“I don't know how to let someone take care of me,” she says in a choked voice. “I've spent my whole life being the one holding everything together.”
“I know.”
“This is terrifying.”
“Yeah.” I turn my head and press a kiss to her palm. “But you don't have to be the boss with me. You can just be Adriana.”
She doesn't respond. But she doesn't pull away either. We sit there, lost in each other as time ticks by.
“Take me home,” she finally says.
With one final check around, I pull away from the curb and head down the side street toward Back Bay.
When we walk into the penthouse about twenty minutes later, Reaper dashes toward us, a ball of boundless energy that’s been cooped up for hours and wants to play.
Adriana bends down to pet him, and I already see the transformation happen. The walls rebuild. The armor slides back into place. In seconds, she's going to make an excuse to shut me out, disappear into the bedroom, and process everything that just happened alone.
No.
Fuck that.
The second she straightens up, I grab her by the arm and pull her toward me. I don’t give her a chance to pepper me with reasons why she needs to hole up by herself. My lips capture hers. It’s not gentle or careful. I kiss her like the world almost ended tonight, like I almost died less than an hour ago and she's the only thing that matters.
She freezes for half a second in my arms.
Then she makes this sound, desperate, raw, relieved, maybe? And she kisses me back like she's drowning and I'm air. Her hands fist my shirt. Mine tug out her ponytail and slide into her hair. We stumble around until her back hits the wall, and I press into her, pinning her there.
I break away, caging her in with my arms. “You were incredible tonight,” I whisper.
An hour ago, she saved my life.
Twenty minutes ago, she fell apart in my arms.
Now she looks at up me through hooded eyes, like she's done fighting whatever this is between us.
“Lochlan,” she says, her breathy voice making my balls ache. “Take me into the bedroom.Now.”
And that's everything.
CHAPTER 18
ADRIANA
Lochlan liftsme into his arms, carrying me toward the bedroom like I weigh nothing. I wrap my legs tight around him. His mouth clings to mine, wild and desperate. His fingertips dig into my spine, making my hips buck against him and the hard, thick bulge in his sweatpants.
“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! What am I doing? What are we doing?”my brain screams in protest.
But my body is on another page in a completely different book, singing with glee as we knock into walls, immersed in each other.
“Freaking finally!”
He kicks the bedroom door shut behind us.
“Stop thinking.” His voice is low against my ear. He drags my lobe through his teeth, and it makes me damn near swoon. “I can hear your brain spinning from here.”
He's right. I'm already calculating what this means, what happens after, how to maintain some kind of control over a situation that feels like it's spiraling. Deliciously so, but spiraling just the same.
“Tonight, you don't have to be in charge.” He sets me down but doesn't let go when my feet hit the floor. His hands stay firmon my waist, holding me steady as if he knows my knees have turned into limp spaghetti noodles in the time it’s taken him to guide me in here. “You don't have to hold anything together. You just have to let me take care of you.”
