“I won’t even get out of my car. I just need to be there to watch you haul the monster out in cuffs who tried to hurt Faith and Bailey.”
“Not up for discussion, Mack. I’m sorry . . . but I have to do this. You know I do. I think that’s why you called me in the first place.”
“It’s time.”
Something rustled, and I heard Jace curse under his breath, as if he were upset over whatever Mack had told him, while a torrent of fear billowed through me, taking to my veins.
Because I could feel it.
Coming closer.
Gaining speed.
Everything I didn’t want to know.
Everything I wanted to pretend wasn’t real.
And maybe that made me the biggest fool in the world.
Pretending something wasn’t real didn’t keep it from happening.
But I didn’t think I could take any more. Couldn’t take any more before my spirit cracked.
The fragile seams Jace had made as he’d stitched me back together felt as if they were being pulled and stretched. So close to rending under the pressure.
With my heart beating somewhere in my throat, I quietly turned the old knob on the door and stepped into the shadowy darkness of my bedroom.
Night pressed at the window, the fade of the moon slicing through the leaves that billowed and waved at the glass.
It sent the room into a slow dance of shadows.
Hypnotizing.
Jace stood at the end of the bed.
His own shadowy figure. Dark and somehow the brightest thing I’d ever seen.
That fierce, protective fury coming off him in waves.
My beast.
And there I was, making a thousand wishes.
That all of this would actually be okay, just like he’d promised.
That he wouldn’t allow anything to happen to us.
That he would love us and protect us.
As if he felt every single one of my questions, he took a step my direction.
His presence thrashed.
A life force that cracked.
A boom against the walls.
I could almost feel it shake the foundation of the old house. The impact of him looking at me that way.
He slowly edged forward, so much power in each step that I found myself taking one back with each that he took. No longer sure that I could stand under the magnitude of it.
Mystery written in his face and questions written on my heart.
I wanted him to erase them. Write over them in his own words.
Love me. Love me.
The only cover I had was the towel that was wrapped around me, and I clutched it tighter. Throat dry and stomach heavy.
Trembling with fear, that feeling at odds with the desire I felt for this man.
His face so beautiful.
His body so gorgeous.
Unlike anything I’d ever seen.
Shirt gone, it exposed those shoulders that were so wide. The expanse of skin on his muscled chest so smooth.
Carved and chiseled, his abdomen was the thing fantasies were made of.
This . . . this was what I’d imagined when I’d pressed my eyes closed and dreamed for so many years.
But there he was, real and whole and massive in the middle of my room where he stood like a darkened storm.
The only thing the man wore were those same sleep pants he’d been wearing yesterday morning, teasing me with this perfect picture of him.
Powerful and imposing.
Heat blistered through the compressed, thickened air, chills lighting on my skin beneath the burn of those copper eyes.
“Who was that?” I rushed out, knowing the answer but not sure I really wanted him to give it to me.
Not sure I was ready.
I didn’t know if Jace was either as he stalked closer to me.
I was sure I looked a mess. A drenched rat that shivered and shook. No place to hide.
The problem was, the only thing I wanted was for this man to find me. To find me and keep me and make it all go away.
The way he had today.
The way he’d ripped every worry away. Brought his quiet peace to my spirit and our home.
I wondered if he knew it.
That in all his torment, I’d never felt safer than with him at my side.
Maybe he did.
Because a flash of something struck through his expression.
Bold.
Brutal.
Savage.
Perfect possession.
His fingers dove right into my soaking hair. A growl rumbled in his chest as he tugged me against his hard body.
“Mack. He found something. We’re close. So close. This is going to end, Faith. You won’t have to be afraid anymore.”
My knees rocked and my spirit churned.
“Tell me you trust me,” he demanded. “That you understand that every single thing I’ve ever done, I’ve done for you.”
“I trust you.” I said it.
I gave him the very thing I’d promised myself I’d never be fool enough to give him again.
Because you couldn’t cut yourself open wider than offering someone your trust.
It was giving them your heart.
Your dreams and your vulnerabilities.
It was placing all your faith into their hands.
And Jace Jacobs held every piece of me.
“I’m going to prove to you that you can, Faith. You’re not going to want to, but I need you to hold this truth . . . you can trust me.”
Confusion spun, and my lips parted, rimmed with the question.
But Jace . . . Jace took it as an invitation.
Those hands tightened in my hair, and he yanked me closer to him.
Flames flashed. My wet skin against his heated flesh. His mouth came down on mine.
Hard.
Possession in his kiss.
A command. Demanding that I give him everything.
I opened to him, and his tongue swept inside. It reignited that ever-raging fire inside me.
Every insecurity burned.
Ashes.
Because I was his.
Our tongues tangled, and his hands roamed, gliding out of my hair and down onto my neck.
Could he feel my pulse pound?
My heart and my love?
Because I could feel the power of it surging out of me. Reaching for him.
“God, Faith, you are ruining me. Ruining every single thing I’d forced myself into believing.”
“You ruined me a long time ago,” I whispered between his demanding kisses.
He walked me back across the floor, and my bottom hit the edge of the massive dresser that took up almost the entire back wall in the room.
The dark hard wood was carved and detailed, and the massive ornate mirror affixed to the top was hazed-over with age.
He pressed me to it, his cock hard against my belly, pleading for me through the thin pants that he wore.
Need tumbled through me.
Desire dense.
And I remembered . . . remembered what it’d been like to want a man so desperately.
To hunger for his touch.
Body begging for the kind of pleasure that only he could give.
A whimper rocked free and became one with our kiss.
“Nothing has ever felt as good as you touching me.”
Oh, it was the truth. Because those flames were lapping, growing so hot in my belly, that space between my thighs glowing bright.
Aching for him to fill me.
The need of it almost felt like too much.
As if I might burst if he didn’t take me.
He ripped only his mouth away, his hands back to my face, those eyes penetrating where they stared down at me through the murky darkness.
“I’ve had to fight for everything I’ve ever wanted for my whole life, Faith. I’ve had to lie and steal and cheat. None of that even compares to what I’m prepared to do for you. Loving you makes me feel like I’m no longer just surviving. Loving you is living. I love you. So much. So goddamned much.”
And I swam in them.
The confessions of his heart.
Waded through the emotion that filled the room.
Dense and deep and dark.
But somehow, I didn’t think I’d ever felt so light. The man bearing the weight. Holding me up when I’d forgotten how to fly.
“I love you, Jace. I’ve never loved a man the way I loved you. The way I love you.”
And there I was, confessing my own.
Offering him the secrets of my heart.
Devotion pumped through the room. Fierce pulses of energy. Stretching out. Growing taut. The band connecting us alive.
So alive.
That was what I felt.