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Mark looks like a solid wall of carved muscle, a machine ready for the battle. My throat gets dry and my breasts heavy as I remember him moving inside of me, battling and claiming me with all that power. Those hands caressing my breasts and that mouth . . .
Lucas clears his throat, and my train of thoughts scatter but he leaves us be. Mark saunters toward me and I stumble back, affected by his intensity and those shadows of desperation reaching me. His muscular frame cages me against the dining table.
“Want something?” My throat stops working.
Him, inside of me, unhinged, unrestrained, wild madness, erasing all the fears and monsters from the past. But instead of telling him this, I simply shrug, reaching his face, glowing from the shower.
His wet hair drips with excess water down his chest as I try to decide what to do. I don’t want to leave him with his demons or stay with mine. Not when I just found him, not when I just started to live again. And definitely not when someone’s trying to hurt him and steal my happiness away. I lurch forward, clutching onto him, panic seizing me into its steely clutches.
“Come with me.” That man’s wor
ds leap in front of my eyes, filling me with dread. My skin crawls with a thousand insects. I can’t shake it off.
As if seeing my anguish, Mark attacks my lips, filling me with his wild essence. When we come up for air, he asks, “What about the kids and the Cades? They don’t want me in Logan’s house.”
“It’s my home, my life, and my decision. My children need to be eased into our relationship anyway. I must talk to them about us. To push you away doesn’t seem right anymore. Come, let’s take on the world together like you promised me before.”
“One nightmare at a time,” he breathes the words out, and I nod, hoping he will join me and let me keep him safe because that man’s a monster I’ve never encountered before.
“Who is that man, Mark? Why did he speak with such familiarity about you? Like he trained you or something.”
He drags me to the bedroom and closes the door, pacing around.
“Mark?”
He stops and swallows. His throat bobs, hands balled at his sides as if he’s fighting an inner battle. “He’s the man who broke my skin, my bones, and my soul when I was a kid. He watched me in agony like it was the most delectable thing he had ever experienced. I thought he tried to kill me, but I think he was just playing with me.”
My chest vibrates. Needles burn my eyes and nose as his words bury deep inside of me. Afraid his past might consume the sensual, caring man I fell for, I clasp his hands in mine.
“Go home with me.” I can’t leave him here. Not after this.
“Are you sure you want a man like me near your kids?” Cupping my face in his palms so I won’t be able to hide anything from his penetrating gaze, he waits for my response.
Somehow, I know Mark has more honor than any other man because of what he lived through. And he survived a horrible childhood. No wonder he doesn’t want to talk about it. Sometimes our dignity is all we have. Sometimes our armor’s all that is protecting us from pain. I touch his chin and kiss those lips, needing to soothe him, let him know I’m not leaving him.
Besides, he understands my worries and is ready to appease my concerns. But I already knew this.
“I promise they’ll never witness this kind of behavior. I’ll never hurt your babies or you . . .” he trails off as if it’s too hard to finish the thought.
“The honorable man is the one who gives his word and keeps it.”
Long dark eyelashes brush his cheeks like wings of butterflies when he closes them shut to rein in his emotions. But then, he opens them, and I see the sunlight beaming at me and my own army of butterflies bats their wings inside my belly.
“I’d rather shred the skin off my bones than become him.”
“I know, and I get it, why you fought with Lucas too. He was edging for it. I can’t blame you. I just didn’t expect you to lose control that easy.”
He kisses my temple and walks to the bathroom to change.
“Can you put on a T-shirt or something? You might cause some brawl in the street if anyone sees you like this.”
His lips tug at the corners as my demand spills from my lips full of fierce possessiveness. This man might have claimed me whole, but so did I, and I won’t allow any monsters to touch him.
“Sir, paparazzi are gathered outside. We’ll go with you in case they get too aggressive.”
Mark nods, and they make arrangements.
“How do they know where we are?” My eyebrows crease as an uneasy feeling creeps up my spine.
