“Because you never thought to look for love anywhere else,” I said softly. “You were happy, El. What kind of man would I have been to get in the way of that?”
“Until I wasn’t,” she murmured, her voice breaking just enough to gut me.
“And I gave you space. I gave you time to heal, to breathe, to find yourself again… because I thought that was what you needed most.”
Her hand came up slowly, shakily, and rested against my cheek. Her touch was tentative, like she couldn’t quite believe I was real. She studied my face—my eyes, my mouth, myeverything—and under the weight of that gaze, I felt exposed. Shy, even.
“Time was never on my side,” I said, barely above a whisper.
We sat in thick, weighted silence. Me, plotting my next move—desperate to kiss her. Her, staring off like she was still trying to process everything I’d said. Everything she felt.
“Do you know what it’s like to betrulyloved, Ace?” I asked, brushing a loose strand of hair from her face, tucking it gently behind her ear. “To be cherished? Wanted? Needed more than air itself?”
She swallowed hard, then gave the smallest shake of her head.
Of course she didn’t. Because no one—no one—had ever loved her the way I did.
“Let me be the one to show you,” I whispered, my voice catching on the edge of everything I felt for her.
I leaned in and kissed her—soft, slow, reverent. One kiss after another, I pressed my mouth to hers until she melted into me, her body yielding, her lips responding like she’d been waiting for this just as long.
When I pulled back, I kept my forehead pressed against hers, our breaths mingling.
“So I guess my answer to your original question is no,” I murmured, voice low and thick with meaning. “I don’t like you, Ellie. I’m in love with you.”
And that was all it took.
She launched herself into my arms, crashing her mouth against mine with a force that left us breathless. Her body molded to mine, every soft curve fitting perfectly against every sharp edge. The tenderness from moments before was replaced by something deeper:desperation. She kissed me like she was starved for it, forme, and I gave in without hesitation.
Her hands roamed, greedy and frantic, slipping beneath my shirt to rake across my skin. I groaned—low, guttural—as a growl rumbled from my chest, pulled from the part of me I usually kept locked away. The part of me that belonged toher.
“Ellie,” I rasped, barely holding on to my last threads of control.
She looked up at me, her eyes glassy, lips swollen and glistening from our kiss.
“Show me,” she whispered, voice rough with emotion. “Show me how much you love me.”
35
LOGAN
She was my undoing.
I grabbed Ellie’s face and kissed her hard—desperate, hungry—as I guided her down the hallway toward my bedroom.
But she didn’t follow.
She shoved me back, slamming my spine into the wall, her hands already yanking at the hem of my shirt. In one swift motion, she pulled it over my head, the kiss only breaking long enough for her to strip me bare.
Thiswas the moment I’d only ever lived in my dreams. The pent-up need coiled in my gut was on the verge of snapping, raw and volatile.
I wasn’t about to be outdone.
With a groan, I spun her around and pressed her against the opposite wall. My hands fumbled at her shirt, tugging it over her head in one swift move, revealing nothing but a bra that barely contained the rise of her chest.
I stilled, just for a second, becausedamn.
The way her curves flowed into one another like they were sculpted for me, the way her skin shimmered like silk under thehallway light. Her chest rose and fell in shallow, frantic breaths, her eyes dark and blown wide with desire.
