Page 78 of Read With Your Heart

“Baby, are you sure about this?” I want nothing more than to distract her from any thoughts about anything other than the two of us here at this moment, but I don’t want her to regret this five seconds after we finish. We haven’t even talked yet.

“Leon, please.”

Damn, I can’t deny her, so I don’t. I bend at the knee, hike one of her legs up on the tub’s edge and slip into her—bare. My eyes roll back. It’s never felt like this. Her heat. Her heaven. This is everything I’ve ever wanted and didn’t know I was missing in life.

“I’ll pull out,” I assure her. I just want these minutes of pleasure because it’s not going to take long. She rocks back, swallowing me deeper into her from this angle, and I thrust inward, sheathed to the hilt. I don’t pause and take the breath I desperately need. I hammer into her, filling her over and over again. My hands clutch at her hips and one of hers reaches back to hold my hip. We move as one, dancing the best dance until I can’t take it anymore.

Her name is quick on my lips as I pull out. I press against her, my dick wedged between us as I jolt against her spine. We both suck in deep, exaggerated breaths. Her head lowers to the tile and mine rests on her shoulder. So many thoughts race through my mind, and I’m prepared to spill them all when she turns to face me. Her hands cup my jaw as she slips under the shower spray to rinse.

“Thank you.” She whispers her gratitude through soft kisses, and I feel like she’s stolen my words. I should be thanking her for being in my arms, being pressed to my skin, and for giving me what I hope is a second chance at us.

The water has turned cold, and I help her step out of the tub once she turns off the faucet. I figure I’ll settle her in her bed and then take my old room.

“Don’t leave me,” she quietly begs, and my heart skips because that’s exactly what I don’t want to do. I don’t question if she’s certain because I don’t want her to question me. Being with her is where I want to be. I scoop her up and carry her to her bed. After pulling back the covers, we both climb in, and she curls into me. If she was afraid of me after what she witnessed earlier, she doesn’t give a hint. Any doubts I’d had about her actually hating me have been washed away in the shower.

She lies with her face pressed to my chest. With arms curled between each other, she allows me to hold her close.

And I’m still wondering why she did it.

Why did she step in front of me?

Why did she roll over me?

Why did she try to stop them from arresting me?

I was an innocent man, and that was reason enough to let me go, but her actions said more.

“You’re a damn foolish woman.” I snort, tugging her tighter to me. Her head shifts, and she glances up.

“What do you mean?”

“They were pointing guns at me. What were you thinking stepping in front of me?”

“I didn’t want them to shoot. They misread the situation.”

They definitely had, and in some ways, I was glad Tricia came to her senses enough to explain I wasn’t the bad guy. But I understand how it looked with her frightened and plastered against his truck. Me pummeling her husband into the dirt. It looked like a carjacking gone wrong. Then she stood up for me.

She stood up for me.

“Don’t you ever place yourself in harm’s way like that again,” I demand, squeezing her once. “Promise me.”

“They were the good guys,” she whispers.

“But one of them shot at us, and it could have gone all wrong.” My voice breaks, and my head lowers to hers, our foreheads meeting. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, but my body still trembles.

“It could have hit you,” she whispers, and her hand slips around my waist, palm flattening on my back.

“It could have hit you. Do not do that again,” I command, holding her as tight as I can, breathing in her scent. Pure. Clean. Fresh.

“I was protecting you,” she says, and I pull back only enough to catch her eye. The lamp light remains on in her room. I don’t want her afraid of the dark.

“Let me protect you,” I reply. My skin ripples knowing I almost didn’t. I almost didn’t have her back like AJ said. I almost lost her heart. “I could have lost you.”

Please God, don’t let me be too late.

“We have so much to talk about,” she states, and it’s true. I heard her statement at the station, and it took all my strength not to seek out Trent and finish the job I’d started. He doesn’t deserve to live—and I mean that with every fiber of my being—but I would not kill him. I would not seek revenge on him the way I sought revenge on Hector. That’s too much wasted, negative energy. I choose to live with my girl and harming someone would not lead me to fulfilling my dream.

“Not tonight,” I tell her, knowing we need to let things rest. She needs sleep, if it can even come to her, and I just want to lay here and feel her against me. Know that she’s safe. Know that I’m at her back while reflecting on the fact that she shielded my front, and what that might mean for my future. Our future.