Page 275

“But you mean more.” The admission coasted between us, riding our souls.

All of it.

She meant more than all of it.

“But you gotta know loving me isn’t going to come easy, Lena. This life…”

She shifted up onto her elbow so she could peer down at me. “I already understand this life, Trevan. I would never ask you to change it. I just ask that you choose me in the middle of it.”

My thumb brushed across her jaw. “I’ve always chosen you.”

My spirit wailed. She had no fucking clue.

“Your brother may end this, though.” I attempted it, but I doubted she would take the way I phrased it as palatable.

Fact that there was a very real chance he would put a bullet in my brain.

My betrayal so fucking deep there might be no way to mend it.

“He wouldn’t. I won’t let him.”

I shook my head. “Let’s not talk about the deep shit right now. We have plenty of time for that.”

Elena’s eyes flicked all over my face. “And what is it you want to talk about?”

“I want to know every single one of your dreams.”

She bit down on her bottom lip. “You already know most of them. You’re the one who has held them for all these years.”

I knew what she was referring to. The times when we were alone. When I’d fought against the flood of desire that had nearly drowned me. When stolen moments had been carved in the shadows and she’d whispered her belief to me.

Just like we were doing then.

The night all around.

Holding us in our secrets.

“You and my store and my apartment? This family? There isn’t a whole lot more I could ask for.”

I slid my palm to her cheek. “Does it make you happy? This?”

“Yes.” Blatant. Zero hesitation.

“I want to. Only thing in this world I want to do is make you that. Give you every dream and fulfill every fantasy.”

Redness touched her cheeks, and I let the pad of my thumb dance across the color.

“That’s what you are, Trevan. My fantasy. My secret. Every dream that I’ve ever had.”

“Gonna need to know those fantasies in explicit detail. Wouldn’t want to miss something important. Want to please you in every way.”

More of that flushing, though her expression went sly. “You want to know all the ways I imagined you having me, Heathen?”

“Sure do.”

“That’s easy. Everywhere and in every way.”

Lust crushed my insides, and somehow, I found myself fiddling with a piece of her soft, silken hair. “Every way, huh?”