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“You should go to bed, Lu.” Even as I said it, my hands tightened on her ass. Thank fuck she’s wearing panties. That thought had barely whispered through my head when I realized her panties were drenched. I would’ve had to be a saint to hold back from the feel of her wetness coating my fingers right then. If she didn’t leave in the next ten seconds, I was going to devour her. “Please, go.”
She shook her head. “I can’t. I’m where I want to be.”
I buried my face in her neck, trying to calm my throbbing body down. “I’m not strong enough to keep my hands off you if you don’t go inside, Lucy.”
“But I want your hands on me,” she breathed at my ear, completely shattering the last of my control.
“Hell,” I groaned but didn’t try to fight it a second longer. Lifting her higher, I carried her into the bedroom and shut the French doors behind us.
The AC was blasting, causing us both to shiver after the humid heat from outside. I laid her down in the middle of the bed and followed her down as I pulled my shirt over my head. Before I got lost in another kiss, I had just enough sense to toss my wallet on the bed beside us. Reaching for it, she tossed it across the room where my shirt had landed.
“Don’t need that,” she assured me, already breathless. “I’m on the pill.”
“Thank fuck,” I growled. “I lost my head the other day and forgot all about protecting you. But I loved being inside of you bare, sweetness. That was pure bliss.” Her face pinched up and I knew exactly what she was thinking. “No, Lucy. I’ve never done that before. No one has ever made me lose control like that. I’ve always used protection. You’re the only one who has ever had the power to drive me that crazy.”
“I’ve been jealous of all your girlfriends since I was eleven,” she confessed in a slightly sulky voice and even though it was harder to see her now that we were inside, I could easily make out the little pout to her kiss-swollen lips.
I bent and kissed the pout away. “There was never a need to be, sweetness. Before you, I’d never had a girlfriend. All those girls in my past are just that. My past. They don’t matter. Never did. Only you, Lu. Ever. You are my present and my future.”
“Harris,” she breathed and I heard the tremble in her voice, knew that she was close to tears.
Those tears were enough to cool my throbbing body the few degrees it needed and let me grasp on to the control I so desperately needed. Fucking hell, her tears were a million times worse than Trinity’s. I would do anything to keep her from ever having to shed another one. Moving to lie beside her on the bed, I pulled her head down onto my chest and stroked her hair while she cried.
Her right arm was tucked between us, but she put her left across my chest, her hand right over my heart. I covered it with my own, my thumb stroking over the back of her hand until I connected with her leather bracelet. She’d been so hurt that she’d covered up the one thing that had brought me what little peace I’d had over the almost six months we had been away from each other.
“I love you,” she whispered on a shuddery breath.
Fuck. Tears burned my own eyes. After what had happened in my office on Monday, I hadn’t thought she would ever say those words again. She’d accused me of not loving her, and I knew she had only said it because she was pissed, but what she had said had cut me to the bone. I’d never kept from her how I felt. I understood why she would think
it, though. After what had happened in January I could see exactly why she would think those poisonous things.
And I was going to make sure she never had a reason to think or believe that bullshit ever again.
I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, continuing to stroke the back of her hand once again. “I love you, Lucy.”
I stayed there, holding her and soaking up the peace that having her so close brought me long after she had fallen asleep. I didn’t dare close my own eyes for fear that if I woke up in the morning this would have all been a dream. I wanted to memorize the sound of her breathing while she slept. Wanted to imprint the feel of her body against mine so that I would never forget it.
It was nearly three in the morning before I untangled us and quietly made my way back to my own room.
As I started to open the door, the one behind me opened and Layla stepped out of her sons’ room. Her eyes went straight to my bare chest. Fuck. I’d forgotten to get my shirt. Then her gaze went to the partially closed door to Lucy’s room. A frown wrinkled her forehead, and she lifted a brow as she turned back to me.
“We were just talking,” I was quick to assure her.
The wrinkle evened out and she nodded her head slowly. “You two need to do a lot of that, I think.”
“Yes, we do.” I rubbed a hand down my face. “Thank you for letting me stay. I know this is a family vacation and—”
Her hands lifted, cutting me off mid-sentence. “Stop. You’re family, Harris. You always have been. Somehow I always knew you would be a big part of Lucy’s life one way or another. I hope things work out for you two.” She took a step closer to me, her eyes turning cooler than I’d ever seen them on Layla Thornton. “But if you hurt her again, it’s not Jesse you have to worry about. It’ll be me.”
I believed her completely but knew I would never have to worry because I wasn’t ever going to let Lucy go again. “I won’t ever hurt her again, Layla. You have my word on that. I love Lucy. I want to marry her when she’s ready.”
The cold glare disappeared and her face split with a beaming smile. “Good. I hope it all works out, sweetie. Just remember, you still have to convince Jesse to let you marry her.” With a small laugh and a wink, she headed back toward her own room.
Shaking my head at her laughter, I pushed my bedroom door open. Dropping down in the middle of my bed, I pulled a pillow over my head and let out a long groan. This would require a lot of planning. Jesse Thornton wasn’t just going to simply let me marry his only daughter. He’d been cool with my friendship with her, and our relationship later, but marrying her was an entirely different story.
I wasn’t about to let that stop me, though. Having Lucy forever was worth fighting for. I’d take on the challenge of Jesse and any other Demon who stood in my way. She was everything and more.
I just had to prove it.
