“She is safe,” I say, if only to reassure myself. I grip Soren’s shirt in my trembling hands, and he holds me around the waist, pressing me into him as if he needs me closer than he can physically get me. I hold him just as tight. “I’m scared.”
“I know,” he whispers, but he falls silent as the stomping seems to stop right outside our door. Have we been found? Is this the end?
I wait… for the door to come crashing down, for Soren and me to get ripped apart for the last time.
“I should have come for you,” he whispers so softly the words barely reach my ears.
I hardly dare to breathe, for fear he’ll halt his confession or that we will be found.
“I should have told you everything. I thought I’d forget about you, but I never did. I thought I’d move on, but I never could.”
I bite the inside of my cheek, feeling a small amount of satisfaction about that.
“I thought I stopped loving you, but it was simply lying dormant, and finding you again was the catalyst to split my heart in two.”
My eyes sting, and I open my mouth to respond, but words fail me.
“I know you have no reason to believe me, but someday I’ll earn your trust again,” he whispers.
Someday.As in more, as in a possibility of us.
I tilt my head, unable to see him in the dark, but I can feel him. Feel his head bend, feel the warmth of his breath on my skin as he moves nearer.
His lips touch mine gently, like a question. I answer, pressing my lips firmly to his.
This is what I’ve wanted since the moment he left me when I was eighteen. My body thrums to life. I’ve been dead and buried for the last eight years, and his kiss brings me back to life. I feel like I’ve waited a thousand years for this, and yet it also seems that no time has passed since I kissed him last.
His hands roam up my back, tangling in my hair as he pulls me ever closer, ready to devour me.
I’m ready to let him.
“I love you, Maya.” He doesn’t wait for a response; he doesn’t demand one as he deepens the kiss.
He nips at my bottom lip, and my heart ramps up, flooding my body with warmth, with the overwhelming feeling of love. A well that once ran dry fills back up.
I wrap my arms around his neck, and he lifts me, holding me to his height as he feathers kisses over my jaw, then to my lips. His beard scratches my skin, but everywhere he scorches, he soothes.
He kisses me soft and slow, then fast and desperate, unraveling me and putting me back together. He’s recklessly passionate yet achingly gentle with me, giving me all the time I need to come back to him.
Piece by piece, kiss by tender kiss, he takes all the pain away. How could I not forgive him?
There’s danger outside, but in here we are safe, and I lose myself in his touch. In him. He’s all I have ever wanted. And still, he’s all I want.
Chapter 28
Bella
A.K.ANine-Year-OldMastermind
They’re kissing!?
At a time like this?
How completely irresponsible.
The bad guy hasn’t found them in the Hobbit room, but it’s only a matter of time. They are kissing ducks!
I never understood that phrase, but now I do.
