun he’d shoved into the back of his jeans, Shane laid it on the nightstand where he could reach it and then moved to the center of the room. “Come away from the window,” he ordered.

Sage startled. She was so focused on the world outside the window she hadn’t heard him enter. Letting the blinds snap shut, she turned to face him.

“He’s out there somewhere. What if he goes after my mother?”

“You let me carry that worry. My shoulders are wider and my back a good deal stronger than yours are. I’ll find him and make him pay, I can promise you that, but he’s not sharing space with us tonight,” Shane answered, reaching out his hand so she would take it. She moved past it and walked right into his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist. He wrapped her up tight, then lowered his mouth to her ear, and announced, “Before we go any further, though, we need to get a few things straight. . .”

Sage leaned her head back and looked up. “Like what? . . .”

***

“Before we go any further, though, we need to get a few things straight,” Shane announced.

“Like what?” I was confused; I thought we’d gotten past his reservations on the river.

“I’m possessive. I don’t like to share,” Shane stated, raising his hand and fisting my hair gently at my nape, tugging until my head tilted back.

“Sorry?”

“I’m not like most men, Sage. I’m not some fuckin’ boy you can lead around with a leash. You need to know that now. I need complete control.”

“Shane, I’m not…I’m not following you.”

“I’m dominant, Sage. If you wanna be with a man like me, you gotta know what that entails. I won’t roll over for a sweet smile, but I can promise you I'll put that smile on your face each day while taking what I need from you, giving back equally in a way you won’t ever regret. And to do that, I have to control my environment.”

It sunk in then. He wanted me to know what kind of man he was before we moved forward. That he was possessive, controlling—dominant. That to be with him, I had to let him lead or it would never work between us.

After years of abuse and the loss of control that went along with it, I’d fought hard to gain it back. A show of dominance like this typically would have made my blood run cold and sent my hackles rising. Had it been any other man than Shane, I would have laughed in his face. Instead, my breasts swelled and my body hummed with sexual tension as the memory of the night we shared filtered through my brain. Maxine was right; I liked to be topped by the right man. I was an independent woman, who, for some reason, enjoyed being taken care of.

How had I not seen that before?

My breathing accelerated as I stared back at Shane, then my eyelids grew hooded and my knees weakened.

“I don’t want a man who rolls over at my every whim. I want a man who rolls in like thunder and possesses me. I need someone who can make my body burn with one look and calm my fears with a strong embrace. I want passion I can still feel between my legs the next morning, with sleepless nights and endless fights. Someone who respects me for me, who will handle me with care, yet let me fly when I need to spread my wings.”

Shane’s eyes smoldered, the gunmetal gray turning stormy with need. “You want a perfect storm?” Shane asked

“Yes. A beautiful storm that leaves me gasping for air, my feet searching for the ground beneath them and love so profound, time stands still in the face of it.”

Shane sucked air into his lungs with a hiss and then slammed his mouth over mine, sealing our fate.

He moved forward, tightening his hold on my hair until my back slammed into the wall. I neither felt the sharp pain in the back of my bruised head nor cared.

I’d fisted his shirt in my hands, keeping him close as our tongues melded together and danced. He deepened the kiss, his hunger as wild as mine, flaring like a fever that couldn’t be quenched. Ripping his mouth from mine, he tugged my head back further and buried his head in my neck, alternating between soft kisses and raking his teeth across my skin to the point of pain. I gasped when he let me go and pulled the robe and nightgown from my body. And I moaned when he breached the waistband of my panties and cupped my bare ass, pulling me forward into his erection.