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She inhaled a fevered breath. “I knew exactly what his intentions were. I screamed and fought him off. Told him I had a security camera streaming to my friend’s that was capturing everything he was doing. Thankfully, he didn’t stick around to check if I was lying or not, which I was. He took off, calling me a cock tease as he left.” Hatred whipped off her tongue.
Venom gathered on mine.
Every-fucking-person.
Everyone had let her down.
Tried to use her.
Manipulate her.
I framed her face in my hands and tipped her face up to mine. “I want to track down every person who has ever hurt you, Savannah. I want to undo every fucking wrong.”
“But you can’t.”
“No, but I can be here right now. I can stand for you. I can help you try to find her.”
“I don’t want to be a burden to you, Ezra. You already have so much on your plate right now.”
“You are no burden, Savannah. You’re a treasure, and I’m going to prove to you what that means.”
“Ezra.” My name was a whisper, and fuck, the way she looked at me was like it was the first time she was seeing meaning. The way that aqua gathered on a swilling wave of trust, even though there were still vestiges of doubt floating in them.
It would take time to eradicate it. I knew that. But I would do everything I could to bring her to the place where she understood her life was worth more than bare survival.
“I want you to stay.”
I meant it for tonight.
I meant it for tomorrow.
I meant it for forever.
But I knew she wasn’t quite ready to hear that yet.
“I do, too.” I wondered exactly what she was admitting to herself. She swallowed hard before she tapped her fingers over the raging of my heart. “I’ll get you the journal in the morning. For tonight…I just want to be with you. Just us.”
I grunted. “I like the sound of that plan.”
She squealed when I suddenly picked her up from the counter and into my arms, planning on making good of her suggestion.
Weightlessness swept into the room. Like a huge amount of her own burden had been lifted. This affliction she’d been carrying for two fucking years by herself.
I couldn’t imagine how alone she’d felt. The one person who was supposed to be everything to her had abandoned her, too…or worse.
I fought the ball of dread in my throat. Two years was a long damned time for someone to go missing without a word.
I would do everything I could to get her answers.
But for tonight, I would spend it cherishing her.
Praising her.
Showing her how fucking amazing she was.
I carried her back to my bed and set her in the middle of it.
She looked like a temptress there in the middle of the jumble of sheets, hair mussed and completely bare.
“Wait there, I’ll be right back.”
She frowned, but didn’t ask questions, and it took about all I had to leave her there as I ambled out into the kitchen, filled a glass with water, then eased back into the room, figuring she was going to need to stay hydrated with what I had planned tonight.
Savannah was sitting up on the bed, and she’d curled herself in the sheet. It didn’t matter that it had only been a minute since I’d seen her, she still stole my breath.
My body locked tight at the sight.
Dick perking up and ready to go again.
She didn’t miss the reaction, and those eyes traveled over me.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Taking in every inch as I approached the bed. I handed her the glass, and she took a deep drink, her delicate throat bobbing as she swallowed. “I could get used to this spoiling thing,” she muttered.
“You think me bringing you something to drink is spoiling you?”
“No, my hot cop walking around naked like that is.” Her mouth tweaked, and I let go of a low chuckle, half in amusement and half in greed.
“Hmm, and I do hope in this relationship, that spoiling is going to be reciprocated,” I teased.
Her eyes flared. “And what kind of relationship are we talking about?”
“One where I get to look at this sweet body whenever I want. One where I get to touch you. One where I get to take you. One where I please you night and day, the same way as you’re pleasing me.”
I slowly peeled the sheet from her body as I murmured the claim.
Because that’s what this was.
A claim.
Savannah trembled, and her entire body bowed as I exposed her. Every muscle in her body quivered in anticipation.
I drew a single finger from her throat all the way down to her trembling stomach. I circled it around her belly button. She whimpered my name, hips bucking in need. “Ezra.”
Satisfaction filled my grin, though I glanced at her face when I asked, “Are you sore?”
